Profile

Located in a refurbished trailer in East Austin, SAGE Studio is an art studio and gallery for artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities. SAGE Studio was founded in 2016 by two female entrepreneurs‚Äîpracticing artist and art… Located in a refurbished trailer in East Austin, SAGE Studio is an art studio and gallery for artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities. SAGE Studio was founded in 2016 by two female entrepreneurs‚Äîpracticing artist and art educator Katie Stahl and social worker Lucy Gross‚Äîto provide artists with disabilities the materials, space, and support to produce, exhibit, and sell their artwork. When we started SAGE, we were working with one artist at Lucy's kitchen table. After a year and a half of working out of Lucy's kitchen, we took the plunge and leased a small space in the community that could function as both a studio space and an exhibition space for our artists. Since opening our doors in 2018, we have represented the work of over 40 artists with disabilities working in a wide range of mediums, including drawing, painting, weaving, ceramics, and puppet-making.
SAGE Studio serves artists with disabilities through two programs: our Studio Program and our Exhibition Program. Through our Studio Program, artists create work in our East Austin studio—or, over the past year, at home over Zoom—with all materials provided to them. Katie and Lucy, who have over twenty years combined experience working with individuals with disabilities, work one-on-one with these Studio Artists to facilitate their art-making and to help them build a portfolio of work for exhibition.
Through our Exhibition Program, we put on bimonthly art exhibitions to showcase the work of our artists, and of artists with disabilities from across the country. Additionally, through our Exhibition Program we participate in at least one outside exhibition opportunity each year (in 2019 and 2020, it was the prestigious Outsider Art Fair in New York City) with the goal of bringing national and international attention to our artists. In addition to our exhibitions, we also operate an online store so that supporters and collectors from around the world can purchase artwork, fine art prints, and other merchandise.