Paradise Valley Community College’s Center for the Performing Arts is debuting Librarian and Artist Sami Lange’s newest exhibition now through December 7. A public reception will be held at 5:30 p.m., Friday, December 5.
The exhibition explores the crossover, and the boundaries people find in everyday life. Lange shared that she has spent a significant amount of her academic research focusing on how women allocate their time between home and work, as well as the physical, psychological, and time-related boundaries women cross to manage their diverse life roles.
“We each carry and hold so many roles throughout our lives, including student, teacher, mother, friend, learner, parent, and many more,” she explained. “Through different stages, we have to juggle and sort how much time and energy we spend in each role, sometimes with limited choices about how we control our time.”
For Lange, art and education have always intertwined.
“I view my work as a librarian and my work as an artist as two sides of the same coin; both involve identifying a need, gathering information, and creating a solution, whether that’s a research strategy or a visual piece of art.”
Growing up in Northern California, Lange can’t recall a time when art wasn’t part of her life. After working with a skilled printmaker in her early 20s, she pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking at Sonoma State University, later earning her master’s degrees in education and library science. She began her academic journey at Diablo Valley Community College in Contra Costa County in Northern California, and has spent the last 15 years balancing her passions for art and education, a connection she continues to nurture at PVCC’s Buxton Library, where she serves students with the same thoughtful creativity she brings to her studio.
Lange’s artistic evolution took shape in 2018, when she began experimenting exclusively with mixed-media paper art – cutting, dyeing, and stitching handmade papers to form intricate “paper quilts.” Each piece involves a meditative process: cutting shapes by hand, bathing paper in dye for up to 24 hours, and slowly building compositions that explore the balance between structure and freedom.
“By carrying so many roles in life, we’re constantly navigating how much time and energy we give to each. My work visually represents that balancing act.”
Her latest exhibition at the CPA continues this theme, blending two of her signature techniques (woven paper and stitched compositions) to reflect the layered nature of human experience. The show also mirrors her academic research, recently published in Innovative Higher Education, which examines how women balance time between home and work.
Despite the heavy concepts behind her art, Lange’s recent pieces embrace playfulness and joy. “I think that’s a direct response to the heaviness of the world,” she said. “I want joy to seep into my day, and into the days of those who view my work.”
At PVCC, Lange continues to nurture curiosity both inside and outside the library. The Buxton Library offers a wide range of resources, from academic databases and research appointments to fun community offerings like Culture Passes, a seed library, and yearly cultural programming.
“The library is a place for exploration, just like art,” she said. “Both are about discovery and finding meaning.”
To learn more, visit the website.