
A lavender- blue border surrounds the cover. Each corner contains a miniature portrait of Sarah Goodridge, one as a child and one as an adult. Inside the decorative frame is an illustration of Sarah’s elderly hands holding a palm-sized portrait of her younger self. The painting depicts her with a brown, curly updo, brown eyes, a gentle smile, and a pillowy, green coat. There are two text boxes; the text at the top reads “Sarah Goodridge,” while the text at the bottom says “A life in Miniatures.”

Cover of the comic Sarah Goodridge: A Life in Miniatures. Illustrated by Susie O'Connor.
Born in 1788, Sarah Goodridge grew up in poverty. Without any financial resources, she created her first artworks using a pin on birch bark. With her passion and hard work, she became a highly sought-after miniature painter, opening her own studio where she painted prominent members of Boston society.
This comic is part of a series Drawn to Art: Tales of Inspiring Women Artists that illuminates the stories of women artists in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Inspired by graphic novels, these short takes on artists’ lives were each drawn by a student-illustrator from the Ringling College of Art and Design.
We invite you to read the comic and share with your friends and young people in your life.