Sarah gilman
Independent Writer, Editor, Artist
Methow Valley, WA
August 30th, 2025
On Semester in the West, an indoor lesson is something rare. The escape from the hot, dry sun in the Methow Valley was something the group appreciated as we sat down to speak with Sarah Gilman in the Winthrop Public Library.
Sarah took in our tired and sunburnt faces as she greeted us. As a Whitman alum and member of the first Semester in the West program, she must have understood the nature of our weariness. Sarah graduated from Whitman in 2006 with a degree in Art and Biology. In her work, which combines journalism, science, and art, she combines her two interests to create unique journalistic and artistic pieces. Presently, she works as a freelance journalist and editor, but in the past she worked for High County News. Her work has been featured in many publications, including The Atlantic, Hakai Magazine, National Geographic News, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.
Sarah’s work examines climate resilience, stories within ecosystems, and relationships to people and land from her time living in the rural west and traveling through places like Gates of the Arctic National Park. Her writing style, paired with illustrating the subjects and places she visits creates very intentional and intimate works. After showing us some of her art, Sarah took us to see her recent project, a mural in Twisp, Washington, that she had been working on for the past couple of months commissioned by the Okanogan Highlands Alliance. The mural’s purpose is to illustrate the basic natural history of the highlands and celebrate the mountain bluebirds, who were the focus of the illustration. Like all of her other work, the mural was scientifically accurate in its portrayal of the birds and the landscape, while still maintaining her distinct style. Our experience with Sarah was formative in developing the knowledge and intentionality behind illustration and journalism. We will take her lessons with us as we travel through the Methow and onto Yakima.
by Wilson Finlay