Upon moving to Gulfport, MS in 1998, she began to branch out from painting things as we see them and endeavored to paint things in a way that brings life to them. Even inanimate objects seem to take on a personality and life of their own. Her style became dubbed "Folk Cubism", and "Saywardist", but she doesn't like labels too much, as they tend to limit the viewers expectations as to what she can and cannot paint. Sayward had amassed a stock of paintings and drawings from her entire life that numbered several hundred.
After the tsunami that devastated parts of Indonesia [2004], Sayward organized a fundraiser calling on all local artists to donate works to be auctioned off with 100% of proceeds going to the Red Cross disaster fund. She was exhibiting and realizing her goals when the unthinkable happened. Hurricane Katrina had destroyed or seriously damaged her life's work. Her studio was gone. There was no insurance or FEMA money to assist her. Now it was her turn to be helped by the Red Cross.
As soon as it was possible, she bought a little, beat-up travel trailer to use as a studio, then she recieved a grant through MAC [Mississippi Arts Commission] and the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York, and was finally able to start anew.
Since then, she has been fortunate enough to get back into a studio, a cottage right next door to her house, and paints 'til her heart's content, which means almost every waking moment.
In November 2008, she exhibited a collection of paintings called "Yard Sale". It consisted of 72 life sized paintings of items commonly seen at yard sales, set up in typical yard sale fashion in front of her studio.
For 2009, Sayward painted 55 ( and counting) portraits of astronomers for the International Year of Astronomy. In November, she is hosting 'Yard Sale II' , since 2008's Yard Sale was such a hit.
Sayward works in several mediums, on several different surfaces,. She works on 'new' canvas but also stretches her own, recycles cut off boards and panels, usually given to her at construction sites, as well as being salvaged for her by friends. Sheet metal is also a surface for painting as well as being used for sculpture.
Her mediums include, but are not limited to,oils, acrylics, watercolors, gouache, tempera, pastel, oil pastel. Drawing is usually done with charcoal or pencils.Prints are always hand pressed or serigraphed, unless otherwise noted. Sayward believes the artist should be a part of every process of the work, and not mass produced through a copier.
when I had my own 'show'. It's hard to tell what the pictures are of because they are so small but Danger Mouse and Rainbow Brite are in there some-
where.