Meet the Rabbit: SaraMarie Bottaro
Artist & Co-founder of Rabbits of Realness
Introducing another rabbit, the wonderful, talented, immensely crafty, SaraMarie Bottaro! The California transplant is the co-founder of Rabbits of Realness, and calls the Boston area home. SaraMarie is an artist who approaches all tasks from a creative perspective, and remains greatly influenced by her degree in Peace and Justice Studies. “I’m constantly motivated to improve myself and how I move through the world to instigate the most mutual flourishing I possibly can,” she says. Inspiring others to exercise their creativity is a constant focus for her, which is obvious from the zines she’s written for Rabbits of Realness, including Ancient Bee Being and Break Open.
SaraMarie connected with Spoon in 2021 via letter writing. The organization Prison Radio put out a call on Instagram for poets and artists to reach out to Spoon while he was in the hospital with covid. Letters were frequently exchanged between them until they connected over the phone for the first time. The occasion was a special Rabbits-themed episode of Matthew Schneeman’s podcast with Spoon called At Night I Fly. They started their collaborative publishing project, Rabbits of Realness, soon after.
The first zine Rabbits of Realness published was How to Write Your First Ever Letter. Spoon and SaraMarie see vast importance in letter writing- it’s a way to keep people connected in this digital, screen filled world we live in. SaraMarie adds, “Letter writing is very personally important to me, and I also love making zines. Giving someone a gift in the form of a handwritten letter or a zine (or both at the same time!) lights me up.” SaraMarie has been developing community letter-writing workshops with RoR collaborators Stephanie Li and Jane Kim-Testa. The first of these RoR workshops, held at the Watertown Free Public Library’s annual zine fest, was wonderfully successful.
Aside from continuing to create zines, SM also has a studio practice where she creates mixed media paintings on translucent yupo (a paper that’s like vellum, except plastic). SaraMarie works in many mediums, and most pieces include ink, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils and graphite together.
Right now, SaraMarie says “My work is centered around natural elements and the Sacred Feminine in the Ancient Mediterranean.” Last year, Spoon’s publisher New Village Press made one of SaraMarie’s lifelong art dreams come true, and now one of her paintings graces a book cover. Spoon and SaraMarie are both thrilled that the book, Judith Letting Go, by Mark Dowie, is a tribute to Spoon’s poetry mentor Judith Tannenbaum.
Here’s a glance into SM’s studio, where she creates intricate paintings, drawings, and lets her creative energy flow.
Find more of SaraMarie’s artwork on her website or on Instagram (for now).
How to Write Your First Ever Letter is so so special :)