Sarah grew up near Leeds in Yorkshire, close to the city and the Yorkshire Dales. Her art education began at Jacob Kramer College of Art in Leeds and continued to degree level at Wimbledon School of Art in London. Her tutors there included Bernard Cohen, David Whittaker, Michael Porter, Prunella Clough, Jane Joseph, Jo Volley and Sharon Hall.
Whilst working part time at Tate Britain, Sarah has occupied various studios across London. Being surrounded by other artists and practitioners has been important to Sarah’s continuing art practice.
Following a successful exhibition at Falmouth Art Gallery in Cornwall, curated by Cath Wallace, Sarah’s work has been shown and sold through Quantum Contemporary Art, London at art fairs around the world.
On leaving art school, where I painted large abstract landscapes, from recollections of my native Yorkshire, I realised I needed to base my work on the world before me. My practice continues to be driven by capturing the reality of simple subjects.
I have been fascinated by detail and enlarging specimens in order to understand their form and composition. This has drawn me away from traditional still-life painting. I look at relationships of scale to draw afresh from what we already see in terms of subject matter.
By focusing in close and enlarging my subject matter I hope to make my paintings objects for contemplation and reflection. In a world of mind boggling complexity, my painting of everyday objects has been a continuing search to catch reality as it is. The everyday seen in keen focus characterises my practice for the last 30 years. Much of art is a struggle to see again what we already know in a new way.
