ABOUT
Sarah Spencer graduated from Loughborough University School of Art and Design in 1999 with 1st class Hons degree in Sculpture. Since then she has worked as an exhibition co-ordinator for Q Arts, Derby, Art and Design Co-ordinator and fine Art Tutor for Aberystwyth University. She has won The Henry Moore and Royal College of Art Figuring Sculpture Award and has an MA from Aberystwyth School of Art. Sarah is represented by New Blood Art.
PERSONAL DETAILS
Sarah Spencer (b. 1972, UK)
EDUCATION
Aberystwyth School of Art, MA Painting, 2018
Essay: Branding in the Artworld: A Postmodern Phenomenon
Loughborough University, BA(Hons) 1st Class Fine Art Sculpture, 1999
EXHIBITIONS
Oct 2018 Graduate Show, Set House Arts
Sep 2018 MA Show 2, Aberystwyth School of Art
June 2018 Nascent Inclinations, Ty Pawb, Wrexham
May 2018 MA Show 1, Aberystwyth School of Art
Oct 2017 Galeri Caernarfon Open
2017 shortlisted for Anthology, Charlie Smith, London
2017 MoMA Wales Open, Machynlleth (highly commended)
2015 MOMA Wales Open, Macynlleth
2015 Powerhouse Open, Llandysul
2003 Hathern Open Gardens Sculpture Trail
2003 Identity - Generator Gallery, Loughborough
2002 Cells - Charnwood Museum, Loughborough
2002 South Croxton Arts Festival
2002 Reveal - Charnwood Museum, Loughborough
2002 Deceive - Generator Gallery, Loughborough
2002 Hard Lines Soft Shapes - Charnwood Museum, Loughborough
2000 Looking for Mandy’s Place - (based on a poem by Brian Lewis) Dean Clough, Halifax
1999 The Human Condition - New Walk Museum and Gallery, Leicester
1998 Lift Off - Loughborough Students Union
1998 Figuring Sculpture - Royal College of Art, London
1998 Reverse Duchamp? - Loughborough College of Art
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Laffan, Andy (Compiler), The State of Art: Representational and Abstract, Barehill Publishers 2014, pages 32,32
TEACHING
2012-present, Art Tutor, Aberystwyth University
2001, Sculpture Tutor, Open College of the Arts
AWARDS AND GRANTS
Henry Moore Foundation Figuring Sculpture Award
Arts in The Community Award
COMMISIONS
Allium - Charnwood Borough Council
Trilobite - Barrow-Upon-Soar Parish Council
Jurasic Amber - Barrow-Upon-Soar Parish Council
Trilobite II - Quorn Parish Council
ARTIST STATEMENT
One of the main qualities I’d like my art to do is to reveal itself slowly, so you feel like you are never finished at looking at it, giving you enough information to draw you in but nothing that is too leading.
Memories fade and blur, they are distorted by various factors; emotions, imagination and time, it is this that I want to capture in my paintings, the passing of time in relation to the human condition of emotions.
Earthy tones of layered glazes are contrasted with high chroma areas of painterly applications using acrylics, oils, and spray paint. Traditional painting methods are blended with a process of adding and subtracting, masking and revealing. Boundaries blur between past/present, urban/rural, internal/external to produce a timeless ambiguity.
I draw inspiration from old masters, cinema, derelict spaces, emotion and memories. I have a large collection of images collected from my own photographs, books and from online. I find they are helpful with various aspects from the process of painting to a spark of an idea. The painting process is always one of discovery, the idea I have at the beginning will change along the route of its creation. I find it fascinating the twists and turns that a painting will go through which are dependent on process and emotions whilst painting. It is this dialogue that I want to continue to the viewer; to be able to transport the viewer and to hold their attention long enough for some reflection to occur and a curiosity to look further.