Sarah Harley
I'm currently working on small scale figurative textile pieces, paintings and prints developed in my studio based on sketches and photos from life which I use as a starting point. My work explores my relationship with nature, whether as an observer walking through landscape, as a gardener, or occupying a natural environment as a space to rest and contemplate.
I make small scale paintings which take a close up view of nature, often showing the tangled growth and decay of plants and trees. My current series of paintings began during the pandemic when my daily walks on the outskirts of Norwich took on a deeper significance. The tenacity and continuity of nature seemed both meaningful and reassuring while the human world was full of chaos and uncertainty. I use oil paints with natural mediums and primers and I paint on oak boards, which are offcuts from an antique furniture restorer’s workshop. These biodegradable materials are a way to connect more to the environments which inspire my work.
I use embroidery and textile collaging using re-cycled fabric to make images of people in nature. These are based on holiday sketches, usually of family and friends. I used hand stitching to create line drawings adding scraps of printed textiles to reference colour and pattern in nature. There is an intimacy to hand stitching and domestic textile processes and I use this to explore a sense of connection and wellbeing in the natural environment.
Lived Experience
I work in a wide range of mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking, collage and textiles. My work is often auto-biographical in that it reflects the different chapters and episodes of my life and experience.
EDUCATION
University of Hertfordshire
Norwich University College of the Arts
Bucks College of Higher Education
AWARDS
2016 Arts Council England Grants for the Arts
2010 Arts Council England Grants for the Arts
2009 Textile award, Eastern Open
2007 Artist’s Access to Art Colleges
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 The Hut The Museum of East Anglian Life
2013 ‘Peep Show’ at The Glass Case, Cromer Library, Norfolk
2011 ‘Domesticated’ – joint solo exhibition with Maria Pavledis, St. Gregory’s Arts Centre, Norwich
2009 Chelsea & Westminster Hospital , London
2009 New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College Cambridge
2008 Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Small Printmaking Biennial Sint-Niklaas Museum, Belgium
2017 Fun and Brains Birmingham City Library
2016 Prescriptions The Beany House of Art and Knowledge, Canterbury
2015 Pint of Science Creative Reactions, Cambridge
2014 Eastern Open Kings Lynn Arts Centre, Nofolk
2012 The affordable arts fair, Battersea with Columbia road gallery, London
2012 The 8th British International Mini Print Exhibition, touring
2012 Unlaced Wymondham Arts Centre, Norfolk
2011 Norwich Print Fair
2011 Bite, artists making prints Mall Galleries, London
2010 Islington Arts Factory Summer Salon, London
2010 Norfolk Contemporary Art The Forum, Norwich
2010 The Norwich Print Fair at Bankside gallery, London
2010 Eastern Open King’s Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk
2009 Norwich Print Fair
2009 Figure and Form Wymondham Arts Centre, Norfolk
2009 Salthouse 09 Norfolk
2009 Eastern Open Kings Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk
2009 ‘Imaginings’ The Project Space Norwich
2008 Norfolk Contemporary Art 2008 The Forum, Norwich
WORK IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
New Hall Art Collection Cambridge
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