Sarah Spackman: A Closer Look

For many artists, their studio is their sanctuary, a vital place for discovery, thought and the vital solitude needed in order to make their work. For Sarah Spackman, this is particularly true, as an artist who explores the world through objects and still life. ‘I am very interested in how we see things and relate them to their surroundings’, she explains. ‘I love my studio. It’s only a short bike ride from home, but when I am there, I am in a different world.’

Her paintings are softly hued and quiet in their presence, but nonetheless powerful and engaging to the viewer.  Her palette is meticulous and organised, her colours carefully mixed before going anywhere near the canvas. Using tiny, chisel shaped brushes the form is almost sculpted into being.

 Although her subjects matter are largely the things we see every day, flowers from the garden, pots used in the kitchen, fruit from the allotment, Sarah feels that there are many ways of looking at things. We can see objects in the normal sense of the word, as things existing remotely from ourselves or we can experience things through sight as if they are tangible. Sarah’s paintings seek to explore this tangibility, and the tactile space between the viewer and the object. She takes a closer look at things we have around us but don’t always see, and makes us look again.

The still life table represents to Sarah a profound world of relationships between objects and the attachments that we form to each of them. To Sarah, her still-life paintings are re-imagined as landscapes, with titles such as ‘Blue Tower’ or ‘Standing on the Flaggy Shore’, the interior and domestic scene of a group of jugs or cups is transformed into something much more far reaching, exploring the wider connections objects have with the world and their human owners.

Visitors can expect to see a selection of smaller, almost jewel-like still life paintings in a new solo exhibition at Sarah Wiseman Gallery.

Sarah Spackman has worked full time as an artist since graduation from Byam Shaw and Camberwell Schools of Art in 1981. Her work is found in numerous private collections and has been acquired by the Allied National Bank of Ireland. She works from her East Oxford studio at Edith Road workshops, a former punt-building workshop. Her former exhibition credits include The Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition, and Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries.

Come and meet the Artist on Saturday 16th January, 12-5pm. We will be joined at noon by Sarah Spackman's ukulele-group The Rebukes!