LIGHT OVER LAND: Sarah Woods | Floor 1

Sarah Woods is a painter and printmaker who works from her studio in Newlyn, Cornwall where she has built her life around the coast since graduating from Falmouth School of Art in 2016. Sarah moved to work from one of the Porthmeor Studios at Trewarveneth where she found a connection between the space, its natural surroundings and her practice which includes painting, drawing, etching and printmaking. 

Sarah’s traditional approach to painting focuses on materiality and form. With hand-sewn canvases and minimal observations, she creates an impression of the coast that balances the lines of the horizon with shapes in the land. Whilst at art school, Sarah found inspiration in the work of Japanese printmaking and ceramic artists, Yoon Young Hur and Akiko Hirai, and was influenced by the writings and work of American abstract artist Agnes Martin, who once said: “Nature is like parting a curtain, you go into it ... My paintings are about merging, about formlessness.” Like Martin, Sarah began to define her work through the process of mark making, often focusing on the notion of repeating a single mark.

Echoing the structure of printmaking, by hand she repeats a single mark to create something gentle and considered. The precise and well considered drawings are simplified by focusing on tones and shapes that are often abstract, while lines in her etchings signify a meditative quality. “When working with a plate, my practice of printmaking focuses on the movement of ink and the direction of hand-drawn lines, becoming familiar with the marks unique to each piece” . Each print begins with a sketchbook - a pencildrawing that is gradually worked into an etching, then printed as a limited edition in her studio. 

The intuitive process of artistry is often seen in Sarah’s work, having learned the way materials work together, she understands traditional techniques and, through a methodical process of observing, drawing and making, uses this craftmanship to complement her contemporary practice. Her mesmeric pieces reflect the internal balance that being beside the water brings -  a still, calm and rhythmic feeling.