Meet The Artist
Sarah Uldall
It was a photograph of a beach hut that led me to make the first image in this present series. The stripes glowed at me. They were the stripes of childhoods’ flannelette bed sheets; deeply evocative and comforting. This beginning, therefore, arrived from a vivid sense of nostalgia. It also refers back to the domestic realm.
Throughout my work of the past few years there have been strong references to textiles – an area traditionally the territory of women. Why are we so mesmerised by the repetitions of pattern and colour? I have studied the Bauhaus movement, and the combination of utility and beauty that was so relevant to it. When John Ruskin and William Morris rejected what they perceived to be as the inhumanity of the industrial revolution in England, the Arts and Crafts movement was born. In a parallel fashion, I have rejected some of the more contemporary methods of today in favour of the more primitive technique of stone lithography.
For each layer of colour to exist, the block of limestone must be grained down by hand. The surface of the stone is luminous and smooth like human flesh. Only then can the drawing materials be applied. It is science and magic combined. The manipulation of materials using ones very own hands and the most basic of machines is primal and deeply satisfying.
The elementary forces of circle, triangle and line provide infinite possibilities. These shapes have led me to the modern alphabet and the codes of sign-writers. I have turned images on their sides so that the verticals become horizontals, and then turn into flags. For a while I imagined that I was designing flags for imaginary countries. Along the way I discovered the marvels of the simple geometry set and the French curve.
The making of these images is reliant upon an odd marriage of intuition and discipline. They are a contemplation of proportion and balance; a composite of design, beauty and intangibility. My intention is for my work to appeal to the viewer in a subliminal way. I wish to relay messages or codes in an abstract way and from a different place in time.
C.V.
DOB January 26 1964.
Education.
1987-1989 Slade School of Art. UCL. London. Higher diploma in Printmaking.
1982-1986 Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. Honours bachelor of fine art degree.
Selected group and solo exhibitions.
2010 5th International Printmaking Biennal, Douro, Portugal.
2010 International Print Exchange, Green Door Printmaking Studio, Derbyshire.
2010 Idlicotte House, Warwickshire. 10th Biannual Art Exhibit.
2009 Symbol Gallery, Budapest Hungary. “Landscape Without Borders.”
2009 Nexo 2009, Toledo, Spain.
2009 Casa da Cultura, Elvas Portugal. “Ligacao.”
2009 Galerie Wildeshausen, Germany. Solo exhibition.
2008 Chichele College Gallery, Higham Ferrers. Solo exhibition.
2008 Dedalo Centre for Contemporary Art, Abruzzo, Italy. “Printmaking Today.”
2008 Idlicotte House, Warwickshire. 9th Biannual Art Exhibit.
2007 The Wrexham Art Centre, Wrexham. Printmaker of the month.
2007 The Primrose Gallery, Northampton. Spring exhibition.
2007 The Wrexham Art Centre, Wrexham. International Print Biennale.
2006 Idlicotte House, Warwickshire. 8th Biannual Art Exhibit.
2006 The Primrose Gallery, Northampton. Mixed exhibition.
2004 Finken, Bergen, Norway. Solo exhibition.
2003 The Curwen Gallery, London. Christmas exhibition.
2001 Studio Voltaire, London. Mixed Print exhibition.
2001 Casa das Artes, Tavira, Portugal. Mixed Print exhibition.
2000 Falmouth College of Art, Falmouth. PMC Members Open.
2000 The Soho House, London. “Everyday Less Ordinary.”
2000 The Barbican Gallery, London. “The Contemporary Print Fair.”
2000 The Image Factory, Belize City. “Multiple Images.”
1999 The Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh. “A Celebration of 200 Years of Lithography.”
1999 The Atrium Gallery, London. PMC Biannual Exhibition.
1999 Soho 601, London. “Spirit.”
1998 The Curwen Gallery, London. Christmas exhibition.
1998 The Linear Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium.
1997 The Image Factory, Belize City. Solo exhibition.
1997 Thessalonika, Greece, “Young Printmakers.”
1996 The Hardware Gallery, London. “Changing Places.”
1996 The Tower Gallery, London. “Impress.”
1995 Galerie Wildeshausen, Germany. Solo show.
1995 The Business Design Centre, London. “Art 95.”
1994 Galeria del Progresso, Madrid. Two-person show.
1994 The Royal College of Art, London. “20c. British Art Fair.”
1994 The Electra Gallery, Toronto. “Slade Printmakers.”
1994 The Marylebone Crypt, London. “One More Than Two.”
Employment.
2002-present Editions 1920. Establishing and coordinating print facility for artists.
2001-2002 London Print Studio. Print Studio Coordinator.
1992-1997 Slade School of Art. Teaching assistant for post-graduate printmaking department.
1989-1992 Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop. Lithography technician/studio manager.