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.
D.O.B. January 26 1964
Education.
1987-1989 Higher Diploma in Printmaking, Slade School of Art, University College London.
1982-1986 Honours Bachelor of Fine Art degree, Queens University, Ontario, Canada.
Selected Group and Solo Exhibitions.
2007 Printmaker of the month. The Wrexham Arts Centre, Wrexham.
2007 Spring Exhibition. The Primrose Gallery, Northampton.
2007 Wrexham Print International Biennale. The Wrexham Arts Centre, Wrexham.
2006 Biannual Art Exhibit. Idlicotte House, Gloucestershire.
2006 Group show. The Primrose Gallery, Northampton.
2004 Solo show. Finken, Bergen, Norway.
2003 Christmas exhibition. The Curwen Gallery, London.
2001 Mixed Print Exhibition. Studio Voltaire, London.
2001 Casa das Artes. Tavira, Portugal.
2000 PMC members open. Falmouth College of Art, Falmouth.
2000 Everyday Less Ordinary. The Soho House, London.
2000 The Contemporary Print Fair. The Barbican, London.
2000 Multiple Images. The Image Factory, Belize City.
1999 A Celebration of 200 Years of Lithography. The Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh.
1999 PMC Open Biennale. The Atrium Gallery, London.
1999 Spirit. Soho 601, London.
1999 The Contemporary Print Fair. The Barbican, London.
1998 The Christmas Exhibition. The Curwen Gallery, London.
1998 Linear Art Fair. Ghent, Belgium.
1997 Solo Show. The Image Factory, Belize City.
1997 Young Printmakers. Thessalonika, Greece.
1997 Casa das Artes. Tavira, Portugal.
1996 Changing Places. The Hardware Gallery, London.
1996 Impress. The Tower Gallery, London.
1995 Solo Show. Galerie Wildeshausen, Germany.
1995 Art 95. The Business Design Centre, London.
1994 Two Person Show. Galeria del Progresso, Madrid.
1994 20th Century British Art Fair. The Royal College of Art, London.
1994 Slade Printmakers. The Electra Gallery, Toronto.
1994 Three Person Show. The Marylebone Crypt, London.
Employment.
2002-2007 Editions 1920: Establishing and coordinating print facility for artists.
2001-2002 London Print Studio: Print-studio co-ordinator.
1992-1997 Slade School of Art: Teaching Assistant – Post-graduate Printmaking.
1989-1992 Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop: Lithography technician/Studio manager.