Sara Dudman RWA English, b. 1964
NEW COLLECTION OF CORNISH EARTH PIGMENT PAINTINGS NOW AVAILABLE
I am a contemporary hunter-gatherer, seeking not only the raw materials with which I make paints and pastels, but searching out the stories, histories and promises which every footstep reveals.
A short residency in West Penwith in May 2021 was spent walking and foraging for earth pigments, developing an embodied understanding of this mineral-rich land. Deep reds, terracotta and magenta pigments have been extracted from the spoil heaps of the old Levant tin and copper mines, with pure black from the nearby Botallack mine. The Leswidden China Clay pits offered a rich source of kaolin, from which the creamy whites have been procured. Extending my travels to Gunwalloe, on the edge of the Lizard, I collected yellow ochre from the egg yolk-yellow rocks, extending the palette of colours which have been used to express and interpret this unique environment.
Each paint has not only its own individual colour, but also a unique texture, opacity, and character, each of which brings its own voice to the paintings. The physicality of the surface of these paintings suggests the surfaces of the land itself and at times the sea-washed and corroded metal hulls of ships and shoreline rocks. The lines, painted using seagull feather quills trace the movement lines of birds, fishing lines and the continual movement and rebalancing of the dynamic equilibrium of the marine environment.
Walking across tors, along coastal footpaths and moors, the presence of past inhabitants, all of whom have shaped this land, is felt. The standing stones which populate and characterise this landscape emerge and recede within the paintings, playfully recalling Barbara Hepworth’s Garden sculptures and the views through the garden and beyond. The glimpsed fragments of land, sea, and sky which we experience while walking along the coastal footpath are woven together into an enticing, intangible emotional response within these works.
These paintings have a pulse. They breathe. At times evocative of the flow of water, suggestions of distant horizons, meteorological or cave-like, the paintings echo the layers of sedimentary rock as repositories of previous generations of organic life and the future of life to come. The rock recurs as a motif and metaphor for permanence and impermanence simultaneously. Thin, transparent veils of earth pigments simultaneously reveal and conceal the layers of rocks and time within the paintings, paying tribute to the work of the C20th St Ives group of painters.
The laborious process of creating these paintings which are simultaneously carefully crafted, yet also unpredictable and fluid, reflect the human relationship with coast and land. I work in the studio: part-artist, part-scientist, part-geologist, part-cook, soaking, grinding, sieving, drying, mixing, pouring, making. My work stems from the urgent need to better understand and review our relationship with each other, the world, and its myriad of inhabitants with their interwoven relationships.
Sara lives and works in Somerset and has been regularly exhibiting in Cornwall at the Porthminster Gallery for four years.
Sara Dudman RWA biography
Education:
De Montfort University, Leicester, Master of Arts, 1997
Loughborough College of Art and Design, Bachelor of Arts, 1987
Braintree College of Arts and Technology, Foundation Course in Art and Design, 1984
Selected Exhibitions:
2011 – 2017
ARTROOMS 2017, represented by National Open Art Competition, London
‘The Natural Eye’ Society of Wildlife Artists Exhibition 2016’, Mall Gallery, London
‘New Territories’, The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre, Taunton 2016
164th RWA Open, Bristol 2016
‘Momentum and Walking’, Stroud Museum in the Park, Gloucestershire 2016
‘RWA@The Atkinson’, The Atkinson Gallery, Millfield 2016
Thelma Hulbert Open 2016, Honiton
Bath Society of Artists 111th Open Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath 2016
Black Swan Open 2015, Frome
Affordable Art Fair Battersea 2015 + 2016, represented by One Church Street
Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2015 + 2016, RWS, Bankside Gallery, London
Academician Candidates 2015 Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2015
Quartz Festival 2012-2015, Taunton
SPAEDA Associates’, Great Bow Wharf, Langport 2015
H.I.V.E. 2015, Harrogate, represented by National Open Art Exhibition
'Selected Gallery Artists' Summer Exhibition 2015, One Church Street Gallery
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015
Drawn 2015, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Painting Now 2014, One Church Street Gallery
National Open Art Exhibition 2014, Somerset House, London + Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014, London, National Tour until June 2015
Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014, London, Guildford
The Evolver Prize 2014, Atkinson Gallery
ArtWorks Open 2014, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London
The Open West 2013, Newark Park and Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
Artwave West Summer Exhibition 2013, Dorset
In Bloom 2013, Red Earth Gallery, Bickleigh
Fringe Arts Bath Open 2013, Bath
Drawn 2013, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Resolutions 2013, The Musgrove Gallery, Taunton
Reigning Cats and Dogs 2013, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Drawing Breath 2012, Langport
Skills Unearthed 2012, Blackdown Hills, Devon
Lutyens Gallery 2012, Hestercombe, Somerset
Inna Space 2011, The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre
Crescent Contemporary 2011, Taunton
South West Academy Open 2011, Exeter
Fading Light 2011, Somerset
158 Autumn Open Exhibition 2011, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Selected Collaborative Exhibitions with artist Debbie Locke RWA
164th RWA Open, Bristol 2016
Evolver 2015, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Devon
Mostyn Open 19, 2015 Llandudno, Wales
Black Swan Open 2014 + 2015, Frome
Painting Now 2014, One Church Street Gallery
RWA Open 2014, Bristol
Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2014, 2013, London, Guildford
A2 Gallery 2014, Wells
Thelma Hulbert Open 2014 + 2016 Honiton
Millfield Summer Show 2014, 2013 The Atkinson Gallery
John Singer Sargent Open 2014 + 2016, Broadway Arts Festival
ArtGemini Prize 2013, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
Slice 2013, Hanmi Gallery, London
Awards / Residencies / Solo Exhibitions
Sara Dudman and Debbie Locke: Collaborative Works’ 2016, Black Swan Arts, Frome
Sara Dudman and Debbie Locke: Collaborative Works’ 2016, RWA, Bristol
Flock Together 2015, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Devon, solo exhibition of collaborative works by Sara Dudman and Debbie Locke RWA
Allenheads Contemporary Arts artist residency May 2015
Flock Together 2015, A2 Gallery, Wells, solo exhibition of collaborative works by Sara Dudman and Debbie Locke RWA
Black Swan Open 2014, Frome (solo show 2016 prize-winner in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA)
REAL SOMERSET, A2 Gallery 2014, Wells (First Prize-winner in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA)
Thelma Hulbert Open 2014, Honiton (First Prize-Winner in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA )
Millfield Summer Show 2013, The Atkinson Gallery (prize-winner in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA)
Brisons Veor artist Residency 2014, Cape Cornwall
John Singer Sargent Open 2014, Broadway Arts Festival (Main Prize-winner in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA)
Drawn Collaborative artists residency (with Debbie Locke RWA) 2013 + 2015, RWA, Bristol
The Open West 2013 Workshops, Newark Park, August 2013 (in collaboration with Debbie Locke RWA)
Welcome Sight, Solo exhibition, Regal Theatre, Minehead, Somerset 2012
Walking Meditation, The Bomb Shelter, Beer, Devon, 2010
Memberships
Academician, Royal West of England Academy
Blackdown Hills Artist and Makers (BHAAM) Secretary
National Society for Education in Art and Design
Education and Curatorial Practice
2015 – present:
Art education trainer and consultant, SPAEDA, Somerset
2013 – present:
Associate Lecturer in Art and Design Education, Creative Education
2013 – present:
Access Art 40 Artist Educators (selected artist educator)
2011 – 2013:
Visiting Lecturer, Exeter University and UWE, Bristol
2012 – 2015:
Curator, Musgrove Park Hospital and Quartz Arts Festival, Taunton
2010 – present:
Exhibitions interpretation and education specialist, including
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter 2011–15
- Anthony Gormley's 'Field for the British Isles' at Barrington Court, Somerset 2012
2010 – present:
Arts Award Advisor for Gold, Silver and Bronze
2009 – present:
Artist in Residence working with schools and teachers across the South West of England
2000 – 2009:
Full time Head of Art at secondary schools in the South West of England
1997 – 2000:
Subject Leader: PGCE Art and Design (secondary), UWE, Bristol
Publications:
Making Art 16+, 2012, Devon and Cornwall County Councils
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WHERE ROCKS BECOME SEA | Autumn–Winter Show
4 Nov 2023 - 6 Jan 2024Gallery show of contemporary art for sale, featuring new paintings by artists Sara Dudman, Masako Tobita, and ceramics by Peter Hayes, Charlotte Jones, Mitch Pilkington, Antonia Salmon, Paul Wearing, and prints by Melvyn Evans and Trevor Price, and sculptures by Tommy Rowe and Michael Thacker. With supporting works by leading 20th Century modern artists: Terry Frost, Barbara Hepworth, Victor Pasmore and Joe Tilson. Artworks also available for sale by St Ives and British Artists: Wilhelmina BARNS-GRAHAM, Peter BLAKE, Sandra BLOW, Patrick CAULFIELD, Lynn CHADWICK, Maurice COCKRILL, Terry FROST, Barbara HEPWORTH, Patrick HERON, David HOCKNEY, Bryan INGHAM, Albert IRVIN, Margaret LOVELL, Henry MOORE, Ben NICHOLSON, Victor PASMORE, Bryan PEARCE, Tommy ROWE, William SCOTT, Joe TILSON.Read more -
RELOCATION
11 Sep - 24 Oct 2020The opening collection at our new premises at 22 Fore Street is a changing showcase of artworks by some of the many established and emerging British Artists whom we represent,...Read more -
COAST 2020
4 Jul - 5 Sep 2020A colourful and uplifting exhibition celebrating the unique beauty of the Cornish coast through the varied mediums and creative approaches of selected gallery artists: Andrew Bird, Sara Dudman RWA ,...Read more -
FESTIVAL INTO FALL
7 Sep - 13 Oct 2019To celebrate this year’s St Ives September Festival the Porthminster Gallery hosts ‘Festival into Fall’ a selling show of new artworks by gallery artists. Paintings by Sara Dudman and Erin...Read more -
COASTAL RHYTHMS
PAINTINGS & CERAMICS BY FOUR ARTISTS 28 Apr - 9 Jun 2018A selling show of new paintings by Angela Charles and Sara Dudman, and new ceramics by Clare Conrad and Sarah Perry, inspired by Cornwall’s changing coastline. The show explores both...Read more -
TEN YEARS ON: SHOWING OFF
25 Mar - 6 May 2017To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Porthminster Gallery in St Ives, ‘Ten Years On: Showing Off’ is a unique exhibition showcasing eight artists new to the gallery, alongside gallery...Read more
