sarahdavisart@gmail.com
Sarah Davis is a multi media artist using hands on sculptural techniques to explore the cyclical nature of recovery and renewal. She uses traditional approaches with a deep historical resonance, such as wood carving and bronze casting. These laboured works are often combined with functional elements, leading to complex and deeply layered art objects.
Sarah pulls on many sources of inspiration. Her autobiographical approach has lead to a rich body of research into ancient medical iconography, which she often combines with modern medical ephemera. Every object tells a story and through her layering process and interest In allegory, the natural world also serves a deep pool of interest. The shedding of snake skin, the hatching of eggs and the short life of the octopus are all cycles that exist within nature. These various narrative tools are woven into her work as a means to think about how we can navigate our own relationship with pain, healing and mortality.
In 2012 Davis graduated from Chelsea college of art with a BA in Fine art. She returned to education in 2015 to study woodcarving and gilding at the the City & Guilds of London Art school, where she now teaches on the woodcarving BA.
Sarah works from her studio in South London.
EDUCATION
2015 - 2019: Diploma in Ornamental Woodcarving and gilding. City and Guilds of London Art school.
2009 - 2012: BA (Hons) Fine Art. Chelsea College of Art and Design.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS + PRIZES + RESIDENCYS
2023: Baggage Claim. Staffordshire street Gallery. London
2023: Goldsmiths Craft & Design Council Awards. Bronze award in the Senior modellers category
2022: BAMS New medallist 2022 - 2023.
2022: Shortlisted - V&A Shifting perspectives Residency.
2022: Art & Ornament. Dalkeith Palace. Edinburgh
2022: Worshipful Company of Educators’ Trust Award for Art and Design
2022: Current Transmission. ICA. London.
2021: Lost Wax for lost species. Founders Hall, London & Vittoria Street Gallery, Birmingham
2021: Centuries in the Making. Bonham's, New Bond Street & Compton Verney, Warwickshire
2021: BBC New creatives. Day Zero. Spoken word audio commission for BBC Sounds.
2021: Goldsmiths Craft & Design Council Awards. Gold award in the junior modellers category
2020: POTHOLES. SET Lewisham.
2020: POTHOLES. Alternative online residency.
2019: Strange Loop. St Augustine’s Tower, Hackney.
2019: City and Guilds of London art school graduate show.
2019: De Lazlo Prize for Gilding + decorative surfaces.
2019: Brian Till Prize for Art History Writing
2018: Tempting faliure 2018: Fractured bodies - Durational performance
2018: City & Guilds of London Art School graduate show (INTERIM).
2017: Surveyors Club drawing prize.
2016: Art In Romney Marsh 2016. Site specific art festival, St Clements Church, Old Romney + St Thomas a Becket Church, Fairfield.
2016: A Journey, The Institute of Mental Health. Nottingham.
2016: London Craft week 2016. Exhibition of Master Woodcarving, City and Guilds of London art School.
2015: The Now and Not yet, featured artist in the Holy Biscuit 5 year anniversary publication.
2015: 8 minutes, 20 Seconds, Holy Biscuit Gallery. Newcastle.
RECENT PRESS
Elephant Magazine. Chloe Ashby, Aug 2021. Road to Recovery: The Women Turning Illness Into Sick Art. Read here
Stylist Magazine. Alex Simms, Nov 2021. Picture of health: the women turning chronic illness into empowering art. Read here