Sarah Vines

We’re delighted to be working with screen printer and recent graduate Sarah Vines as part of our Gradspotters programme! A printmaker with a specialism in silkscreen, Sarah makes highly detailed and heavily layered prints of still life and portraiture.

Currently working full time as a Graphic Designer, Sarah makes prints in her home studio in London in her spare time. She plans her creations around open call deadlines as they provide her “some sort of time window in which to make – it motivates me to actually get stuff done if I have a deadline.” Sarah graduated last with an MA in Print at the Royal College of Art, and prior to that studied for a BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Oxford Brookes, and a BA in Illustration and Animation at Kingston University.Seeing the home as a site of performance, Sarah combines drawing, traditional techniques, and screen print to examine the relationship people have with their spaces and their chosen objects. In her bright and celebratory prints, Sarah both questions and captures the intricacies of domestic life, the rituals of home, and the balance between control and comfort often present in these spaces.

Each of her pieces begins with an interview with her subjects, and photographing and drawing their spaces and objects from which she’ll then develop the print. She tells us; “It doesn’t let me get too precious over the look of things, which makes the prints feel more ‘lived-in.” In the case of her still lives, she builds the scenes herself, however, Sarah comments;  “I like to use other methods to limit the freedoms around what objects I choose. For example, the print I’m working on right now – “Pound a Punnet”, features citrus fruits from the market, but I only bought the one punnet (which the grocer picked) so I have to work with what I’ve got.”

Sarah’s work hints to the likes of artists such as Grayson Perry, Tim Mara, David Hockney, and Lisa Brice. Telling us more about her inspiration she states; “In the world around me I’m drawn to people in moments of transcience in their home lives, such as moving house, inheriting, having clear-outs etc where they’re forced to confront their own taste and sentimentality.”

Looking to the future, Sarah says; “The ultimate goal would be to make a living as an artist and printmaker. I want to be represented by a gallery and be able to dedicate more time to making work in the studio. I have a chronic pain disorder, so I’m not able to pack in as much activity in my life as others, which really severely limits my ability to make work. Being able to do it even part time would be amazing.”

You can catch Sarah’s piece, Three Spaces, Three Places: Lina + Sam, on display in Tokyo as part of the Heralbony Prize until the 22nd of September.

www.sarahvines.com
@sarahvinesprint