Sarah Purvey gained both her BA and MA qualifications at Bath Spa some twenty years apart receiving her MA in ceramics in 2009.
Sarah’s ceramic Landscape Series have been exhibited nationally and internationally including private collections in Tokyo and New York. Her ceramic work also forms part of the Bath Spa University collection at Corsham Court.
In 2014 she joined the Cavin Morris Gallery in Chelsea New York and The Medici Gallery in Cork Street Mayfair. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK including solo shows in St Ives and Shaftesbury. In 2012 Sarah exhibited as part of the Threadneedle Prize and has been selected to exhibit with the Society of Womens Artists at the Mall Galleries London in 2014.
FEATURED WORK
The artistic pursuit of a theme is often an investigation of a limited number of variables. When an artist finds a way to work that corresponds to their situation both physically and emotionally their creativity can flourish. Sarah Purvey’s work reflects that process and expresses a very personal narrative throughout her practice.
Working in clay with a limited colour palette, each one of Sarah Purvey’s monumental structures are part of a personal exploration into the possibilities of the medium.
There is a tension to be found within each form that neatly mirrors the forces that pervade in nature itself. The Wiltshire landscape in which Sarah Purvey is based as well as the ever-changing internal landscape of the artist put their mark on every piece made.
I work in series, a process which clarifies and defines in equal measure taking of the past and instinctively exploring the present.
I work simultaneously with the external and internal spaces of each form. The internal seemingly empty space is an important factor for me as it both carries and contains embedded experience and association. This openness and potential to carry is not however to be confused with any inferred utilitarian function.
In separating function from form Sarah safeguards the integrity of each individual sculpture. The integrity of the process itself is a high priority for the artist.
The way in which I connect with my practice can sometimes be difficult to satisfactorily explain to others as my points of reference are personal and transient, each work owing an equal amount of its existence to the physical as well as to the emotional. My hope is that the work has a clear voice which can speak for itself andin doing so share with the viewer a visceral sense of connection which is at the core of my process.
—Martin Olsson (Painter), June 2014
SARAH PURVEY’s C.V. (resume)
EDUCATION
2008-2009 – MA Ceramics, Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University
1988-1991 – BA Ceramics, Bath College of Higher Education
1986-1988 – BTec Ceramics, Plymouth College of Art and Design
EXHIBITIONS
2014 – Medici Gallery, Cork Street, Mayfair London
– Affordable Art Fair Battersea London with Bowlish Gallery
– Cavin-Morris Gallery, Chelsea, New York
2013 – Panzer Trotman Fine Art, London
– Wine Street Gallery Group Show
– Denise Yapp Contemporary Art, Winter Exhibition Group Show
– Hatfield Art In Clay
– Bath Abbey, Hospitality Group show
– The Russell Cotes Museum with The Arthouse Gallery
– Solo Show New Craftsman Gallery St Ives
– Affordable Art Fair, Bristol Bowlish Contemporary Gallery
– Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Bowlish Contemporary Gallery
2012 – Quest Gallery Bath with Ione Parkin RWA
– Bircham Gallery Selected Autumn Exhibition Norfolk
– Gallery 28 Cork Street with The Katharine House Gallery
– Threadneedle Prize Exhibition, Mall Galleries
– Hatfield House, Art In Clay
– The Hilton Fine Art Gallery, Bath
– Larkhall Bath with Ione Parkin RWA
– Calne Artists Group Show
2011 – Ceramics-Nine Artists at Corsham, Corsham Court Gallery BSU
– Hatfield House, Art in Clay
– Black Swan Frome
– Bowood House, Wiltshire, Group Show Calne Artists
2010 – Gallery 27 Cork Street, Katharine House Gallery and Askew Art
– The Pound Art Centre, Corsham
– Group Show, Calne Arts Festival
– Katharine House Gallery, Marlborough
– Bradford On Avon Arts Festival, Sculpture Garden – ‘Tribe’
– Guest Ceramist at Potters- Clifton, Bristol
– Group show, Central Gallery Malvern
2009 – Milsom Place, Bath with Mirka Golden Hann (BSU)
– MA Degree Show Sion Hill, Bath
GALLERIES REPRESENTED BY
– The Katharine House Gallery, Marlborough Wiltshire
– The New Craftsman Gallery St Ives, Cornwall
– The Medici Gallery Cork Sreet Mayfair, London
– Cavin Morris Gallery, New York, NY
– The Bircham Gallery, Norfolk
– The Bowlish Contemporary Gallery, Somerset
– The Denise Yapp Contemporary, Monmouthshire
– Panzer Trotman Fine Art, London
MEMBERSHIPS
2010 – Full Membership, The Devon Guild, Bovey Tracey
AWARDS
2010 – First Prize awarded by the juried panel at the Corsham Pound Arts Open
LECTURES
2011 – Bath Spa University- MA Ceramics Seminar Guest Speaker, Contemporary Context
2011 – Federation Day, Teacher Training Day Ceramic Instruction five Wiltshire Secondary schools, Invited to speak by Malmesbury School
PUBLICATIONS
2013 Nov – Ceramic Review, Bath Abbey Hospitality Show review by Ian Wilson
June – Hand building and Sculpting, by Claire Loder (A&CBlack) Featured Artist
May – Ceramic Review image featured in ‘Pick of the shows’ New Craftsman St Ives
2012 July – Crafts Magazine, image featured Bircham Gallery Autumn show
March – Aspect Magazine, front cover image plus article feature
2011 February – Wiltshire Life Magazine, feature article
March – Ceramic Review, image featured in the gallery pages
July – Power Point Featured in ‘The Box’ at Aberystwyth Ceramics Festival
September – Museum of International Ceramics Faenza, presentation by Mirco Denicolo
Contact Sarah at sarahpurveyceramics@gmail.com or visit her website.
View the ceramic artists list.
