Biography
With a studio and site specific practice, Sara Lee’s work is a response to the ephemeral nature of landscape and questions our emotional and physical relationship to an evolving exterior space. An evocative connection between what is known and what is imagined or remembered.
Rooted in a landscape tradition, Sara Lee predominantly works with drawing, film and print, including etching and woodblock in the ukiyo-e tradition. She teaches at The Dulwich Picture Gallery and Rabley Drawing Centre. She has written for Tate, and advised & spoken on print processes for various individuals and institutions including The Art Fund, The Royal Academy Schools and National Portrait Gallery.
Born in Wales in 1956, Sara lives and works in London. She graduated in Fine Art Painting from Ravensbourne in 1979 and Postgraduate Printmaking at Central School graduating in 1982.
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Beckoning Lines, Rabley Gallery
2016 Isola (with Pru Ainslie & Meryl Setchell Ainslie), Rabley Drawing Centre
2014 Ley of the Land, Rabley Drawing Centre
2012 Peninsula, Stoneman Gallery, Penzance
2009 Confluence (with Eileen Cooper, Caroline Isgar, Fred Gatley, Annie Turner & Sarah Radstone), APT Gallery, London & Stoneman Gallery, Penzance
Selected Exhibitions
2022 Against the Grain — Contemporary Woodblock Prints — Royal Academy of Arts, London
2021 Hockney to Himid — 60 years of British Printmaking, Pallant House Gallery
2021-2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2021 Awagami Print Exhibition, Japan
2020 Liz May — A Personal Perspective — APT Gallery, London
2020 Great Print Exhibition, Rheged, Cumbria
2019 Studio Stories, with Eileen Cooper RA and Julia Peintner, Boecho Gallery, London
2019 Wales Contemporary, Milford Haven and London
2019 Westmoreland Landscape Prize, Cumbria
2019 Wells Contemporary, Wells Cathedral
2019-2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2019 Print Matters, Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art & Design, Wroclaw, Poland
2018 Flourish Award, WYPW, Yorkshire; PR1, Preston; Spike Island, Bristol
2018 Japan, WYPW, Mirfield, Yorkshire
2018 Bainbridge Open, Turps Gallery, London
2017 IFPDA, Ink, Art Miami with Rabley Contemporary, USA
2017 Duo Rabley Contemporary, London & Marlborough
2017 Cut – Contemporary Woodcut, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow
2017 26 Eames Gallery, London
2017 Tama Collection, Touring Exhibition, Sapporo, Japan
2017 Discovering Samuel Palmer, Eames Gallery, London
2016 Isola with Pru Ainslie & Meryl Setchell Ainslie, Rabley Drawing Centre
2016 Towards Night (curated by Tom Hammick), Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
2016 Surface Cutting, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2016 Neo Print Prize, Bolton
2016 West Dean College, Chichester
2015 Eames Gallery, London
2015 National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside, London
2015 The Sketchbook Today, Avenue Gallery, University of Northampton (Tate Albums feature)
2015 Arthub Open, London (Prizewinner)
2015 Tokyo Triennial, Tama, Tokyo
2015 Pages in Siglufjörður, Herhúsið, Iceland
2015 Drawing 10, London Art Fair with Rabley Contemporary
2014 Lustre, Rabley Drawing Centre, London
2014 Trace – Artists In Search of a Landscape – APT Gallery, London
2014 Neo Print Prize, Bolton
2014 Pushing Print 5 Yrs On, Pie Factory, Margate
2014-2007 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Collections
Pallant House Gallery, UK
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
United Therapeutics Collection, USA
Evelina Collection, Guys & St Thomas’, UK
The Otter Collection, University of Chichester, UK
Modern Art Collection, Swindon Museum & Art Gallery, UK
Tama University Collection, Tokyo, Japan
Golder Thompson Collection, UK
Awards
2019 Sunday Times Watercolour Prize shortlist
2018 Flourish Award shortlist
2015 Prizewinner – Arthub
2013 Bainbridge Prize – Pushing Print
2010 Intaglio Printmaker Award – Originals