Sarah Godsill
My work centres around the figure, whether through portraits, self-portraits or with narrative.
The passage of years and the passing of familial generations has helped define that what I seek to represent is not ‘nostalgia,’ which suggests a certain mawkishness, but instead an element of historical memory, a link profoundly felt with a time, place and people no longer reachable.
This is in part born from my own memories and experiences but also with the untold stories of exile and immigration connected to my family’s separation due to the Spanish Civil War.
Other languages evoke this with a single word; Enyorança. Añoranza. Hierath. Saudade.
The closest word in English, ‘yearning’, doesn’t begin to describe the deep, inexplicable bond with that loss. It is an intense longing for a home, a time, a place that cannot be returned to if, indeed, it ever even existed.
exhibitions
Solo Shows
Meeting Points, The WHY Gallery, Frome – 2022
Empty Spaces/Sitios Vacíos, Black Pig Printmaking Studio, Frome – 2018
Self Portraits 1982-2018, Salisbury Arts Centre – 2018
Self Portraits & New Works, The Lighthouse, Poole – 2014
All the World’s a Stage, Whitestone Gallery, York – 2012 – with Ann Kilvington
Beyond the Sightlines, Black Swan Arts, Frome – 2009
Round Tower, Frome – 1998
Robert Burns Centre, Dumfries – 1994
Chesil Gallery, Portland – 1991
Group Shows include:
ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London – 2022
Bath Society of Artists 117th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2022
(Winner of the Bath Artist Printmakers Print Prize)
– Elected Member of Bath Society of Artists 2022
New English Art Club Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London – 2021
Bath Society of Artists 115th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2020
The South West Academy – Reflections Exhibition – 2020
(Winner The Sou’Sou’-West Contemporary Arts Gallery Award)
Bath Society of Artists 114th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2019
Bath Society of Artists 113rd Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2018
Bath Society of Artists 112th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2017
Bath Society of Artists 111th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2016
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition & Exhibition, Kings Place, London – 2013
Bath Society of Artists 108th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2013
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition & Exhibition, Kings Place, London – 2011
Bath Society of Artists 106th Annual Exhibition, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath – 2011
Holburne Portrait Prize Exhibition, Bath – 2010
Made in Frome, Murrhardt, Germany – 2002
BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London – 1990
Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London – 1983
education
BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art, Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic – 1986-1989
Foundation Diploma, Kingston Polytechnic – 1983-1984
work
Private Commissions — 1989 – present
A range of commissions including portraits, garden paintings, album covers and book illustrations.
Events Illustration — 2000-present
Guest artist at weddings and social events.
Book Illustration
Gimcrack, Tony Scotland, Shelf Lives, 2020 (dust-jacket illustration)
Joyride, Tony Scotland, Shelf Lives, 2019 (dust-jacket illustration)
I An Distracted By Everything, Liza Tarbuck, Penguin Books 2017
The Empty Throne, Tony Scotland, Viking Books 1993
Greetings Cards Design — 1994-2002
Designs commissioned by the Medici Society and Woodmansterne Ltd.
grants & residencies
Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Award – 2006
Affiliated Artist, Merlin Theatre – 2009 – present
Visual Artist in Residence, Merlin Theatre, Frome – 2006-2009
Frome Festival Artist in Residence – 2000-2002