Born in Cyprus, brought up in Fiji by the Pacific Ocean and then near the sea near Rye, Sarah has always drawn inspiration from the animals, landscapes, people and everyday life she has encountered, both in her extensive travels abroad and in the UK. Her career as a professional artist began in 1995 when she swapped the global stock markets of the City’s virtual world for the primitive heat and dust of Africa and Asia. She has a remarkable talent for observation and a singular ability to render the colour, movement and atmosphere of the scene before her.
Always drawn back to the sea, year after year, she returns to Cornwall to paint, longing to move there. 5 years in the making, and the fruits of her labour are now revealed in her Cornwall Collection.
Now firmly established as a very successful travel and wildlife artist with several awards to her name (including BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year). On winning the award the judges said “Sarah has cleverly captured the fluid movement of the cheetah in an organic and unique style. It sings Africa ”. Once again the eight pictures she entered the following two years for the award were all finalists (an artist can only win once though), which is testament to her achievement. Sarah’s work is held in many public and private collections throughout the world. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions for over 30 years, has illustrated several books on Africa and her paintings have been featured on various television programmes.
Movement forms a special concern in her work, whether depicting hares in the English countryside, zebras, cheetahs or gazelles in the plains of Africa; or the slow rhythmic pattern of shepherds and their flocks in the Himalayan pastures. Her reputation rests on her ability to translate the evocative sights and sounds through her brush onto the appropriate surface which she feels most akin to the subject. Sarah is fearless in her use of unconventional mediums such as the extensive collection of handmade papers, which she collects from all over the world, Elephanthide paper, African earths, charcoal and sand, sourced directly from the environment in which she is working. Technically this is often implied by a series of gentle brush strokes coupled with layers of glaze which allow a shimmering translucence to pervade the paintings. This ethereal quality, at times contrasting with the underlying reality of such rural subjects, is characteristic of Sarah’s method; yet it is this painterly subtlety and deftness of touch that lends each picture its unique and sympathetic ambiance and allows us to glimpse, through her eyes, the mysteries of these remote worlds.
“I love to travel to different countries, soaking up and embracing the atmosphere, colour and culture of these distant lands”….
Sarah Elder’s own words encapsulate her approach to her work; emotive, imaginative and personal. Her paintings enjoy wide acclaim not only for the wildlife she so powerfully portrays, but also for the sometimes exotic but always intriguing locations to which she travels. Her talent lies in her ability to transmit “the spirit of the place”, some extremely distant, and to our minds, culturally remote. The scenes she brings to life are at once enticingly unfamiliar yet vibrant in their rendition of landscapes and peoples so seemingly alien to our own.
Her paintings can be viewed at her studio by appointment. Do contact her by email at Sarah@sarahelderart.com or by telephone 07904 385 686.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 – Millennium Gallery, St Mawes, Cornwall
2022 – Cheyne Garden Gallery, Chelsea, London
2019 – The Mayfair Gallery, Mayfair, London
2018 – Cheyne Garden Gallery, Chelsea, London
2017 – The Gallery, Glebe Place, Chelsea, London
2016 – The Mayfair Gallery, Mayfair, London
2014 – The Daggett Gallery, Kensington, London W8
2014 – The Swann Gallery, Kings Road, Chelsea, London
2013 – The Swann Gallery, Rye, Sussex
2012 – The Osborne Studio Gallery, Belgravia, London
2012 – The Southfields Gallery, London
2011 – Galerie du Cygne, St Tropez, South of France
2011 – The Mayfair Gallery, Mayfair, London
2008 – The Air Gallery, Mayfair London
2008 – The Mayfair Gallery, Mayfair, London
2007 – Foss Fine Art, Battersea, London
2005 – The Gallery , Cork Street, Mayfair, London
2002 – The South African Embassy, London
2001 – The Osborne Studio Gallery, London
2000 – The Zimbabwean High Commission, London
1997 – The South African Embassy, London
1996 – The House of Commons, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Mall Galleries, London
St Mawes Gallery, Cornwall
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
2022
Mall Galleries, London
Memories Exhibition, Shropshire
Longwood Autumn Exhibition, Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
The Chelsea Gallery, London
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
Open Studios, Gloucestershire
Sue Elton Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
Chelsea Art Society, London
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
Bandons Gallery, Hertfordshire
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
Chelsea Arts Club, London
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
2016
Charlie Waller Memorial Trust Exhibition, Berkshire
Chelsea Arts Club
Chelsea Arts Society
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea
Mall Galleries, London
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
2015
Chelsea Arts Club
Chelsea Arts Society
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea
Mall Galleries, London
Longwood Summer Exhibition, Hampshire
2014
Chase, Royal College of Art
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea
Exhibition in aid of the Aspinall Foundation, The Swann Gallery, London
Mall Galleries, London
New York Art Fair
Seattle Art Fair
Singapore Art Fair
2013
British Art Fair, Royal College of Art
Cricket Fine Art, London and Hampshire
The Swann Gallery, Rye, Woodstock
Mall Galleries, London
Travels Through Africa and Asia Exhibition, Hampshire
2012
British Art Fair, Royal College of Art
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea and Hampshire
The Swann Gallery, Rye, South of France, Woodstock
Mall Galleries, London
New York Art Fair
Seattle Art Fair
Singapore Art Fair
2011
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea and Hampshire
Mall Galleries, London
The Swann Gallery, Burford, Rye, South of France, Woodstock
The Wykeham Gallery, Stockbridge
2010
Art London, Chelsea
Cricket Fine Art, Chelsea and Hampshire
British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London: 20/21, The Watercolour Fair
The Swann Gallery, Rye and Woodstock
The Wykeham Gallery, Stockbridge
Wildlife Artist of the Year, Mall Galleries, London
2009
Cricket Fine Art, London and Hampshire
Foss Fine Art, London
Mall Galleries, London
Museo Stanze della Memoria , Barga, Italy
The Osborne Studio Gallery, London
The Wykeham Gallery, Stockbridge
2008
Chelsea Art Society, London
Foss Fine Art, London
Mall Galleries, London
Royal Academy, London
The Osborne Studio Gallery, London
The Wykeham Gallery, Hampshire
2007
Bandons Gallery, Hertfordshire
Chelsea Art Society, London
Foss Fine Art, London
Mall Galleries, London
Royal Academy, London
The Osborne Studio Gallery, London
1996 – 2006
Atelier D’Artista, Tuscany, Italy
Bandons Gallery, Hertfordshire
Chelsea Art Society, London
Collins and Hastie Gallery, London
Foss Fine Art, London and Suffolk
Kings Road Gallery, London
Kingsbridge Fine Art, London
Mall Galleries, London
Neville Fine Art, Hampshire
The Air Gallery, London
The Anderson Gallery, Gloucestershire
The Daily Telegraph Exhibition, London
The Lennox Gallery, London
The Osborne Studio Gallery, London
The Royal Academy, London
Trinity Fine Art, London
Young Masters Exhibition, London
BOOKS ILLUSTRATED
1995 “Where Warriors Met”, The Story of Lewa Downs, Kenya by Edward Paice
1996 Africa by Road by Bradt Guides
1997 Africa by Road, Guide to Tanzania and Guide to Uganda by Bradt Guides
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