Sally Spens English

Sally Spens studied on the Fine Art: Textiles degree course at Goldsmiths’ College, London before working in applied art as a textile designer in London and Japan. A return to etching has led her east again, where there is little divide between fine and applied arts.

Her prints have been exhibited in Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2015 her work was selected by Prof. Lui Xiangke for inclusion in the Xiaoxiang International Printmaking Exhibition in China. Spens’ work is also frequently exhibited alongside Modern British artists in London, New York, Milan, and Miami. Over an eighteen-year period, her textile work has been archived by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

The subject of the delicate, intricate etchings on show here is ‘imagined pots’, which links to another of the applied arts – ceramic vessels. Images – drawn from memory and observation of the natural world – combine with vessels, linking shared associations. The preoccupation is with beauty, rhythm and pattern.

“The making of etchings, intaglio onto copper plate, allows for infinite variations of expression and the transformation of images.  The plates are hand inked, and I often layer paint and print when creating the artworks”, she says.