Sara Wibberley is an emerging painter born in 1975 in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. She now lives with her husband and two teenage sons in a small village in Bedfordshire, UK. Having been a primary school teacher for the last 26 years, she reignited her love for creating art during the first Covid lockdown and has been creating art most days since.
Tell us your story, why did you become an artist?
I have always loved art and visiting galleries in London with my mum as a child. I studied art at school but then I stepped out into the world; went to university, got married and had children. So it wasn’t until the first Covid lockdown that I picked up a brush again. I found it a great outlet for processing what was happening at that time of uncertainty. I now use it as a way of documenting my thoughts and feelings about events in my unsettled past and settled present.
When you create a new work, how do you go about it? What comes first?
This is hard to explain as there are many different steps to my process and I often work on many different pieces at the same time. Many of my pieces have a collage element and each of the collage pieces have patterns or marks and layers of paint stamped on them before they get layered upon the paper. One of my favourite tools is a scraper, which I use to apply the paint on top of the collage pieces. I love to see the different textures appear from the many layers below. The final stage is adding on the geometric shapes, these often represent people and family members, explaining the story of the piece.
What can you tell us about your studio, what makes it special to you and how does it influence the way you work?
At present I do not have a studio. The studio is my dining room table! It is still special to me to be able to create in my home as I can still be surrounded by my family and not feel isolated.
It influences the way I work in that my pieces are mostly on paper and no bigger than A2/A3 size, this enables me to pack away my art and tools to allow my family to still eat their dinners!
Is there a work of art in your life that has especially impressed you?
This is an incredibly difficult question to answer as there have been many many works of art that have impressed me; both from the past and my contemporaries. I have always loved travelling and all of my trips involved taking in the culture and art of that place.
An experience that has stuck with me for around 25 years was standing in the middle of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey and gazing up at the ceiling. The circular patterns (that decorate the inside of the five domes) entirely made from thousands of Iznic tiles, were truly mesmerizing and considering it was built in the 1600s is definitely a work of art!
Reach to the stars: where will you be in 5 years?
In five years time I would love to have studio space in my back garden, so I am still close to my family but have a space that is all mine to get creative in (and not worry about the mess!).
And to have my art exhibiting in more galleries and hanging in beautiful homes around the world.
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