Art and artists

I paint portraits from life. Mostly they are achieved in one session, in one day.

I spent many years working in graphic design, working to a brief, drawing all the time.

Sally Bamber

I grow stronger in the idea that art comes from being selfish. In finding a positive use for this word I am being intensely personal. I find words irritating because, no matter what my selection or composition, they are rarely interpreted as I intend. However, with my painting and drawing, I find the numerous interpretations made quite interesting.
How we appear to others or what we think we look like to ourselves is often quite different from how others see us. Our behaviour, our relationships, our appearance change and alter, in some more subtly, in others more dramatically.

I paint people.
I like the word ‘portrait’ less and less. It suggests formality, stiffness, pose. And, whilst I cannot get away from looking for the right angle, I can try to make this more normal - not for over the fire place, but above the desk, not with a heavy gold frame on the grand staircase, but as a group in the bedroom - something altogether much more personal.

Sally's CV

• Chelsea School of Art, Graphic Design 2.1 BA(Hons) 1976-1980
• One of eight overall winners from London art colleges of the Thames Television Travel Bursary; 1978. Traveled across the US, Canada and Mexico
• making drawings of Royal Ballet dancer Wayne Eagling
• Green & Stone Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, 1978
• Hesketh Hubbard Art Society annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries; July 2003, August 2004, July 2005, October 2006, and July 2007
• Federation of British Artists Open Day; July 2003
• Artists consultancy with Sheeran Lock; February 2004
• Princes Drawing School, Drawing Symposium; September 2005
• First solo exhibition at Lightgallery, London, "Soulsbodies"; December 2005
• Group exhibition at Aristao Gallery, London, "Spirit & Form"; May 2006
• Group exhibition, Barnet Open at Arts Depot; June 2007
• Joint exhibition "Three-way" with portrait photographer Robert Taylor, Oxford; January 2008
• Group exhibition, The Untitled Artists Fair, Chelsea, London; June 2008
• Group exhibition, Art Below's summer exhibition on London Underground; August 2008
• Featured artist of Art Below's summer exhibition in Artists & Illustrators Magazine; August 2008
• Group exhibition, Art Below's winter exhibition on London Underground; December 2008
• Group exhibition, The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition; Grasmere, Cumbria; July/August 2009
• Private collections

Words and pictures courtesy of Sally Bamber