Sarah Thornton-Smith

Biography

Arriving from Singapore in her early teens, Sarah was struck by the quality of the light here in Western Australia, which contrasted with her formative experience of light bound by tropical lushness. Her foundation years at Curtin University in the School of Design, guided her to her lifelong fascination with colour. Her visual art practice gives her opportunities to explore the myriad of attributes of colour in the compositions and constructions she creates. Her work stems from observing nature directly with photographic documentation, field study drawings and illustrations. Influenced by rhythmic beats of music, narrative words or ideas, whether small or large scaled, her work echoes the intimacy of the process involved and highlights the temporary nature of our feelings through which our experiences and memories are created.

Artist Statement

Imbued with curiosity about the way colour influences our lives, my work attempts to capture a little of what nature enthrals us with in memory, sensation and emotion. Using gradated manipulation of gouache on paper, with sequenced cuts and folds, where light and shadow allude to visual and optical play, patterns emerge to highlight a moment of connection.