Sarah Holloway Smith is a British artist, born in the North of England. Sarah graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with an Honors Degree in Applied Design with Art History, majoring in Textiles and Stained Glass. Edinburgh Art College allowed her to fully indulge her love of texture, fabric and yarn with her fascination of the effects of light on color. Strong drawing skills and integrity of line were a key part of her studies at College and this strength of drawing remains a critical component of her work today. Sarah has always loved color and texture, she can't remember a time when drawing, painting or 'cutting up and sticking' weren't part of her life.
After College she spent some years in the Information and Design Department at London Zoo re-designing animal enclosures with environmentally specific designs. She then worked for Royal Doulton Ltd, where she led a team of artists interpreting design briefs for 2 and 3 dimensional Collectables, putting briefs to modelers and artists all over the world to create unique originals and then collaborating with differing manufacturing sites to develop approved prototypes.
As the daughter of Hobby Farming parents, the outdoors had a huge impact on Sarah's childhood- she grew up surrounded by pigs, chickens, horses, farmyard animals of every type and all kinds of fruit trees!
Sarah's current portfolio is a collection of unique pieces inspired by Mother Nature and the furry, feathery characters around her. Made up of paintings on canvas, drawings on paper and mixed media pieces utilizing fabric and handmade paper Sarah enjoys the strength of line and the play of light on color the most as she attempts to match strength of form through her drawing, with layers of paint and texture that still allow the light to show through.
Since returning to the studio full time, she has gone back to class to revisit the foundations of composition and palette.This has reminded her of the importance of value and she has relearned the huge potential of the acrylic medium.
She has always been entranced by the captured light in Turner's work, the luminescence in Whistler's Nocturnes, the sheer strength in Van Gogh's drawings and sketchbooks, the energy of Rodin's sculptures and the beautiful clarity of Matisse' line drawings.
Sarah has travelled the world as an expat living in the UK, Norway, South Korea, Australia and the US. She currently lives on a small farm in Texas, USA with her two and four legged family where she plans to give back to Mother Earth by planting trees, cultivating a garden and beginning her career as a bee keeper.
For me, art is an intimate gesture—a translation of love and passion into tangible form.
Creativity is a living dialogue, where one inspiration gives rise to another, creating an ongoing journey of discovery.
I am deeply drawn to the natural world—it’s forms, textures, colors, and the effects of light and shadow that reveal assorts of secrets that fascinate me. I see a splash of color, a pattern with texture or a shape repeated and it stays with me.
I consider the patterns and colors around me, I see flashes of what the image could be, how I might translate what I see around me onto a surface. Drawing is an essential part of my process, after the initial drawing stage, I build the form with values in paint or paper, using line to underpin the whole. I build gently, layer on layer with paper, paint, pencil, pastel, oilstick, ink and conte until I get to where I need to be. I try to keep delicacy and strength as equal partners in each piece.
While I experiment with the pieces that I create, I’m appreciative that no two journeys are the same. It is the unexpected discoveries along the way that invigorate and propel my creativity forward.
Over the past year, I have been exploring a newness to my art and am in the middle of creating lots of new work to reveal. I feel I have finally found my style and am so excited to share with you my art's evolution.
- Sarah
Education
BA Honors Applied Design, Herriot Watt University 1989
Exhibitions
2025:Chateau Orquevaux art residency.
Awarded Diderot Grant.
Private commissions.
2024: Mosaic Art and Home. Smithville TX
Private commissions.
2023: Crow Exhibition, Laughing Crow Artisans, Springer, NM.
Mosaic Art and Home, Smithville ,TX.
‘New Texas Talent’. Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas. TX.
Private commissions.
2022 : Spring Cottage Gallery ,Old Town Spring TX.
Featured Artist Lost Pines Art Center, Bastrop TX.
Visual Arts Society Bryan/College Station TX Spring Show
‘Heartbreaker’ Exhibition, Red Velvet Inn, Navasota. TX
Donkey Museum, Mesquite, Nevada.
Private commissions.
2021: Burlap Ranch Mercantile, Tomball TX
August and Ivy Boutique, Katy TX.
Featured Artist Lost Pines Art Center, Bastrop TX.
2020 :‘Seeking the Source’ group exhibition MoonSpace Art Gallery. (online).
Special recognition LightSpaceTime Gallery. (online)
Featured Artist LightSpaceTime Gallery. (online).
Professional Experience
2022-present Freelance artist and Creative
2020 to 2022 Freelance Artist and volunteer art teacher at various events including:
Presbyterian Organization, Houston TX;
Art Festival, Bastrop TX
2015 to 2020: Substitute Teacher, Village School, Houston TX
1990 to 1997: Royal Doulton PLC, Head of Sculptural Art, UK
1989 to 1990: Information and Design Unit, London Zoo, UK
Awards and Publications
2022: Southwest Art Magazine.
2022: Canvas Rebel Interview (online)
2022: Spotlight Magazine
2020: Light Space Time Gallery, Featured Artist