Sarah Purvey completed an MA in ceramics at Bath Spa University in 2009 having completed her BA twenty years previously in 1991. Predominantly she works in clay and on paper and explored an intensely physical relationship with drawing throughout her practice.
Purvey creates powerful, sculptural ceramics which combine monumentality and subtlety to unique effect. Her explorations of form, tonality and the possibilities of clay resolve themselves in large, engaging and instinctive vessels. Each one of Sarah Purvey’s monumental structures are part of a personal exploration into the possibilities of the medium. There is a tension to be found within each form that neatly mirrors the forces that pervade in nature itself. The Wiltshire landscape in which Sarah Purvey is based as well as the ever-changing internal landscape of the artist put their mark on every piece made.
She works simultaneously with the external and internal spaces of each form. The internal seemingly empty space is an important factor for her as it both carries and contains embedded experience and association. This openness and potential to carry is not however to be confused with any inferred utilitarian function. In separating function from form Purvey safeguards the integrity of each individual sculpture. The integrity of the process itself is a high priority for the artist.
She has had solo exhibitions in St Ives, Amsterdam and Bath and has shown widely in group exhibitions including New York and London. Her work is represented by galleries both nationally and internationally.
