CREATIVE SPACES | SALLY BLACK
SALLY BLACK IN HER STUDIO AT STRATHNAIRN ARTS
Having recently moved into one of our studios we sat down for a chat and a look around Sally Black’s new studio space. Sally Black is a full-time visual artist in Canberra, producing works on paper with water-based mediums such as watercolour and ink. She create landscapes in monotype printmaking techniques with watercolour inks that push towards abstraction. She is also known for her pen and watercolour sketches detail everyday scenes with unusual perspectives and distortions which she teaches at galleries around Canberra and surrounding areas.
Sally’s work has been shown in a number of group exhibitions in Canberra and she is currently working on a series of landscapes as the Artist-in-Residence at The Crisp Galleries, Bowning NSW. Sally has an interest in exploring the deep connections to the landscape both from her perspective as an artist to the connections landholders have to their properties. These landscapes will be shown in her solo exhibition at Strathnairn Arts from 29th June until 24th July 2022.
Sally’s studio is open by appointment and you can stay in touch with her on her social media HERE
Here’s Sally’s take on her practice, studio, The Arts and thoughts for other artists…
1. How would you describe your Arts Practice?
I create works on paper using watercolour inks and paint. I use a range of techniques such as painting, printmaking and on location sketching. I particularly love using watercolour as a medium with its beautiful transparency and the effects they give during the printmaking process.
2. Have you done any study? related to art or not?
Yes. I have a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma of Visual Art. I have also undertaken numerous painting courses overseas and here in Australia.
3. What do you find most inspiring about your art space?
As a studio holder I am surrounded by creative, talented people within an organization that is dedicated to the Arts. I am inspired as soon as I drive into the Strathnairn Arts precinct. My studio provides me with the space so I can truly express my creative freedom. It gives me the headspace so I can be bold and confident.
4. What does a studio day in your life look like?
Make a coffee. Turn up the music. Plan new works. Sketch. Paint. Print. If I have time after that I water the plants and stomp on the weeds in the garden.
5. How have you grown as an artist since starting out?
For me it’s all about confidence. I now have the confidence to try new things, to be bold and to smile when I have failures.
6. What gets you up in the morning and drives you to be a working artist?
To be totally honest having my own studio set up with everything I need and use is the drive. It’s a place I go to create without any of the mundane distractions at home. It’s my happy place.
7. How did you stay focused and original when starting out?
Staying focused is easy to do when you have the passion and drive. Staying original is all about doing what makes me happy and passionate not following what others do.
8. What are the biggest challenges facing working artists and how do you overcome them?
The biggest challenge is the financial outlay in setting up my art practice. The long term goal for my art practice is to become financially self-sufficient. My studio is the bedrock on which I am pursuing this journey.
9. What do you read, watch, listen to, do to stay inspired?
Artist books in my studio that inspire me include Brett Whitely, Cressida Campbell and John Olsen. Music is always playing in my studio. Spotify playlists featuring anything from Motown, Jazz, Punk to recent popular music. The volume gets cranked up when I pull out the paint brush.
10. Do you have any advice for young artists?
Sketch daily. Carry a sketchbook and sketch what you see around you. Do what you enjoy and embrace the failures!
