Conversation with Sarah Wiseman
Gallery Director, Sarah Wiseman Gallery
If you were to give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
That would be easy! And I still give myself this advice daily, stop being so self –critical. It is an easy trap to fall into, comparing your achievements and successes against others and feeling that you need to and can do better. However in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of my gallery this year I think I can look back and say I have done a good job.
What are you excited about right now?
Our forthcoming solo exhibition for Henrietta Dubrey ‘Genius Loci – a Painterly response by Henrietta Dubrey to the works of Peter Lanyon’
Henrietta’s paintings oscillate between figurative elements and abstraction. Her work is semi – autobiographical and this exhibition relates to where she lives in Cornwall and the profound connection she feels through her artistic practice with the St Ives School, in particular Peter Lanyon.
‘The landscape in Cornwall is wild and sparse, full of sky, field, granite, moor, cliff and sea. I have sought not to copy, not to slavishly sketch and paint in situ but to let a general feeling of Lanyon’s oeuvre seep into my consciousness.’
Durbey
The exhibition is a visual poem between artist, landscape and artist. The paintings are fresh, direct - simply breath taking, like standing on the coast line of Cornwall. I am very much looking forward to presenting this show at the gallery in September.
Which female artist, living or dead, would you invite to a fantasy dinner party and why?
Artemisia Gentileschi – 17th Century Baroque painter. Artemisia is the first artist I encountered described as a ‘woman artist’ whilst studying History of Art as a young woman. She is widely regarded as the most important female artist before the modern period, her vision of the female in her paintings give us the first heroic women in art. Her depictions of women are a unique voice in a time when women had little autonomy and are particularly poignant when placed against the background of her early rape and the trial to gain a conviction against the perpetrator which in turn overshadowed her reputation.
Her life story continues to be fascinating and relevant to us today. I would be keen to discuss and compare her experiences as an independent woman living and working in the 17th Century with issues concerning us as women working today.