Sara Lee is a leading contemporary artist engaged with the fragile beauty of nature.
Primarily working in pastels, her drawings are a response to the ephemeral nature of landscape and our relationship with it.
This solo exhibition, awarded to Lee as the winner of the 2025 South Downs Open, is the culmination of an ongoing series of works which Lee has been creating in response to her walks on the South Downs. The exhibition will feature new works created specifically for the show, alongside field notes and sketchbooks.
Find out more about Sara Lee and her other works at http://saraleeartist.co.uk/
Pick up a copy of our exhibition catalogue from The Shop and dive deeper into
Sara Lee: Chalk Lines. Drawings from the South Downs.
'Sara Lee is an artist whose work consistently engages with the natural world, with the solo walks she has undertaken over many years often being her starting point. It is the deeply felt, lasting memory of the sensation of being in a place that Lee explores in her work, primarily through chalk pastel drawings and woodcut prints'
- Extract from Chalk Lines by Louise Weller
About the Artist
Sara Lee’s practice involves walking in and working from the land, followed by extended studio-based work. Her images are a response to the fragile beauty of nature and question our profound relationship with it, especially at this time of environmental change. She predominantly works with drawing and print, including pastel and woodblock, using techniques borrowed from the Japanese tradition.
Born in Wales, Sara lives and works in London. She studied at Ravensbourne and Central Schools of Art. Throughout her career, Lee has exhibited extensively and her work is part of public and private collections, including Pallant House Gallery in West Sussex, the Tama Collection in Japan and Victoria & Albert Museum in London. She has participated in major group exhibitions, including at the Royal Academy, London and international print shows. Lee works closely with Rabley Gallery, an international gallery and print publisher based in Wiltshire, specialising in drawings and prints. Lee first joined Rabley Gallery as an Artist-in-Residence in 2013. She spent time in the Wiltshire landscape around the gallery each month, visiting and revisiting the same place throughout the seasons. The resulting work was shown in a solo exhibition, Ley of the Land.
The work in the exhibition is for sale through Rabley Gallery. https://rableygallery.com/artists/sara-lee/109027
