Sophie Parr

I consider myself an emerging artist, and a teacher of Art & Photography in Secondary Education.

My work is inspired by the landscape; I use it to trigger ideas, forms and structures. My paintings are not direct representations but an attempt to represent the feeling of being there; the movement, the elements, the textures and colours.

My relationship with the landscape perhaps stems from growing up in Cheshire, family walks were a common occurrence. As a young art student I would retrace some of my favourite walks on my own, observing and trying to discover what interested me and how to portray it. I did my degree at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Art, much of the work I developed was from a huge number of drawings I made whilst walking the Sandstone Trail.

Following my degree I became a secondary school Art teacher.

My painting renaissance developed from sketches/studies that I produced on family holidays in Cornwall. Becoming interested in the relationship between water and the land, finding the dramatic nature of the sea and the continually changing beach surface exciting.

More recently I have started working from my local landscape, especially the Sandstone Trail. I increasingly rely on my photography to help me compose and try different viewpoints. Mark making, textures, layers and colour are still my preoccupation. I often use a square format so that I can focus on the textures in the foreground.

Photography also allows me to record all year round the seasonal changes and work within my time constraints of teaching. It has always been an important part of the process of developing my ideas to work with a variety of media and techniques, such as printmaking, collage watercolour, inks. for me this time spent investigating is vital for creating successful paintings.

An addition of a dog to our family has allowed me to appreciate the subtle changes of the my environment day to day. In particular the hedgerows and how they change through the seasons. One of the pleasures of Lockdown is witnessing spring arrive, then summer. I have a lot of photographs! I am currently producing work to go in an exhibition 'My Shifting Landscape' in June 2021

Education​

1989 - Art Foundation at West Cheshire College of Art & Design.
1989 - 1992 - BA (Hons) Fine Art - Cheltenham & and Gloucester College of Art
1992 -1993 - PGCE in Art @ Liverpool John Moores University
1993 - present day - Teacher of Art and Photography (Secondary)
2018 - Member of the Arts committee at Castle Park Arts Centre,

EXHIBITIONS

November 2020 - Feb 2021 Castle Park Open
13th July - 30th August - Summer Landscapes Hadfield Fine Art (Online Exhibition)
18th May - 14th June 'The Coast' Hadfield Fine Art (Online Exhibition)
7th December - Liverpool Arts Market
12th October 2019 – 17th November 2019 The Artist Collection 2019, at the Patchings Barn Gallery’, Patchings Art Centre, Oxton Road, Calverton, Nottinghamshire
18th September - 30th October 2019- 'A Sense of Place' Castle Park Art Centre - Launching 20th September 7 - 9pm
11 July to 11 August TALP Open Exhibition 2019 - 11 July to 11 August. Patchings Art Centre, Oxton Road, Calverton, Nottinghamshire
14th June - 1st September 2019 Liverpool Art Fair 2019
9th November - 22nd December 2018 - Castle Park Arts Centre Annual Open Art Exhibition
12th July - 12th August 2018- 'The Artist Open Competition Exhibition, Patchings Art Centre
1 -14th March 2018 - Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour Open Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London.
November 2017 - Castle Park Arts Centre - Annual Open
November 2017 - Abbeywood Estates Art Exhibition
September 2017 - Cheshire Open Studios- Exhibition and open studio. Won 2 awards 'Steering Group Award' and 'Visitors Choice' Award'
ACHIEVEMENTS

'Gorse Up the Bank' winner of Castle Park Open Exhibition 2020

Shortlisted for Jackson’s Art Prize, 2020

Long-listed for Jackson’s Art Prize, 2019​

Premium Arts Brands Award - The Artist and Leisure Painter Open 2018​

The Artist Exhibition Award - The Artist and Leisure Painter Open 2018