BIO | EXAMPLES OF WORK

Though an intriguing face glimpsed in the street is often enough to trigger Sarah Dolby's paint-brush, the ethereal feminine creatures that inhabit her work soon outgrow the bounds of reality.

She says, "When I paint I feel as if I am existing in between two worlds:  the one that we all participate in and the darker more seductive world of the imagination."

'The Hand Maid' With their distorted limbs and unflinching gazes Sarah's women are of another worldly breed. And it's not surprising given the rich fantasy-fiction diet she indulges in while developing her paintings. 

Margaret Atwood's dark masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale was the impetus for The Handmaid, while the fanciful world of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights permeates some of her earlier paintings.  

Sarah actively seeks out books and films that will feed the atmosphere of her paintings. She spends much of her time listening to audio novels while standing at the easel always keeping her energetic imagination nicely topped up with fantastical fodder.  

"I'm always searching when I'm painting", says Sarah. "I go right into myself, into this frame of mind where the figures I paint become real characters and I'm there to bring them out or uncover them - dust away the dirt."

- Additional Information and Art from Sarah Dolby -

Sarah Dolby was born on September 25, 1971 in Wanaka, New Zealand.  Sarah spent most of her 20s travelling throughout Europe, Asia and Morocco. After working as an artist part-time in London for a couple of years she returned to  New Zealand in 1997 and completed a Degree in Fine Arts at the Otago Polytechnic's School of Art.

Soon after graduating she joined Animation Research Ltd  where she works as an artist  - applying her skills to computer graphics.

When not at work she retreats to her home in Brighton on the Otago rugged southern coast and spends many hours before her easel.

Artist Statement
I have always loved the vivid imagination that we carry with us as children.
As adults it sometimes resurfaces in our dreams but rarely in our waking life. Through my paintings I try to recreate that elusive quality of endless possibilities- exploring imagery that is representative of an intense emotion, a glimpse of a dream or a fleeting  memory.