In conversation with artist Sarah Barton-Hills
Experimentation and joy for colour and composition have always been front and centre for the Auckland-based creative.
For Auckland artist Sarah Barton-Hills, the journey to being an artist started with being drawn to sensation. “It was swimming in the ocean, light dancing on my face while I was perched halfway up a tree, or playing with my mum’s old fabrics, buttons and dresses as a kid,” she says.
“Drawing, painting and playing with clay and fabric have been my go-to grounding activities for as long as I can remember. My fondest memories as a child are of sewing with my mum, getting dirty on the tracks of the Waitākere Ranges to find the perfect leaf, building cities in the clay banks at the end of our street or rowing my dinghy, muscles aching from hours of pottering around a bay. Seeing paint glide across the surface, noticing with the slightest change of movement how I could manipulate the outcome was fascinating to me from the start. Even when I was making clothes or bed linens later in my various dabblings, I was embellishing them with paint or trim.”
It was these jobs in fashion, designing bed linen and working in interiors that kept this interest alight. “The play of contrast and hue, whether it be orchestrating a vignette, a new bed linen range or a room or a home, experimentation and joy for colour and composition have always been front and centre.”
“Seeing paint glide across the surface, noticing with the slightest change of movement how I could manipulate the outcome was fascinating to me from the start.”
Developing a signature painting style has only come from experience for Sarah.
“I was taught early on it had to be an almost daily thing. And it’s true. I find if I step away for even a couple of weeks I get a little rusty and it takes a couple of dud throw-away pieces before I’m back into the way I want to create. It’s really important to go out and look at what others are doing, look at the grand masters, get a diverse intake of inspiration, imitate, practise, try, and be willing to stuff up. It’s a journey,” she says.
“I go between tightening up and being more expressive, depending on where I am in the learning process. I enjoy painting expressively so my objective is to try to capture a scene figuratively while at the same time portraying it in a manner that’s bringing some feeling to it rather than trying to be directly representational. I guess I try to come back to that with every piece, especially when I feel I’m nearly there.”
I asked Sarah a bit more about what it’s like being an artist.
What do you enjoy most about painting?
The constant learning. The push and pull of creativity means you are always going from learning to practising to mastering, and then realising you need to understand something else, so it’s back to researching, learning and trying, failing and trying again, and then again! The pieces that end up in the trash are just as important as the ones that make it to the gallery wall because they teach you so much. We often repeat silly things by accident, but learning to be more expressive or to hold back always keeps it interesting. I also love the balance of a creative business; the marketing, the graphics and website communications, and I absolutely love the relationships I have now with other creatives, galleries and collectors because I finally put myself out there.
What’s the most challenging part of being an artist?
Being an artist can be quite isolating. I’ve found it’s really important to create a creative community as well as make sure I’ve got events and get-togethers in my calendar. Even a walk with a friend is enough to keep the good energy going.
The hours can also be long, especially on a deadline and the physicality of painting can take its toll. I’m conscious to try and incorporate daily strength training and stretching especially as I get older, to try and alleviate the inevitable postural issues but I still seem to end up at my lovely physio’s place every now and then.
What’s been the most exciting part?
Being invited to exhibit at Turua Gallery was a buzz that I really didn’t expect, it was so surreal to finally be taken seriously and then quickly afterwards be asked to be part of the first Art in the Park Exhibition at Eden Park Stadium. And I’ve just been invited to exhibit with DeNovo Gallery in Dunedin, so I’m really looking forward to that new journey too.
What is your advice to others wanting to exhibit their work?
It’s got to be something you are committed to. Carve out time for it – that part is not easy but if you are serious about getting your art out there it’s important to show your commitment, plus it will improve your work tenfold. In terms of exhibiting, I’d say start by joining community galleries. You’ll get to be part of something quite easily and can usually opt into their members’ exhibitions. This will in turn help build your CV. Make sure you have a social media presence as an artist, start building up your account with in-studio stories, posts and reels and community exhibition shots in your feed. It all helps to build up your presence and show you are serious, creatively. Immerse yourself in the local gallery scene. Get to exhibitions and see what other creatives are doing.
Creativity is part of being human, says Sarah. “Talents can be honed, but it takes time and an enormous amount of energy. Then you get to a stage where you can’t live without it. It’s important to make mistakes. As I say to the kids, ‘mistakes are the first attempt at learning something new’. So don’t be afraid to give something a go; time will pass whether you do or don’t, so you might as well do what makes your heart sing.”
Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
