Pressed and Pulled - Works of Charlotte Sainsbury

Charlotte is a contemporary printmaker and painter working from her home on the Rame Peninsula, situated on the Cornish/Devon border. She creates bold and colourful prints, with an emphasis on texture, based on her connections to her local surroundings of the Cornish coast and moorlands. She is particularly drawn to the juxtaposition of historical man-made structures, such as boatyards, docks, tin mines and harbours, set against the ever-changing natural world. These contrasts form the basis of her visual language, echoing the tension between order and chaos, creation and destruction.

She specialises in a printmaking technique called collagraph, which allows her to experiment with different textures and materials, creating layers and depths within her prints. Although it can be a challenge to envision the end result, she enjoys the process because it encourages creativity and spontaneity. When building the plate she often incorporates a range of diverse elements such as wallpapers, string, netting, sand and impressed marks to create a detailed surface. Once sealed, the plate is inked up and ready for running through the press. She applies the printing ink in a painterly way using brushes, rollers and rags to emphasise the surface texture and control the areas of colour. Despite coming from the same plate and being part of an edition, each print has its own own unique qualities with no two prints being exactly the same.

Charlotte originally trained in ceramics at the Central School of Art in London and spent the next 25 years running a business as a freelance china restorer in Wiltshire. After raising three children and desiring more creativity in her life she returned to university to gain a masters degree in Multi-disciplinary Printmaking from UWE, Bristol in 2013. Soon after finishing, an opportunity arose for her and her husband to move to south-east Cornwall, home of her ancestors, and fulfilling a lifelong dream for both of them.