Sarah Kudirka
- Work
- Biography
An award-winning artist of over 30 years' practice, Sarah Kudirka paints in oils on linen panels, instant film and sometimes objects. She is also the founder of K U D I R K A, an exhibition/sojourn space focused on Scottish and international art.
Sarah is a maker of "work that is beautiful, layered and thoughtful" - Jan Patience
Kudirka is focused on the shapes and edges of things – lately shell-like and bowl:boat forms, previously buildings, furniture and belongings. She makes iteratively glazed, incised, scratched, scraped, trashed and layered semi-abstract images, in paint, ink and pencil. Recent paintings have addressed compassion, distance/closeness and sharing space with reference to small-boat traditions of human journeying across oceans.
Visiting an archaeological site in East Africa as a child convinced her that we're outlived by things and the stuff we use, inherit or pass on connects us to culture and place.
Her City Skies Polaroids series was inspired by walking through cities looking up at the sky between buildings.
High-level creative consultancy for a decade with Arup engineers, architects and clients on public realm and building projects, working with design teams. As inhouse artist, Sarah founded 'The Penguin Pool' a global Arup events series for sparking interdisciplinary connections, successfully launching it in 15 cities worldwide.
Worked for the Director of Tate Modern (Nick Serota then Vicente Todoli) and was a Charity Trustee/Board Member of Acme, while based in London, before relocation to Scotland in 2017.
Changed from her maiden name, Davenport, to Kudirka (it is Lithuanian) on
Sarah is a maker of "work that is beautiful, layered and thoughtful" - Jan Patience
Kudirka is focused on the shapes and edges of things – lately shell-like and bowl:boat forms, previously buildings, furniture and belongings. She makes iteratively glazed, incised, scratched, scraped, trashed and layered semi-abstract images, in paint, ink and pencil. Recent paintings have addressed compassion, distance/closeness and sharing space with reference to small-boat traditions of human journeying across oceans.
Visiting an archaeological site in East Africa as a child convinced her that we're outlived by things and the stuff we use, inherit or pass on connects us to culture and place.
Her City Skies Polaroids series was inspired by walking through cities looking up at the sky between buildings.
High-level creative consultancy for a decade with Arup engineers, architects and clients on public realm and building projects, working with design teams. As inhouse artist, Sarah founded 'The Penguin Pool' a global Arup events series for sparking interdisciplinary connections, successfully launching it in 15 cities worldwide.
Worked for the Director of Tate Modern (Nick Serota then Vicente Todoli) and was a Charity Trustee/Board Member of Acme, while based in London, before relocation to Scotland in 2017.
Changed from her maiden name, Davenport, to Kudirka (it is Lithuanian) on
BA (Hons) Fine Art 1990 The University of Leeds
MA Sculpture Studies 1991 The University of Leeds
Awards:
Purchase Prize - Young Artists South East
Major Award - The British Council
The Passey Prize in Art - University of Leeds
Light in Art - The Prudential
Solo Shows:
2023 a bowl : a boat - The Briggait, Glasgow
2017 When did you last look up? – StockWool, London Festival of Architecture
2015 Paint + Polaroids – Canary Wharf, London
2005 Belongings – Toni Heath Gallery, London
2001 Fit and Proper – London Stock Exchange
2000 As Seen on TV – bbb contemporary art, London
1998 Vocabulary – Oliver J Benjamin, London
1995 Methodiz’d – Casson Gallery, Eastbourne
1993 Chairs & Stripes – Newlyn Gallery, Leeds
1992 Country Seat – Lotherton Hall, Aberford
Selected Group Shows:
2024 Lift Others Up - K U D I R K A, Glasgow
2024 Blue - Stallan Brand, Glasgow
2023 WASPS x Kirkcudbright Galleries - Kirkcudbright
2022 Finding the Wonder - Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay
2021 STOP.START with Rowena Comrie - South Block, Glasgow
2021 INSTANT, Society of Scottish Artists, co-Curator
2019 Little Originals - Dockstreet Gallery, Dundee
2019 ArtCarBootSale - Patricia Fleming Gallery/SWG3, Glasgow
2019 Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair - Kelvingrove, Glasgow
2018 Into The City - Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk
2015, '16 & '17 The Other Art Fair - London
2003 Pop Culture - Beatrice Royal Art Gallery, Southampton
2002 Size Matters - Stephen Lacey Gallery, London
2001 ARTFutures - Contemporary Art Society, London
Residencies/Trusteeships/Publications:
2021 Paper published in Studies in Photography journal
2020 Speaker at National Trust for Scotland's Second Morton Symposium on
MA Sculpture Studies 1991 The University of Leeds
Awards:
Purchase Prize - Young Artists South East
Major Award - The British Council
The Passey Prize in Art - University of Leeds
Light in Art - The Prudential
Solo Shows:
2023 a bowl : a boat - The Briggait, Glasgow
2017 When did you last look up? – StockWool, London Festival of Architecture
2015 Paint + Polaroids – Canary Wharf, London
2005 Belongings – Toni Heath Gallery, London
2001 Fit and Proper – London Stock Exchange
2000 As Seen on TV – bbb contemporary art, London
1998 Vocabulary – Oliver J Benjamin, London
1995 Methodiz’d – Casson Gallery, Eastbourne
1993 Chairs & Stripes – Newlyn Gallery, Leeds
1992 Country Seat – Lotherton Hall, Aberford
Selected Group Shows:
2024 Lift Others Up - K U D I R K A, Glasgow
2024 Blue - Stallan Brand, Glasgow
2023 WASPS x Kirkcudbright Galleries - Kirkcudbright
2022 Finding the Wonder - Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay
2021 STOP.START with Rowena Comrie - South Block, Glasgow
2021 INSTANT, Society of Scottish Artists, co-Curator
2019 Little Originals - Dockstreet Gallery, Dundee
2019 ArtCarBootSale - Patricia Fleming Gallery/SWG3, Glasgow
2019 Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair - Kelvingrove, Glasgow
2018 Into The City - Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk
2015, '16 & '17 The Other Art Fair - London
2003 Pop Culture - Beatrice Royal Art Gallery, Southampton
2002 Size Matters - Stephen Lacey Gallery, London
2001 ARTFutures - Contemporary Art Society, London
Residencies/Trusteeships/Publications:
2021 Paper published in Studies in Photography journal
2020 Speaker at National Trust for Scotland's Second Morton Symposium on
- Sarah Kudirka
- Across Oceans (a big blue) - private collection
- Oil
- Sarah Kudirka
- Flag for the dunes (a bowl, a boat)
- Oil
- Sarah Kudirka
- Colours & Sounds (oil on instax)
- Mixed Media
- Sarah Kudirka
- Fields, Happily So, Outwith
- Oil
- Sarah Kudirka
- Block (Post-Colonial)
- Oil
- Sarah Kudirka
- Machine (Post-Colonial)
- Oil
- Sarah Kudirka
- Purple Orange Red diptych - private collection
- Digital print
- Sarah Kudirka
- Around - painted metal table
- Mixed Media
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