Sara Bowen

Hello!  I'm Sara and I am an artist living in sub-tropical New South Wales, Australia.   I was born in the UK but moved to Australia with my family in 2006.  Now I live in the countryside just outside Coffs Harbour with my family, a dog and assorted chickens.  We live totally off the grid with solar electricity and rain water, which is a very different life to the one we used to live in the UK!

I love being an artist. Sometimes it is frustrating, it is rarely easy but it is incredibly rewarding. Most artists maintain their arts practice by working at another job: I am lucky enough to teach printmaking part-time at North Coast Institute of TAFE (i.e. a further education college that offers training in between High School level and university level, if you’re unfamiliar with the Australian education system).

My work as an artist is going reasonably well: I exhibit regularly in Australia and oversees, and people (other than friends and family, I mean) are beginning to know who I am, but it is a struggle to make the most of opportunities to develop my work. 

This year I've been given an incredible opportunity - to go to Europe and present at the Impact 8 international interdisciplinary printmaking conference in Dundee, Scotland in August, followed by the chance to undertake my first artists' residency at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy.  We’ve been saving up enough air miles to get me all the way from the east coast of Australia to the east coast of Scotland and I would love to work at the Scuola in Venice for two weeks.  It seems slightly mad not to try and take up the offer when I will be so close!

As a resident at the Scuola I will have access to a fantastically well-equipped printmaking and book making studio and technical help, and the chance to meet and interact with other visiting artists and staff. I need to raise the money to pay for travelling to Venice from Scotland, the residency fees plus food and art materials – and that’s where I need your help!

Your sponsorship will make a world of difference: any donation will help me to pay for the practical aspects of getting there and living, enabling me to concentrate on developing new work.  Pozible is an all-or-nothing fundraising system so if I don’t meet my target I will receive nothing towards my expenses and I won’t be able to take up the residency. Hopefully contributing towards the development of my art will make you feel great, but all donors will receive rewards based on donation levels – for more information, see the rewards ladder, down the right hand side of this page.

Thank you for your interest in my project and your support. I will be regularly updating my blog with my fundraising progress and with news and information about my work.

Sara

You can see more of my work on my blog (follow the link to my Flickr photostream) at

http://doubleelephant.wordpress.com

I also set up an international bookarts collective called :BookArtObject" in 2009 and you can see our work at the collective's blog:

http://bookartobject.blogspot.com

What do residencies do for artists?

Residencies are a chance to go away and see your work in a new light, to meet and work with new people, and to learn new skills, and they can build artistic relationships that go on for years.  I've applied for residencies before but, having no previous experience doing one I've been unsuccessful - until now!  Spending time at the Scuola will be incredibly important for my work, enabling me to spend time making new work in a very enriching environment, and I'll be bringing back to Australia many prints and drawings that will be the basis of more new work for a solo show planned in 2014.  If I go to the Scuola , work VERY hard while I'm there and come back with good work not only will that help me with exhibitions, but it will also give me a demonstrated track record when I apply for future residencies.

Cost breakdown

Residency fees €1,000 = approx $1,250

Food for two weeks €30 /day = €500 = approx. $625

Arts supplies €100 = approx. $125

= approx.. $2,000

Additional funds

If I am lucky enough to succeed in funding my residency with your help and have any money left over I would like to spend it on materials for my solo show next year: etching paper, inks, slate for engravings, and replacement rollers because mine melted in my studio this year!