Friday 1 May 2020

A Swansea woman has told how she was “inspired” to create a striking set of artwork in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance after the charity gave emergency care to a member of her family.

Swansea artist Sarah Hopkins has created 15 prints to be sold in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance Charity.

The artist/printmaker was further inspired to create her latest work, which takes several days to make, after seeing the newly painted wall of graffiti at Swansea Rec.

The 15 screenprints, which 100% of the profits will go to the Charity, are made by layering blocks of colour and printing through hand cut paper stencils. They are then printed onto 285gsm Rosapina paper, each image has been created using 14 separate stencils, all carefully registered on top of each other.

Sarah from Uplands said: ‘It communicates an important message and is a stark reminder whilst we are all still on lockdown. I was inspired to capture the moment by creating a piece of artwork to reinforce and share the same message. 

‘I really think it is vital we don’t lose momentum and stay at home wherever possible to protect the most vulnerable in our society and NHS.’

The fundraiser was launched last week and there has been a lot of interest in the artwork. Sarah has had lots of positive messages from family, friends and people who follow her work through her social media.

Her work focuses on urban and man-made landscapes and the industrial heritage of South Wales.

The director of progression at Coleg Sir Gar has a personal reason to raise funds for the charity.

She said: ‘A member of our extended family recently needed Wales Air Ambulance in an emergency situation, and the service saved his life. We are all hugely grateful.

I’m also conscious that many charities are losing out on their usual funding streams due to the understandable focus on Coronavirus.’

Sarah has been a practicing artist since 1987, she originally set up a studio in Salubrious Passage after she left art school. She worked from there full time for three years, supplying her art to local galleries.

She now has a studio at home and uses print Workshop for editioning.

Sarah has used her talent to teach art and design, textiles, theatre design and design technology to students of all ages.

Mark Stevens, Wales Air Ambulance’s South Wales Fundraising Manager, said: "We cannot begin to thank Sarah enough for her incredible generosity in creating and selling her printwork for the Wales Air Ambulance. The 100% profits raised will ensure we can continue to be there for the people of Wales when they need us. I would like to say thank you to Sarah, for thinking of the charity during these difficult times, and to everyone who has bought her artwork.”

The Wales Air Ambulance is Coleg Sir Gar and Coleg Ceredigion’s chosen charity for this academic year. They will be raffling one of Sarah’s prints to raise further funds. For more information visit their Just Giving page here. 

You can visit Sarah’s artwork here