Sally James Bio

What do artists and scientists have in common? This is a question that I asked myself when reflecting upon what drew me towards my first career as a biological scientist, and then towards my second, seemingly dissimilar, career in reduction linocut printmaking. It seemed to me that curiosity, and the drive to comprehend and engage with the natural world – to touch upon the edges of its mystery and wonder – were traits that both groups might share.

Born in Hobart in 1970, I am best known for Tasmanian landscapes where I use the reduction linocut printmaking technique to build up layers of transparent oil ink to depict light glowing through water and foliage. My experience of growing up in Tasmania is threaded through with memories of family picnics, camping, and boating around the coast. After graduating from the University of Tasmania in 1992, I completed a Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of New South Wales in 1997. I worked in Sweden as a post-doctoral researcher at Lund University for two years, returning to Sydney in 2000 as a lecturer in Environmental Microbiology at UNSW. In 2005 I left academia and moved back to Tasmania with my young family.

I have always maintained a regular practice in art, building skills in watercolours, oil painting, pastels, and drawing. I attended printmaking classes in 2018 and was captivated by the clean lines and subtle colour gradients of this medium. I found that reduction printmaking involved many of the same thought processes intrinsic to scientific research, such as making sense of complexity through pattern-recognition and simplification. Recently, I have begun combining linocut and monoprinting techniques to create subtle soft edges.

I have exhibited consistently, building an impressive tally of awards in local and national competitions, including winning People’s Choice in the Art Society of Tasmania’s annual exhibitions in 2020, 2021, and 2022, their Best Use of Media Award in 2020 and 2023, and winning the ‘Other Mediums’ section of Water Ways in 2023. In the Kingborough Art Prize, my work was Highly Commended in 2021, and won Best Works on Paper in 2022. In the Rotary of Hobart annual exhibition, I won the Robin Hood Award in 2021 and 2022, and the People & Nature prize in 2022. I was selected as a finalist in the Megalo Relief online exhibition in 2020, the Burnie Print Prize in 2021 and 2023, the Henry Jones Art Prize in 2021 and 2022, and the Tidal.22 Tasmanian Art Award in 2022.

In late 2021 I was approached by the Colville Gallery and am now one of their represented artists.

My first solo exhibition, ‘Water and Sky’ was in August 2022 at the Rosny Farm Arts Centre, and my second solo exhibition was held at the Colville gallery in May 2023.

My work has also been purchased and displayed as public art as part of the 2023 refurbishment of the Peacock wing of the Hobart Repatriation Hospital, and by the Hobart police department.