Miss Sarah Richards

Job Title: PROFESSIONAL TUTOR IN FINE ART
Department: School of Creative and Performing Arts
Extension: 0151 291 3723
Email: richars1@hope.ac.uk

I hold a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking from Leeds Beckett University, with additional studies at the Cyprus School of Art and the Universitat de Belles Artes, Barcelona. My artistic practice primarily encompasses painting, drawing, and curating, with a research focus on mental health and environmental issues. 

My work lies at the intersection of arts and health, embracing the philosophy of social prescribing, which acknowledges that many health conditions have broader social determinants beyond biomedical origins. Alongside my role at Liverpool Hope University, I also serve as a core artist for the award-winning Arts on Prescription program, Creative Alternatives, under The ALEF Trust. This program supports individuals suffering from anxiety, stress, and depression in the North West. I have been commissioned to develop and facilitate projects in hospitals using the GENIAL model, which emphasizes individual, community, environmental, positive societal change, and sociostructural factors within a transdisciplinary framework of wellbeing. Notable projects include work at Fendrod, a male mental health unit at The Tawe Clinic in Cefn Coed Hospital, and "Art as a Pathway to Hope" at the Traumatic Brain Injury Service in Morriston Hospital, which received the Chairman’s VIP Award ABMU – Improving Lives Through Arts. 


My research also delves into the Anthropocene and our relationship with the natural world. Recent studies explore how art serves as a powerful tool to raise awareness, foster emotional connections, and inspire action to address the climate change crisis and envision sustainable futures. I am particularly interested in nature connectedness, a psychological construct that extends beyond mere contact with nature to a profound sense of meaningful engagement with the natural world. In this area, I have contributed to a Heritage Lottery Funded commission with the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership, creating a series of six sculptures at key points along the Sefton Coastal Path. Each sculpture provides a distinct artistic interpretation of coastal heritage, history, or landscape, offering both creative and informative perspectives. Additionally, I was a core artist in the Back from the Brink programme (2017-2021), an ambitious nationwide partnership aimed at rescuing threatened species from extinction and promoting recovery through community arts events. This initiative, led by Natural England, included key partners such as Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, the Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, and the RSPB.

As the Lead Director and Studio Manager at Arena Studios and Gallery from 2005 to 2010, I oversaw daily operations, guided the studio group and gallery’s overall direction, secured funding through successful bids, curated the gallery program, and organized charity fundraising events. Additionally, I served as the Art Coordinator for Stroll: Discovery Trails, a prominent public art project associated with the Greater London Authority and the London Olympic Company during the 2012 London Olympics 

As a practising artist, my work focuses on capturing reflections and observations of the environment through mark-making techniques like walking, meditating, and drawing. These activities inform my paintings, drawings, and installations, which are deeply connected to specific places and moments in time. I am interested in embodied consciousness intertwined with the landscape, aiming to highlight the physical and temporal dimensions of perception. By integrating walking and drawing, my artworks serve as indices of these movements, rather than simple naturalistic depictions. 

Recent exhibitions and curatorial projects include The Drawing (Paper) Show; globally curated drawing exhibition and paper publication with funding from Ulrike Michal Foundation for the Arts, Drawing Transpositions; research drawing project, Walk Draw Paint; solo exhibition The Cornerstone Gallery, From the Land; curated exhibition The Chapel Gallery Ormskirk, Without Borders; touring exhibition Wales, Japan, Norway, USA, Venice and Canada, Unus Multorum; Site-specific drawing installation, Plas Bodfa, Anglesey, Drawn Here 1 & 2, curated drawing exhibitions. Forthcoming exhibitions and projects include Into the Wylde, selected to respond to the medieval Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a 21st century site-specific interpretation focusing on the natural environment as part of Wirral Brougher of Culture 2024. Developing drawing-based adult workshops to support Creatures of the Niles exhibition at the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum which explores the position animals have held in ancient Egyptian and Sudanese society and culture whilst also examining the impact of climate change in the Nile Valley. 

Teaching Specialisms

• Contemporary Drawing
• Painting
• Site responsive installation
• Curatorial
• Arts Management
• Arts and Health
• Art and the Environment

School Roles
Professional Tutor and Year lead for Level C(Fine Art)