Statement
Absorbed by what I call beyondness or beyond us in landscape, I search for the spirit of place, what is within and what is beyond that is felt, but unseen: the hovering above the watercourse, the dialogue between land, air and water, spaces where ‘the gaps are the spirit’s one home’ [Annie Dillard] and their precious and precarious state.
Biography
Sally Adkins (b. 1972) is a British visual artist exploring the within and beyond in landscape: she investigates the emotional and spiritual response to immersion in nature, its strength, fragility and precariousness in an evolving world. She pays particular attention to the dialogue between water and land.
Adkins works predominantly within printmaking and drawing, especially within the heritage of acid-based etching, creating deeply atmospheric plates as well as monotypes and contemporary interventions in print.
Work is underpinned by literature relating to place. Recent collections include Confluence (inspired by the poetry of Alice Oswald), Diluvian (the writings of Annie Dillard) and The River Psalms (the texts of Wendell Berry) which examine the spirituality and fragility of river courses, the work playing with double-page book / psalm formats to create meditative diptychs.
Holding a BA Hons in Print and Typography, Adkins undertook further training in traditional acid-based etching and printmaking within specialist studios. Rooted in her earlier years near Dartmoor and the Exe Estuary, she works from her studio within walking distance of the River Derwent and is a key holder at Leicester Print Workshop.
Work has been exhibited at the RWA Bristol (Opens and Paperworks 2024), Woolwich Contemporary Print Fairs (incl 2025), No Place Art’s First Edition Materiality 2025, selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024 and for the international Premio Leonardo Sciascia Amateur d’Estampes, Italy 2027.
CV
Solo shows
The future is the light on the water, Llantarnum Grange, Cwmbran, Wales, 2024
Confluence II at LCB Depot, Leicester, 2023
Confluence at Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk, 2021, alongside Norman Ackroyd
Selected group exhibitions
Print Prize, Birmingham Royal Society of Artists, 2026
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Curated Hang, Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, 2025
RePrint, Chester Visual Arts, 2025
Materiality, No Place Art, Handbag Factory, Vauxhall 2025
Winter Show, Zillah Bell Gallery, 2025
Echoes of Earth, SEED, Frome, 2025
Summer Exhibition, Zillah Bell Gallery, 2025
Spring Edition, Altaer Space Derbyshire 2025
Paper Works, Royal West of England Academy, 2025
…
Winter Show, Altaer Space, Derbyshire, 2024
Winter Show, Leicester Print Workshop, 2024
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, 2024, selected
Summer Exhibition, ZIllah Bell Gallery, Thirsk, 2024
…
Members Annual Show, Leicester Print Workshop, 2023
Royal West of England Open, 2023
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Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, 2022
Members Annual Show, Leicester Print Workshop, 2022
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Royal West of England Open, 2021
Hang Small, Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford, Derbyshire, 2021
Off the press, Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford, Derbyshire, 2021
Pressing On, Leicester Print Workshop, 2021
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Spring Up, Angelus Gallery, Winchester College, 2020
Awards
Commendation Award, Print Prize, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, 2026
No Place Art, Bainbridge Print Residency Award, 2025
No Place Art, Empreinte Atelier de Gravure Print Residency Award, 2025
Printmakers’ Printmaker, Printfest 2023
Showcase Award, Cheltenham Craft, 2023
Arts Council Award, DYCP, 2022
Best Newcomer, Printfest 2020
Contemporary print opens and fairs
Printfest 2026
Nottingham Contemporary Print Fair 2025
Printfest 2025
The Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair, 2025
Print East, 2025
Compton Verney Print Fair, 2024
Printfest, 2024 (as Printmakers’ Printtmaker)
The Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair, 2024
Cheltenham Craft, 2024
Printfest, 2023
The Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair, 2023
Cheltenham Craft, 2023
Black Swan Arts Open, Frome, 2022
Printfest, 2022
Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair, 2022
Nottingham Contemporary Print Fair, 2022
Sheffield Print Fair, 2022
Leicester Print Workshop, 2022
Awarded, funded residencies (forthcoming)
EMPREINTE atelier de gravure, Luxemburg 2026
Bainbridge Print Studios, London, 2026
Print Associations
Leicester Print Workshop 2020 ongoing
Badger Press, Bishops Waltham, 2018 - 2020
Publications
Confluence, Sally Adkins, 2022