Robinson’s paintings begin in motion: the cadence of walking, the sweep of weather, and the quiet mental drift that happens when the body moves through land. Rather than describing a specific view, her work draws on visual maps, visual memory, travel and “landscapes of the mind”—what she describes as “headscapes”:
Sandra Robinson
Built through an intuitive push-and-pull, the surfaces develop from a linear, drawn element (paint, pencil, charcoal) into layered fields of colour. As the painting progresses, control and precision gradually emerge, but never at the expense of expressive mark-making; instead, the canvas becomes a site of conversation, between impulse and edit, remembering and re-seeing.
As Sandra Robinson has noted of her studio practice, she may sketch, write, and photograph, but she ultimately relies on memory, using those notes as triggers. She then builds and re-works the painting through layers that are scraped, scratched, and sanded back to reveal what sits beneath.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
Manchester Contemporary (AWOL Collective), Manchester Central, 2024 | Group Exhibition, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, Stockport Art Gallery, 2024 | Group Exhibition, A Small Space, Tat Art Space, Bali, 2024 | Selected, Bury Open Exhibition, Bury Art Museum, 2023 | Group Exhibition, The Meditation of Drawing, Manchester Cathedral, 2023 | Selected, Cotton On Manchester Open, Saul Hay Gallery, 2022 | Selected, AWOL Open, AWOL Studios/Commecaart
AWARDS:
Winner, Best in Trafford prize, Waterside Arts Centre Open, 2016 | Shortlisted, Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, 2016 and 2019 | Shortlisted, NOA art competition, 2016 | Selected / Exhibited, RWA Open, 2016 and shortlisted 2017 | Selected, RWS Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition, 2018 and 2019
EDUCATION:
BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2005 | Art Foundation, South Trafford College, 2001 | City & Guilds Embroidery Pt I & II, South Trafford College, 2000
Sandra lives and works in Manchester.
“I sometimes sketch, write down words and take photographs but when returning to the studio I like to rely on my memory of the experience using the photographs and sketches and words as triggers for the paintings.”
