Olympia’s Transformation. 2011. [Oil on canvas, semiprecious stones and metal leaf.][78cms X 123cms]

Sylvia Anne Salisbury

(Born 4 January 1957) Currently lives and works in Cornwall.

Sylvia Salisbury is primarily a painter, working with a range of media including oils, acrylics and watercolour, additionally working in mixed media and collage, as well as reduction lino-cut print. The focus is varied, encompassing floral and cultural/political themes.

Biography:

Born in South-West London, Sylvia moved to Cornwall in 2002. An interest in art was always evident from an early age and remained constant, buoyed up by taking adult education classes in pottery, watercolour and painting. Early influences include the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood paintings, William Morris textiles whilst growing up surrounded with the paintings by her Edwardian grandfather, an amateur artist. With her own family grown up, it was then the right time to enter formal art education, beginning with Access to Art & Design and culminating with Contemporary Creative Practice at degree level.

Working primarily in paint as this allows for a direct expression, this has provided a base for other media applications. Various media have been utilized to explore the narrative within, forming an eclectic mix. The use of gilding highlights the associated value given to certain objects and concepts. Within the artistic practice, the work aims to focus on some of the hidden strands that connect people and situations, and looks to what lies beneath the surface, bringing to light the beneficial aspects, as well as some of the darker ones.

There has been enquiry into the Language of Flowers and the cultural impact of certain flowers, including the opium poppy. This has driven a body of work entitled “Papaver Somniferum” for exhibition at the end of year degree show at Cornwall College, Camborne.

Contact details:

Website: www.synchronistics.co.uk

Email: synchronistics@outlook.com

Facebook: Synchronistics Art

Telephone: 07958 584535

Address: Karlyn, Merritts Hill Illogan, Redruth, Cornwall. TR16 4DF

Education:

2012-2015. Cornwall College – BA Contemporary Creative Practice.

2009-2011. Cornwall College – FdA Fine Art Practice.

2008-2009. Cornwall College – Access to Art & Design.

2007. Truro College - Life Drawing classes.

2006. Cornwall College. Life Drawing classes.

2005-2007. Adult Education (Cornwall) Painting for Pleasure.

1984. Adult Education (Croydon) Water-colour classes.

1977. Adult Education (Croydon) Pottery classes.

Exhibitions:

2015. Forthcoming – Cornwall College, Camborne. BA End of Year Show.

2014. Group exhibition. Illogan Parish Fair. (Watercolours and prints)

2014. Craft fair. Treleigh School. (Watercolours and prints)

2012. Group exhibition. Cornwall College, Camborne. (Paintings and mixed media.)

2009. Group exhibition. Cornwall College (Paintings & mixed media.)

1979. Group exhibition. Fairfield Halls, Croydon. (Ceramics.)

Collections:

Private collection. Penryn, Cornwall

Private collection. Truro, Cornwall

Private collection. Epsom, Surrey

Private collection. Redruth, Cornwall

Artist’s Statement:

My work aims to connect with the strands that link people and situations, and acknowledges that these links can be overlooked in our everyday lives. I often use the application of one thing on another to highlight this. Collage brings a sense of the tangible everyday world layered onto the painted sensory world, and in this way the two are brought together. Taking influence from the Victorian Language of Flowers, I am interested in the use of symbols, how one thing stands for something else. I use this acceptance of how one visual image can stand for a range of things, and I question what else lies behind, and as to what else may be overlooked in this acceptance.

I see myself as a painter, as paint allows for a direct free flow expression from my mind and into the work. The use of other media within this brings texture, context and another set of connections. I aim to look deeper into the everyday, to bring what I see and sense into greater clarity. Beginning with research around my subject, I immerse myself in the images that already exist, and tap into my own experiences around it. This may include news articles, and historical accounts, artwork or textiles. I am looking for the aspects that are glossed over, or taken for granted. Often times there are beautiful things hidden in there, yet sometimes there are darker things hidden behind a pretty or acceptable facade.

My work “Papaver Somniferum” centres on the opium poppy. The opium poppy has had a huge cultural impact worldwide. Its trade, and the money generated from it alone, has much power and influence. Yet at the bottom of this, it was the value of the plant’s pharmaceutical effects that began this trade: its ability to offer comfort to people in their deepest pain. Even this comfort can seem obscured by the medical paraphernalia that surrounds the situation.