Help preserve our future
West Dean is part of a registered charity and relies on the support of generous donors, friends, legacies to help us deliver world-class education in conservation and the creative arts and maintain our award-winning gardens.
Sarah Drew
Sarah is a self-trained designer who's been making jewellery using found and recycled materials for 25 years. She lives in Cornwall where she teaches workshops in studios and hotels and several local galleries there stock her jewellery including the Exchange gallery in Penzance. She's appeared on BBC's Coast programme and has had 3 books published, the latest one 'Wild Jewellery' in 2014. In 2015 she became a resident artist at The Lost Garden's of Heligan in their Maker's Workshop".
Describe your approach to teaching:
I love to share ideas and skills during workshops and encourage people to make unique pieces that reflect their own taste and interests. I love using found materials as you can be free to experiment with them without the pressure of cost inhibiting you. I also think it's good to make completed pieces that you can enjoy wearing home...
What inspires your own work?
I'm lucky to live in Cornwall and can't help but be inspired by the beautiful coastline and lush woodland here. I love incorporating colour into my pieces to reflect the natural beauty I see about me and I make pieces that look worn and ancient, as if they've been found or dug up so I texture the metal I work with to create a weathered look. I like to put the pieces I find together as wearable collages that are inspired by abstract Cornish artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Peter Lanyon and Terry Frost