Sarah Mayhew Craddock talks to Angie Lewin about her vivid prints

A light breeze is about to sweep into a North Oxford gallery – bringing with it a taste of the windswept, wide open landscapes of the wilder parts of Britain.

Angie Lewin splits her time between Scotland and the Norfolk coast, and her work conveys an invigorating, light sensation, the kind experienced on a breezy, fair-weather camping holiday in a coastal village, or while enjoying a good cup of tea around a big wooden table in a relaxed, airy country kitchen.

Lewin, who co-founded the fabulous St Jude’s fabrics, studied Fine Art at Central St Martin’s and Camberwell School of Art, starting in sculpture and moving over to printmaking where she felt more at ease. “It’s interesting when you have a strong sense of what you want to depict seeing it applied in different ways. I also like the tools and the equipment, the practical way of making these things work; working with machines, inks, cutting into lino, I like the craft of what I do. I find it really exciting.”

After graduating, she began her career as an illustrator and designer based in London. She then moved into horticulture, which inspired her to relocate to Norfolk, which in turn prompted a return to printmaking.

It is easy to see the impact that Lewin’s background in horticulture has had on her oeuvre through the spirit with which she represents plant life and nature in the work that she produces. Now living between Edinburgh and Speyside in a renovated croft, she is currently enjoying views of Ben Rinnes from her home and is drinking in an array of plant forms that are influencing her works from birch trees, ferns, and scabious, to yellow rattle; quite different to the reed laden prints she has created in Norfolk.

She says: “I really enjoy the two different landscapes. Plants evoke the different areas and tell stories about different parts of the world. A new print, Salt Marsh Morston is being launched at the exhibition at Sarah Wiseman Gallery – it was so lovely to be on the salt marches looking out to sea on the North Norfolk coast, sitting among the plants making preparatory sketches for the print. Whereas when I’m working in Scotland it’s often a more bracing experience!”

Lewin created illustrations for Oxford University Press in her early career, and has been represented by Sarah Wiseman Gallery, in Summertown, Oxford, for the past three years. Nature Study marks her first exhibition in the city, and has been two years in the planning following a succession of busy years that have seen her collaborate with the V&A and Country Living Magazine, have a solo show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and an exhibition of her watercolours at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.

“I’m looking forward to exploring Oxford for a few days when I arrive, and I’ll be in the gallery on Saturday when the exhibition launches (11am-1.30pm), so it would be nice to meet some local people,” she says.

Sarah Wiseman first met Angie in 2001 after purchasing her work and began exhibiting with her in 2013. The exhibition Nature Study brings together a selection of new silkscreens as well as other prints from older editions by one of the UK’s most sought-after artists.

Where and when
Angie Lewin’s Nature Study opens at Sarah Wiseman Gallery on Saturday and continues until September 26. wisegal.com