Chalk pastel drawings by Sara Lee are being exhibited at the Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery until April 18.

For this exhibition, Chalk Lines: Drawings from the South Downs, Sara walked the South Downs Way, drawing and writing throughout her journey.

The drawings are featured alongside her field notes and sketch books, and a short film about the artist.

Sara won Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery’s South Downs Open 2024 competition, and this solo exhibition is her prize.

Louise Weller, head of collections and exhibitions at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery, said: “We are delighted to be showing new work by Sara Lee, an artist with a national reputation whose work connects to our mission to bring history, art and landscape into vibrant dialogue, celebrating creativity, collaboration and community.

“The South Downs have long been celebrated by writers and artists for their shifting atmospheres and luminous expansiveness, yet Sara brings a distinctly contemporary sensibility.

“Her drawings blur the measured pace of walking with the emotional experience of inhabiting a landscape. Though sparked by specific routes, they resist literal depiction. Instead they open a space for viewers to project their own memories of paths taken.”

Born in Wales, Sara now lives and works in London. She studied at Ravensbourne and Central Schools of Art, and throughout her career she has exhibited extensively.

Her work is part of public and private collections, including the Pallant House Gallery in West Sussex, the Tama Collection in Japan - she uses some techniques borrowed from traditional Japanese art forms - and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

She has participated in major group exhibitions, including at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and international print shows.

Sara said: “In a time of climate crisis and environmental fragility, it is more important than ever to make work in response to the natural world.”