Sarah Grace-Dye – Spilling over the margin

‘Spilling over the margin’ is a small notebook deconstructed, shredded and reconstructed and I added the buckle to help contain the contents. The notebook comes from a time in 2020 when I felt like I was living in the margins. I was supposed to be living in the Uk but couldn’t get back there and due to covid the decision was made for me to live in Germany.

For a long time I wasn’t ‘officially’ there so couldn’t work or access health but also couldn’t get to the place where I could access that. I felt very much on the edge of both worlds. To help process my situation I wrote. I shredded this one a while ago, waiting for the right idea. Through the processing and conversations in there with myself and God, I found a future full of hope.

The book reminded me that to get to the new we often have to spend time in the margins which is often uncomfortable and unfamiliar but necessary to get past the edge. It also reminded me of being at school where the margins are used for the red marks of correction, advice and learning if you have a good teacher! The structure is meant to only just contain the thoughts which are spilling out of all the margins of the book and the size of the pieces reminded me of a collection of margin type forms.

About the Artist

I collect objects and ephemera along with a plethora of related stories some true some imagined narrative. My practice is about documenting, recording, collecting and sharing these stories through drawing and creating artist’s books. I love a process especially if that process has some element of surprise in the outcome. I am a lover of ritual particularly when it comes to drinking tea. Through the process and practice of playing I explore these objects and their associated memories. I predominantly work with paper, collage, ink, watercolour and cyanotype but often have a little meander into something else when a project requires it. I travel often to collect ‘stuff’ and feed my ever hungry creative core.

I am a firm believer that everyone has the capacity to be creative and am keen to, wherever possible, provide the catalyst for that to be realised. I believe in the freedom to play and discover ones own marks and am constantly developing this area within my own practice.

I am a Yorkshire girl at heart now based in Frankfurt, Germany.