Exhibitions, News

Birded and Eyed – Sarah Gillespie

New mezzotints, an exhibition, and a new publication.

Sarah Gillespie’s Birded and Eyed is a body of work shaped by encounters with the fragile life of the natural world. Centred around her solo exhibition at Kestle Barton in Cornwall, and accompanied by a new hardback publication, the project brings together recent mezzotints and drawings. Through the deep tonal beauty of mezzotint, Gillespie’s prints hold a quiet intensity — forms appearing from darkness, light and shadow. Rabley Gallery is pleased to present a curated selection of these prints available to collect, alongside a special limited signed-book offer for collectors.

Exhibition at Kestle Barton

Sarah Gillespie’s solo exhibition Birded and Eyed is now open at Kestle Barton, near Helston in Cornwall. The exhibition brings together new works in mezzotint and drawing, developed through Gillespie’s close observation of the woods, meadows and night-life around Kestle Barton and her home in Devon.
 
Taking its title from a line by the poet Jane Hirshfield, Birded and Eyed reflects Gillespie’s sustained attention to the quieter, often overlooked presence of the natural world. Moths emerge from dark, richly worked surfaces; their delicate markings rendered with precision, yet retaining a sense of movement and impermanence.
 
Reviews
BBC – www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7281n405o
Observer, New Review Grid – 5 July 2026
Financial Times – 11 July 2026
 
Sarah Gillespie: Birded and Eyed
20 June – 6 September 2026
Kestle Barton, Cornwall TR12 6HU
Tuesday – Sunday 10:30am – 5pm (closed Mondays except Bank Holidays).

Collect the Prints

To coincide with Birded and Eyed, Rabley Gallery is pleased to present a curated selection of Sarah Gillespie’s new mezzotints, including Leopard Moth, Clouded Border, Breton Pine and Orpheus (Blackbird). Gillespie’s work encourages us to de-centre the human and refocus our gaze – moths, birds and winter suns.
 
Sarah Gillespie’s print ‘Leopard Moth’ is also included in this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which continues until 23 August.
Sarah Gillespie - Breton Pine

Sarah Gillespie – Breton Pine

Mezzotint, Paper 51.5 x 50 cm, Plate 40 x 40cm, Edition 30, Unframed

Sarah Gillespie - Clouded Border Moth

Sarah Gillespie – Clouded Border Moth

Mezzotint Engraving, Image 20 x 20 cm (7.87 x 7.87 in), Paper 30 x 30.5cm, Edition 20, Published 2026, Unframed

Sarah Gillespie - Orpheus (Blackbird) detail

Sarah Gillespie – Orpheus (Blackbird)

Mezzotint, Plate 20 x 14.5cm, Edition 25, Published 2026, Unframed

Sarah Gillespie - Leopard Moth

Sarah Gillespie – Leopard Moth

Mezzotint, Paper 51.5 x 50 cm, Plate 40 x 40 cm, Edition 30, Unframed

Sarah Gillespie, monochrome mezzotint of reeds and reflections of trees in the water from studies made at Slapton Ley in Devon

Sarah Gillespie – I saw the Moon, wandering asleep among the reeds

Mezzotint, Paper 72 x 102cm, Plate 61 x 91cm, Edition 25, Published 2025

Sarah Gillespie All that I have is a River, 2025 Mezzotint Plate 40 x 40cm Paper 51.5 x 20cm Edition 25 - tree reflecting in the river

Sarah Gillespie – All that I have is a River

Mezzotint, Plate 40 x 40cm, Paper 51.5 x 50cm, Edition 25, Published 2025

Sarah Gillespie - A Thousand Goodbyes

Sarah Gillespie – A Thousand Goodbyes

Mezzotint Printed on Arches Moulin du Gue 60 x 91 cm Published 2024

Nut-tree Tussock Moth - Sarah Gillespie

Sarah Gillespie – Nut-tree Tussock Moth

Mezzotint, Printed on Moulin dú Gue, 35 x 28 cm, Edition 30, Published 2024

‘Birded and Eyed’ — New Publication

A beautiful new hardback publication has been produced, bound in sumptuous, embossed red buckram. The book ‘Birded and Eyed’ includes essays and field notes by Sarah Gillespie with a foreword by Katharine Martin, curator at the V&A.
 
The title is used by permission of the poet Jane Hirshfield, from the lines of her poem Fatus: “The Woods all dark now / Birded and eyed.”
 
To celebrate the publication launch, Rabley Gallery is offering a special signed copy of ‘Birded and Eyed’ as a gift to collectors purchasing one or more of Sarah Gillespie’s stunning new mezzotints from the ‘Birded and Eyed’ collection.
 
To get your copy simply purchase one of the prints from the collection before Saturday 18th July and we will include the publication with your order, free of charge.
 
Sarah Gillespie: Birded & Eyed
Hardback, 64 pages
210 × 227 mm
ISBN: 978-1-9163664-6-6
£40 + £4.90 P&P
View Book Select Prints

Special offer ends 18 July 2026 and is limited to purchases from the Sarah Gillespie curated collection ‘Birded and Eyed’ on our website. One book per collector. Our usual terms and conditions of purchase apply.

1st of 4

RAMM & The Garden Tiger Moth

RAMM is seeking support to acquire Sarah Gillespie’s ‘Garden Tiger Moth (Arctia Caja)’ for its collection. Commissioned by Lara Goodband, RAMM’s Contemporary Art Curator and Programmer, for the 2025 summer exhibition ‘Wild’, the work consists of four charcoal drawings showing a Garden Tiger moth from RAMM’s collection, gradually disappearing into a black page – representing the rapid decline of this species.
 
Sarah Gillespie ‘Garden Tiger Moth (2024)
Charcoal on 600gsm Saunders Waterford
Set of 4 drawings, each 66cm x 73cm
 
Garden Tiger Moth reflects Gillespie’s continuing attention to species decline, environmental change and the fragile presence of moths in our shared landscape.
 
The work can currently be seen in ‘Sarah Gillespie: Birded and Eyed’ at Kestle Barton gallery until 6 September 2026. View venue website.
 
If you would like to help RAMM acquire this evocative piece of contemporary art, you can donate any amount on their campaign page (campaign link below).
View Campaign

ENQUIRIES

Meryl Ainslie

[email protected]

T +44(0)7967545136

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