Artistic individuals and business acumen are often considered mutually exclusive.
Yet one Western Australian who could claim success in both fields is Sarah Templeman, who is heading back to her artistic roots after two forays into retailing.
With her fifth exhibition opening last week at Gadfly Gallery, Ms Templeman said she “needed to get back to basics and just draw”.
Describing herself and her output as a “one-stop shop”, Ms Templeman has been involved in a range of creative undertakings, including interior design, fashion design, jewellery design and art.
She has twice been in business partnerships, the first with her mother in Fremantle-based Pheasant Homewares.
More recently she teamed up with designer Melissa Shepherd in well-known Swanbourne boutique Templeman Shepherd.
These days, however, Ms Templeman said she was happy to get back to her artistic roots.
“I don’t really want to be tied to a space and I like the idea of creating my own context for things,” she said.
“Templeman Shepherd was a lot of fun and was successful, but it was time for me to move onto the next thing.
“I want to concentrate more on art and I am taking this opportunity to just create art.”
Saying she preferred not to pigeonhole herself into particular contexts and aimed to “live the way I want to live and express myself through my work”.
Ms Templeman said it took months to prepare for the latest exhibition, having received an invitation to display her drawings alongside experienced exhibitor Esther Erlich.
“What you see is what you get, and I think my pictures are simple, sensitive, strong and spontaneous. To see them all come together in this space is really great,” she told WA Business News.
“For me drawing is like talking through a pencil, and life drawing is very raw, authentic and personal, and I have always had a love for drawing the figure.
“There is a real need for people in Perth who are creative, and I am inspired by people’s personal style and where we are as a place in relation to the rest of Australia and the world.
“I like to travel and get inspiration from different places and then come back to Perth and do shows, too.”
