Alex Gumn


Nestled in the beautiful rural Wiltshire countryside, Sanctuary Studio is my home art studio.
As a self taught, multidisciplinary artist I work in a wide range of media including pyrography, print making, drawing, pastels and painting. I am particularly interested in creating works in response to the surrounding natural environment, both physically and as a spiritual connection, taking inspiration from those elements that we might not ordinarily have the time to observe or appreciate.
As well as creating these pieces I enjoy working with clients to produce unique artworks, bringing their ideas and my vision together. Some of these works can be seen in the Gallery here.
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I am a keen amateur naturalist and gardener and can often be found walking out through the wilds of Wiltshire, or poking about in our organic nature gardens in search of some insects or fungi to study while tending to the herbs, wildflowers, roses and veggies. This closeness with nature has encouraged me to try and further understand both our relationship with nature and the plight our natural neighbours are facing due to our actions and inactions. This is why the environmental impact of my works is a large focus, with the aim to do little to no harm at each stage of my processes. This is one major factor for why pyrography has become a large part of my art practice, as this allows me to use a widely available resource which has gone through minimal processes. In most cases this is either waste wood from just up the road at our local timber yard, wood collected on my walks, or from sellers who manage woods and trees here in the UK.
"We are a part of nature, not apart from it"
As an environmentally conscious artist I aim to create works that not only represent nature but also do as little harm as possible to it.
This is very much my ongoing mission and will develop constantly, but for the moment some of the steps I am taking include:
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Only delivering to UK addresses:
Apologies to those of you from outside the UK, but I believe there are so many talented artists all around our precious planet that I would encourage you to support someone more local to you wherever possible. This also very importantly reduces the miles each of my works would otherwise travel, and the environmental impact of that journey.
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Purchase supplies from UK manufacturers and companies, with a particular focus on small and local businesses:
I research each of my suppliers before buying from them, to see where their items have come from, what they are made of (in the case of papers, inks etc) and what their business ethos is. Where possible I will support fellow small businesses and those with similar values to myself as well as using suppliers more locally.
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Use up waste materials wherever possible
I try very hard to produce little waste, but of course there will always be some. Luckily most of this can be used in other ways i.e. my business cards are all hand printed and written at home using left over paper from my print making practice and print designs on scrap sections of Lino.
I use the small slithers of paper to help protect the corners of art on paper, in the post.
Recycled card, bubble wrap and tissue paper from orders I receive is especially useful in packaging, but where I am unable to recycle I use recyclable materials, like card mailers, tissue paper, compostable bags, non plastic labels and tapes etc

Sanctuary: a place of safety, a refuge and a space for nature.
