Sarah was born in London and educated at Bedales. Originally she wanted to farm, but armed with a "modest ability" in drawing instead she enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and studied under the wood engraver and sculptor Gertrude Hermes, who was a great influence and became lifelong friend. It was while at Central, Sarah was also taught etching by Mervyn Peake, author of the Gormenghast series of books. After a brief stint working in advertising, she went on to the Slade studying under William Coldstream, Anthony Gross and Lynton Lamb. In the 1970's Sarah took over teaching wood engraving at the Royal Academy Schools from Hermes and from 1978 taught at the City and Guilds Art School, later becoming a tutor at West Dean College.
She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, a Royal West of England Academician and an Honorary Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. While being a member of the Society of Wood Engravers, she was also Chairman between 1995 – 1998.
Sarah was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Bankside Gallery, and contributed to Art in Action 1980 - 84 and 1987 - 88. She also organised the '12 Wood Engravers' tour of 1994 - 95. An active exhibitor for many years, Sarah held solo shows which included The Gallery, Dean Heritage Museum (2003); Foal Yard Gallery, Worcestershire; Silk Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow (2002); Brewery Arts, Cirencester (1999); The Countryside Bookshop, London (1992) and duo shows including West Dean College with Mary Butcher (2000), Silk Top Hat with Colin See-Paynton (1999) and 'Printworks', Colchester with Anne Desmet and posthumously at Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, with Harry Brockway (2019).
Over the years Sarah received awards including the Corneillissen Award (1989), the Royal Bath & West Society Show (1992 & 1995), the Coley & Tilley Prize (1997), SWE Prize 2000 and the UWE Price 2002 at RWA. Another facet of Sarah's career were numerous illustrations which included: The Reader's Digest Bible Illustrated Edition (1990); The Complete Works of Ann Radcliffe (The Folio Society, 1987); The Divided Loyalist (The Folio Society, 1978); Leaves from the Walnut Tree (Pavilion Books Ltd 1993); The Canterbury Tales (The Folio Society); The Engraver's Cut – Sarah van Niekerk Twenty Seven Engravings (The Primrose Academy Press, 2000), as well as for The Gregynog Press, Oxford University Press, Rider Books Pavilion and The Foundling Press.
Sarah has work in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Reading Museum, London Institute, UCLA, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Freemantle Arts Centre, Australia; National Library of Wales; National Engravers Society, Russia; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, National Museum of Wales, Central St Martins Gallery, London and the Glenbow Museum, Calgary. She also has work in private collections in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.
Sarah’s work has been donated to the Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University, the donation comprises proofs and editioned prints, sketch books and engraved blocks.
https://mmuspecialcollections.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/sarah-van-niekerk-archive/Sarah was married to fellow artist Chris van Niekerk (1932 - 2015) for nearly 60 years. The couple had three children.