Rosie Musgrave carved her first piece of stone in her early 20s. She was apprenticed variously with sculptors and then studied figurative sculpture in clay, wood and stone at Sir John Cass and City & Guilds Art Schools in London.
With her young family she ran a smallholding in Cornwall and on moving to Devon, she trained and practiced in complementary health, before returning to making sculpture 20 years ago.
“I have always had a great love of stone.
Many of my childhood memories are of being amongst mountains and rocks, collecting stones in my pockets.
I am conscious that I have chosen to work with an ancient material that has helped shape and inform our landscape. Much of the stone I carve was laid down in the Jurassic age, at least 140 million years ago.
For this reason, I will only break into a stone after taking considerable time making drawings and maquettes, exploring the form the sculpture will take. At this early stage I am quite precise although later the carving takes on its own momentum.
Blocks of limestone and marble can often lie in wait for years while I consider how I will work into them.
To carve a stone is to unwrap its secrets that have taken millions of years to form: striations of colour, fossils, even pockets of gas, trapped within the substance of time.
It’s a precious and enduring material whose qualities of stillness, sensuality and presence continue to inspire me.”
Rosie’s sculptures are widely exhibited. Some can be found in the public arena, but most find their place in gardens and domestic spaces.
She is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and has recently moved to Bristol.
SOME RECENT EXHIBITIONS
Coughton Court Gardens Warwickshire
In the grounds of Buckfast Abbey, Devon
The Garden Gallery, Stockbridge, Hampshire
Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, Petworth, Sussex
'On Form 2010' Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire
Ludlow Summer Exhibition, Shropshire
Devon Open Studios
St. Wilfrid's Hospice 2009 Open Art Competition Pallant House, Chichester, Sussex
Fresh Air 2009 Quenington, Glos.
2009 Brighton Art Fair
Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth, Devon
Millstream 2007/8 Sculpture Garden, Bishopstrow, Wiltshire
Delamore House Cornwood, Devon – Early Summer Exhibition
The Gallery, Dartington Campus with SouthWest Sculptors
The Brownston Gallery, Modbury, Devon
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol – Open Sculpture Exhibition
Quartz Arts Festival Queen's College, Taunton, Somerset
The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle upon Tyne
Beaford Arts – Art at the Red House, Exeter, Devon
BlindArt Exhibition 2005 Sense and Sensuality at the Royal College of Art, London
Brian Bearne Memorial prize 2002: South West Academy Open Exhibition
RECENT PROJECTS
- 2011: Public Commission & installation of sculpture, Leechwell Garden, Totnes, Devon
- 2008: installation of 'Tsunami Noni' into the gardens of Coughton Court, Warwickshire
- 2007-2008: 'The Three Gunas' triptych: Sharpham House, Ashprington, Devon, a submission for the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context.
- 2006-2007: 'Tsunami Noni' on Tour: Cartmel Priory, Hexham Abbey, Exeter, Leicester Lincoln and Canterbury Cathedrals.
- 2006: 'Emergence': Dartington Estate, Devon, as part of 'Arts in Process', Dartington College of Art
Member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors
AWARDS
One of 20 Devon artists selected to promote Visual Arts and Rural Businesses in the region 2007
Devon Artsculture Funding 2007:
South West Academy Summer Open Exhibition Briane Bearne Memorial prize 2002
BIBLIOGRAPHY
'Floating this Boat of Stone': a colloquy on the making of Tsunami Noni, edited by
Philip Kuhn, Itinerant Press 2008
BBC Radio Devon: 'The Review' with Jo Loosemore;
'A conversation between two sculptors' 2008
Articles in the Devon Press; BBC news, BBC Radio Devon; Church Times |
