Rosie is a stone-carver who lives and works in Bristol UK.
She studied figurative sculpture in clay, wood and stone at Sir John Cass and City and Guilds Art Schools in London before settling in Cornwall to work a small-holding and raise her family. On moving to Devon, she trained and worked as a therapist in complementary health before returning to full-time stone carving some 30 years ago.
She carves abstract sculptures in limestone, marble and alabaster and sometimes works small pieces in clay to be cast into bronze.
She is also an occasional print-maker of lino-cuts and drawings in mixed media.
Rosie is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.
"When I first began to make sculpture, I worked more figuratively. I had been a therapist for 15 years and wanted to continue something of that relationship, to explore
the emotional and physical impact of being human. My pieces tended to be mythic and told a story.
Looking back, I can see a progression from those early pieces, firstly into rounded body-inspired forms and then to the more geometric abstract sculptures that I now make.
I work mostly with stone, attracted by its presence of stillness and the ancientness of the material. I am not an intuitive carver; the on-going explorations with drawings on paper, making maquettes and cutting templates happen way before I break into a block of stone. Much of the limestone that I carve was laid down in the Jurassic age at least 140 million years ago. Its many varying characteristics and demands all need to be considered in the incubation of a new piece.
Although I sometimes use hand-held machines to rough out and grind down, I mostly use hammers, chisels, rasps and abrasives. During those long hours of dusty carving, I often wonder why I haven't opted for a quicker way of working, like computer programming my designs, cutting by laser, using these new technologies that ease and speed up the process and make possible a greater production and larger scale of work.
But I have long realised that my relationship with the stone and the slow intimate day to day rhythm of making is most important to me. Perhaps that inclines my practice towards being more artisan than artist, but it's where I settle most comfortably - the journey is as important as the arrival.
Over the years my work has been influenced by ancient artifacts and my fascination with them. Sometimes I am conscious that my pieces relate indirectly to that influence, for instance the intricate handles of Egyptian daggers, archeological finds at grave sites; at other times I am pulled into a flow of work with no idea of its genesis, only that it feels like it emerges from a place pre-verbal, or without words…and the context or explanation is often only realized when the work is completed."
EXHIBITIONS 2005 - 2024
Lemon street Gallery
Stow art house
British art fair
London art fair
Linden hall studio
Clifton contemporary art
Wells art contemporary
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
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 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 |
