Exhibition News

Five of the concrete head studies, featured in my ‘Sculpture’ gallery on this site, https://www.deborahstanhope.uk/portfolio/sculpture/ can be seen in the ‘Form’ exhibition at the Cupola Gallery, Sheffield. Details below:

Cupola Gallery 178 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough
Sheffield  S6 1TD UK

Open Monday to Saturday 10 – 6

As with all my work these small, concrete head studies are very much influenced by the stone walls, rocks, and quarries of rural Northumberland where my home is. They draw on the formal concerns of what sculpture physically is: form, shape, mass, and material honesty. I love working in concrete with it’s stone-like character and versitility; it’s taken much time and experimentation to find distinctive surface finishes that appear earthy, bone/stone-like, or weathered.

These are the 5 concrete head studies from the series which were chosen for the exhibition, with a couple more details on each one, which I’d like to share with you:

Head Study: Thomas Pit-Yacker

A pit-yacker refers to coal miners who were often described as people who had to ‘hack’ or ‘thrash’ (yark) in the pit…or, some speculate, were a bit talkative.

Head Study: Stan Stone Waller

This head study was made in preparation for a larger head to be inserted as a coping stone atop a stone wall on our field, abutting the fell; it’s a small tribute to the hardy stone wallers of Northumberland whose walls stand as testament to their labour, pragmatism and ingenuity. How they were (and still are) built makes for a fascinating study (warning: don’t stand next to me at a party!)

Head Study: Lyman

Lyman is an anglo-saxon surname meaning a meadow-dweller, valley-dweller, or shepherd. My rural home is surrounded by grazing sheep, tended to by modern shepherds/Lymen, I.e. the local farmers!

Head Study: Grace

Grace is a head inspired not only by the stone in the area, but also the cobbles surrounding some animal barns in Northumberland. These ankle twisters lurk outside my studio; they are like small smooth heads, each with a different shape but all…well, cobble like.

Head Study: Edie

Edie is representative of the doughty northern women, who tended the farms and families when the men went off to work in the local mining pits.