artists register

Janis Ridley

Family wing

Family wing

Limited Edition
Bronze
26cm x 9.5cm
Edition of 9

Introduction

Janis Ridley 's bronze figures breathe with the life of the material in which they are made.They hold their own in a very natural and earthy way and yet contain a metaphorical significance, a sense of being human and of bringing to the temporal world a contemplative quality of timelessness. There is little rhetoric or religious posturing here-though Ridleys sculptures have found ideal settings in great cathedrals like Winchester , Exeter and York Minster and upright medium -sized pieces like Isness ,Icarus or Messenger with Bird seem like outdoor sentinels of both secular and spiritual quality.

In a more recent series of Man and Horse sculptures articulated in small ,medium and large scale variations.Ridley engages, grapples almost, with the difficult process of merging two seperate formsin a human and animal composite.Like Marino Marini and his English equivalents Liz Frink and Robert Clatworthy ,Ridley establishes a majestic upright strength, a beautiful accord between horse and rider. 

 Peter Davies

author of Michael Kenny Sculpture ,The Sculpture of John Milne,

After Trewyn,St Ives sculptors since Hepwoth.

Statement

   

The themes I work with are Family Mother and Child, Man/Woman and Horse , Angel, Woman and Man .

They are all reflections on ideas of the individual and relationship,how they co-exist and interrelate like feathers in the wing of a bird.

Man and Horse is a nonchalant refection on such a relationship where the man is at ease with the horse ,yet also tough, vulnerable and enigmatic.

Making a large sculpture creates a more powerful work and brings clarity to the pyschologiacl intention.

 

Biography

 

Born in Co Durham Janis Ridley studied at Newcastle upon Tyne School of Art Foundation Course sculpture, and Exeter College of Art, BA Fine Arts.

She began her career teaching on Foundation Course at Newcastle upon Tyne School of Art and a solo show at LYC Museum and Art Gallery Cumbria. Moving to Devon her work was painting and drawing, with a solo show at Exe Gallery in 1983 and showing at Beaux Arts, Bath.She received a South West Arts Award in 1983. Her exhibitions were at Dartington Hall,Castle House Gallery, Cumbria Phoenix Gallery Exeter ,and she taught at Exeter University School of Education on line BEON Project and they produced a film Colour and Movement ,University of Exeter.

In 1998 she became a member of Royal Society of Sculptors.

Bronze sculptures were first shown in London at Mchardy Sculpture Company, Bath Arts Fair and Hampton Court 1999.

Her work is regularly exhibited at the London, Hong Kong, and New York Art Fairs with Edgar Modern Bath, Josie Eastwood Gallery Hampshire, Stour Gallery, and Coombe Gallery. 

In the South West commissions can be seen in Exeter Cathedral ,Unfolding Love , University of Exeter, Stargazer,Topsham Millenium Sculpture ,Spirit of Youth, and at Matara Kingscote Park Gloucestershire, Isness ,Croft School, Stratford upon Avon .

In South Korea 2017, Bundang Memorial Park , Rugged Angel ,13 sculptures.

Her work is held in many public and private collections in France, Hong Kong, Germany, Netherlands, USA, New Zealand, South Korea, and UK.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

commissions  selected

2000  Spirit of Youth Topsham millennium sculpture

2001  Stargazer  University of Exeter sculpture collection

2004   Isness  Matara Centre Gloucestershire

2006   Unfolding Love  Exeter Cathedral

2007   The Croft School Stratford upon Avon

Private collections in the UK, France, Australia, Germany Holland Hongkong USA and South Korea

 

Exhibitions include

Edgar Modern Bath Josie Eastwood Winchester Alan Kluckow Fine Art,  Moncrieff-Bray gallery, Mall Galleries London The Sculpture Park  Farnham,,The Garden Gallery Hampshire,Guernsey Art Parks, Delamore, Matara Gloucestershire, Atelier gallery University of Exeter, Dartington Hall  Beaux Art, Royal Academy, Plumbline Gallery St.Ives. 

 Art Fairs

Art london, international art fair Royal College of art,  London art fair, Hampstead Affordable art fair,Battersea Affordable Art fair , Bath Art fair, Hong Kong art fair ,New York affordable Art Fair 

Films         Janis Ridley produced by University of Exeter

                Janis Ridley Sculpture Studio  Royal British Society of Sculptors

            Wax and wire   3 films 2013  Vimeo 

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