Anna Gillespie

Overview
Anna Gillespie

Over the last 10 years Anna Gillespie has attempted through her work to recapture a feeling of immersion in nature, often employing beech nuts, acorn cups, twigs, galls – with these natural found objects then cast into bronze.  The act of gathering each autumn the artist considered a meditation; on the beauty of nature and our human place within it.  She describes it as humbling, viscerally realising the way in which we humans are just another mass product of nature – all fundamentally the same and yet no two alike.

Recent visits to Africa and America have somewhat shifted her focus to the way in which humans are influenced by the man-made environment and to the way in which we interact with the planet as a species.  Whereas most work using organic materials depicted solitary figures, often in a meditative or perhaps even spiritual stance, the new work favours groups, walking or standing.  Whilst it may appear to draw on current events, Gillespie is also seeking to draw a parallel with the historical experience of people and their movements across the surface of the Earth through time.

In her organic work the individual was subsumed by the experience of melding with nature and in simply being another beautiful product of it.  Her new sculpture deals with the question of what it takes to recognise an individual as an individual, both in terms of being part of a mass of humanity and in the face of passing time.

Works
Biography
Anna Gillespie
Anna Gillespie was born in 1964 in Farnham. Having obtained degrees from Oxford University (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and the London School of Economics (International Relations), 1992 saw a change of direction and the decision to become a full time sculptor.
Anna qualified as a stone mason in Bath before travelling to Italy to study with the sculptor and master carver Nigel Konstam.
In 1998 she took an MA in Fine and Media Arts at Cheltenham, and became an Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1999.
CV
Anna Gillespie

Education

1986 BA Hons Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University
1987 Diploma in International Relations, London School of Economics
1992 Decision to become a full-time sculptor
1995 City & Guilds in Stone Masonry & Carving, City of Bath College
1998 MA in Fine and Media Arts, Cheltenham

 

Selected Exhibitions

2022
Solo exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath
‘Together We Rise’, Royal Society of Sculptors, Chichester Cathedral
London Art Fair, Islington
‘People Make Museums’ Holburne Museum, Bath
‘This Is Me’, RWA. Group Exhibition.
Harvard University panel discussion “Festival of the Muses”, Centre for Hellenic Studies
RA Summer Show, Photograph of Sinking House installation in Architecture section

2021
Abbey House Gardens
Open Studio – Slaughterford Mill
Beaulieu Sculpture Show
Canwood Gallery Open
Exhibition – The RWA Collection – Our Heritage, Our Future
Sinking House installation at Pulteney Weir, Bath with Stride Treglown Architects

2020
London Art Fair, Islington – Beaux Arts Bath Stand G20

2019
‘The Summer Exhibition’ – Beaux Arts Bath
Commission for Morecambe Bay Partnership at Half Moon Bay
Elected Academician at the Royal West of England Academy
Collaboration with Richard Chappell Dance, funded by Linbury Trust and Arts Council
CoLab Drawing Residency, Historic Collections and Owlpen Manor
The London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath Stand G20
The Hepworth Wakefield Print show with Spike Island Print Studio
Shortlisted for Women Make Sculpture prize organized by the CoLab

2018
Beaux Arts Bath,  Solo exhibition
Commission for Crest Nicholson at Bath Riverside
The Steel Rooms, Solo exhibition- Brigg, Grimsby
Two person show Christies Contemporary, Jersey
Collaborating with choreographer Richard Chappell, Preview at Royal Opera House
Grizedale Sculpture Park- Group RBS exhibition, ‘Inspired by Nature’
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath
Member Spike Island Print Studio

2017
‘Artists of Fame and Promise’ Summer show- Beaux Arts Bath
London Art Fair, Islington with Beaux Arts Bath

2016

Beaux Arts Bath- Solo Show
‘Elements of Capability’ Outdoor sculpture show, Lacock Abbey- Celebrating 300th anniversary of landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown
London Art Fair, Islington with Beaux Arts Bath
LAPADA Fair, Mayfair London with Beaux Arts Bath

2015
Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Healthy Cities Garden, RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Beaux Arts Bath- Solo Show
Beaux Arts London
Frensham Heights School, commission
Glastonbury Festival, ‘Greenfields Gateway’ commission
London Art Fair, Islington
20/21 Art Fair, Royal College of Art

2014
National Trust Headquarters, Heelis, Swindon
Beaux Arts Bath
London Art Fair, Islington
20/21 Art Fair, Royal College of Art

2013
Installation of 2 x life-size sculptures at Glastonbury Festival
Chris Beardshaw’s Furzey Garden, RHS Chelsea Flower Show
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts, Bath

2012
Beaux Arts Bath, Solo Show
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath
Beaux Arts, Bath, 20/21 British Art Fair
Gloucester Cathedral, Open West group Show
160 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy

2011
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath
Beaux Arts Bath, Solo Show
Two Person Show, Beaux Arts Bath
Summer Show, Beaux Arts, London
RWA, Autumn Exhibition
Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby, Group Show

2010
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath
Beaux Arts Bath, Solo Show
Beaux Arts, Bath, 20/21 British Art Fair
Burghley House, Sculpture Garden

2009
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath
Three person show with Peter Randall-Page and Sarah Gillespie, Waterhouse and Dodd London
London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath

2008
Art London
Bristol Contemporary Open

2007
Royal West of England Academy, Sculpture show, Bristol
Beaux Arts Bath, Summer Show

2006
Art Miami Art Fair with Osborne Samuel Gallery
Osborne Samuel, London, Summer Show

2005
Solo Show, New Gallery at the RWA, Bristol
Osborne Samuel, London
The Artist and Radio 4, South Bank Gallery

2004
Royal West of England Academy, ‘Encore’ group show, Bristol
Candid Arts Trust, Network A.D. group show, London
Tobacco Factory, Black Cube group, Bristol
Fringe Festival- Installation in Bath Abbey
Art London
RWA. Autumn Exhibition, Bristol
Somerset Museum Services art collection

2003
Centrespace Gallery- Solo, Bristol
Sherborne House Arts Centre
Royal West of England Academy Open, Bristol

2001
Site-specific stone commission for Lord Chichester, Salisbury

2000
Chiostro della Collegiata, Group show Casole d’Elsa, Italy

1998
Gardens of Gaia Sculpture Park, Kent
Michael Wright Gallery, Bristol

1997
Scholarship and teaching assistant, Centro d’Arte Verrocchio, Italy
Yello Gallery, Kinsale Ireland 1997-1998
Anderson Gallery, Gloucestershire 1997-1998

1996
The Happening Gallery, Solo Show, Bristol
Cadogan Gallery, London
McHardy Sculpture Gallery, London

1995
The Happening Gallery, Bristol
Wembley Exhibition Centre, Natural Stone Show, London
‘Broad’s Boards’, City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

1994
Bath Society of Artists
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

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