BIOGRAPHY

Alison Henry is a sculptor whose work explores elements and structures of everyday objects and creatures in the natural world.  She has a Diploma in Drawing and Applied Arts from the University of the West of England (2011) which she attended as a mature student. Alison’s work has been selected for exhibitions at London’s Mall Galleries with the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Society of British Artists and in 2022 she was shortlisted for the Holt Festival, Charlotte Fraser Ceramics & Glass Prize.  Exhibiting regularly in Norfolk, her work is in private collections in Germany and the UK.

Alison was born on the Isle of Wight but lived much of her life in cities across the UK - Birmingham, Manchester, London, Bristol and Norwich (as well as brief sojourns in the USA and Bahrain) - until moving to Norfolk in 2015. She is largely self-taught in sculpture, having studied English at Manchester University from where she went on to have a career working in the public sector, mainly within Higher Education. Since childhood, however, art has always been an important part of her life, albeit in the background for many years, and in her mid-40s a move to working part-time meant that she finally had some time to pursue her dream of working as an artist, initially doing portraiture. She moved to Norfolk in 2015 and since retiring in 2020 she has developed her professional practice, and now works from her studio at home in Wells-next-the-Sea where she draws on aspects and elements of the natural world for her inspiration.

“My work explores patterns, rhythms and movements embedded in nature, focussing on small, almost unperceived elements and structures of everyday objects and creatures. By narrowing in on and enlarging individual details – the beauty in the twists and turns of dried plant material, the deep hollows and spirals of shells, the geometric perfection of a wasp’s nest - I hope to draw attention to the incredible complexity and beauty inherent in the tiniest of fragments to be found all around us. By extension I hope to highlight the plight of our precious natural world as it faces the increasing and very real threats posed as a result of our (man’s) impact on the earth, and how much we all stand to lose.”

Her starting point for a new piece is often a found object from the natural world. She works in clay to build a rough representation of the shape and then carves back. As the piece develops, the patterns of the object start to emerge - lines and spirals, flows and curves, crevices and hollows – and these become the focus of the work, lending it rhythm and movement, getting bolder and more abstract as the piece progresses. Once finished the work is either fired or cast in bronze, or a composite material such as resin or Jesmonite (a water-based resin).

Education
BA Hons in English Language and Literature, 1982, University of Manchester
Higher Education Diploma in Drawing and Applied Arts (part-time), 2011, University of the West of England, Bristol
Various master classes and short courses, including those led by Etienne Millner, Jon Mulvaney, Jo Naden and Suzie Zamit

Exhibitions

• Natural Lines, Wells Maltings, Wells-next-the-Sea, 8-19 November 2023
• Bayfield Hall Sculpture Trail, 4-29 October 2023
• Natural Lines, Crypt Gallery, Norwich School, 12-23 September 2023
• Happisburgh Art Trail, 26-28 August 2023
• AKA contemporary gallery, Cambridge, Summer Show 21 July-26 August 2023
• Wighton23 Cycle, North Norfolk Exhibition Project, Wighton Church, Norfolk, 6 July-6 August 2023
• Metamorphosis Gallery, Wells-next-the-Sea, 18 August 2022-28 February 2023
• Natural Lines, Group Exhibition, Makers Gallery, Holt, Norfolk, 23-29 November 2022
• Art for Today, Walpole Estate, Mannington Hall, Norfolk, 27 July-28 August 2022
• Holt Festival, Charlotte Fraser Ceramics & Glass Prize shortlisted exhibition, 23-31 July 2022, St Andrew's Church, Holt, Norfolk
• Common Land, Group Exhibition, Salthouse Church, Norfolk, 11-26 September 2021
• Natural Lines, Group Exhibition, West Acre Gallery, Norfolk, 1-7 August 2021
• Cley 21:Nowhere, North Norfolk Exhibition Project, St Margaret's Church, Cley-next-the-Sea 1 July-2 August 2021
• Society of Women Artists, 159th Online Open Exhibition (Contemplation I), 22 September-30 December 2020
• Natural Lines 2020 - far shore and earth forms, Group Exhibition, Handa Gallery, Wells Maltings, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, 16 October-1 November 2020
• Natural Lines, Group Exhibition, West Acre Gallery, Norfolk, 6-12 July 2020
• Natural Lines, Group Exhibition, Handa Gallery, Wells Maltings, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, 1-15 September 2019
• The BIRDscapes Gallery, Glandford, Norfolk, 9 October-8 December 2018
• Art in the Garden, Blickling Hall, Norfolk, 13 June-11 July 2018
• Spring Art Show 2018, The Forum, Norwich, 11-15 April 2018
• Royal Society of British Artists 2018 Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 21-31 March 2018 (Swift (Devil Bird))
• Cley17, North Norfolk Exhibition Project, Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, 6 July-6 August 2017
• Royal Society of British Artists 2017 Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 22 March-1 April 2017 (Seed Pod I)
• Royal Society of British Artists 2014 Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 5-15 March 2014 (Cina)
• Autumn Open Exhibition 2013, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (Cina) - selected not hung
• Autumn Open Exhibition 2012, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (Adam)

Collections
Private collection, Abergele, Wales, UK
Private collection, Alderton, Gloucestershire, UK
Private collections, Bristol, UK
Private collection, Bromsberrow, Gloucestershire, UK
Private collection, Cornwall, UK
Private collection, Corpusty, Norfolk, UK
Private collection, Ealing, London, UK
Private collection, Fakenham, Norfolk, UK
Private collections, Great Ryburgh, Norfolk UK
Private collection, Hinsham, Norfolk, UK
Private collection, London, UK
Private collection, North Walsham, Norfolk, UK
Private collections, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
Private collection, Rahden, Germany
Private collection, Shotesham, Norfolk, UK
Private collection, Sisland, Norfolk, UK
Private collections, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, UK
Private collection, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire UK