Alison Crowther

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previously shown in

elements: wood metal 2020

surface, edge, shadow 2022

earth materials 2023

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60/80 Milestones for two artists

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Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1965, Alison Crowther is a sculptor working almost exclusively with English oak, sustainably sourced from within the South Downs National Park.

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Internationally, corporate and private clients have commissioned and collected her work for over 30 years, spanning the globe from Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, to New York, San Diego and Los Angeles.

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Crowther’s education and training focused on design which taught her the skills to deal with a broad range of projects including commissions for public, private and commercial clients. She is however a self-taught woodcarver and her love of making meant that she learned through doing; looking closely at the timber as she worked - watching its character and changes. While a student at the RCA, she became completely absorbed by direct carving; the material itself being both inspiration and guide.

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Crowther’s work is a collaboration with the material. As she carves – starting with an initial design intent – the work develops like a conversation; a back and forth between her ideas and the wood’s suggestions. The pieces invite careful and detailed observation of the natural characteristics of wood. They become an intimate record of a tree’s history.

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She embraces art, design, craft and, where appropriate, technology. The words ‘craft’ and ‘craftsmanship’ are important to her; they link to quality and skill, with an acquired knowledge of materials, tools and processes. They also implicitly indicate dedication and a love for the act of making.

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Crowther brings together different disciplines in her work: woodcarving; furniture design; and contemporary sculpture. Her sculptures are a demonstration of how inextricably linked those areas are for me as an artist.

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60 is an exhibition of small sculptures made to celebrate Alison Crowther’s 60th birthday this year. The sculptures show the gradual development of Crowther’s familiar carving ’style’ but also the ways in which the artist has pushed the style around, experimenting with it and trialling new ideas

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All timber is either sourced from local fallen or diseased trees or is an off-cut from one of the artist’s monumental sculptures such as Park-land 2024 — a reception desk made for a Los Angeles office building – and 5 Pews, a commission for Winchester Cathedral, made at the outset of Crowther’s career in 1996.

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Click images for details and if you are interested in any of Alison Crowther's work please enquire below.​