About
"Of those contemporary artists who continue to use animals as a focus of artistic expression, Sally Matthews is perhaps the most remarkable in her ability to capture the characteristics of the creatures with which we share our world. Utterly unsentimental in her approach, she unerringly finds the means of suggesting, both through their forms and the natural materials she uses, what make them what they are - and thus what makes them different to us. They therefore exert an endless fascination, as if gazing at her sculptures and drawings we might somehow impossibly, sense what it must be to be a cow, or a sheep, or a horse, might thereby plumb the unfathomable (to us) mystery of the inner existences of beings which, like us, are sentient, but are separate, distinct and within themselves. An edge of discomfort can accompany the feelings of familiarity and fascination, as Matthews' ability to convey this sense of the creatures' distinct existences provokes within us awareness of the dominion exerted by humans over animals."
Martin Barlow - Director - Oriel Mostyn Gallery
"Sally's concerns are different as her whole practice is about the natural representation of creatures which share our world. Animals, which are integrated to site, often made using accesible materials of the place. it is the making which is one of the areas that separates out Sally Matthews."
"It is not only a love and understanding of the materials that shows through. It is not only zestful play which fuses 'stuff' to create surface and form. There is a sense of freedom in the making, a spirit very much of the creatures she seeks to make. A feeling that the animals breathe and have a life of their own."
Peter Davies
CV
Commissions
2021 Wolves, Grizedale Forest
2020/21 Twa Dogs.The Robert Burns Museum
2020 Fallow deer. Yorkshire
2018 Stag, Brodick Castle, Arran. National Trust
2017 Lynx, Sti for Oye, Norway
2015 Zebra. Askham Bryan College, York
2014 Red Deer, Arte Sella
2014 Wolves at Hay Castle, Hay Festival
2013 Boars – Botanic Gardens, Montreal
2010/11 Cast iron pit ponies for Blaenavon, South Wales
2010 Welsh Mountain Pony Welsh Assembly building
2010 Steel Donkeys for Weston Super Mare
2009 Welsh Black Bull, National Botanical Garden of Wales
2008 Wolves, Stokke,Norway
2008 Red Stag, Garwnant, Forestry Commission
2008 Sheep, The Gibbs Collection
2007 Sheep for Parc Bryn Bach
2007 Beacons Way Art Trail
2007 Lincoln longwool sheep, Sustrans, Lincoln
2007 Fox, Leicester county council
2005 Sheep, The Cass Foundation, Goodwood
2002-03 Tyddyn Mon, Anglesey, Pony
2002 Sustrans, 11 sheep
2000-01 Sculpture at Goodwood, Wolves
2000 Irish Elk. Sustrans, Snibston
1999 Garwnant Forest, red deer
1999 ‘Waiting for the tide to go out’ Curlew. Cardiff Bay
1998 Fallow deer, Diss
1996-97 Bilston. Three 13h steel ponies
1993 Prudential Art Award Trophy
1992-3 Prudential Corp. Six dogs chasing a peacock
1992 Gateshead Riverside, Goats
1990 National Garden Festival Gateshead, Goats
1989-90 Sustrans, Consett to Sunderland track, Cows
1985 Lions, Leicester County Council
Residencies and Workshops
2021-23 EarthBound project
2019 Polar Bear. Climate change march
2018 HILLproject with photographer Kate Bellis
2013 Wolves – Arte Sella, Italy
2011 Wild Boar , Sti for Oye, Norway
2010 Workshops at the Sydney Nolan Trust Presteigne
2006 Yale College, Wrexham, Residency
2007 Northumberland farming with photographer Kate Bellis
2003 The Big Draw, Natural History Museum, London
2003 Bialowieza, Poland. European Bison
2001 Arte Sella, Italy, Wolves
2001 Triangle workshop, Barmouth, thistledown sheep
1996 Garwnant Forest residency, Welsh Mountain Ponies
1994-95 Tyrebagger Forest, Aberdeen, European Bison
1993 Grizedale Forest, Wolves
1991 Wuppertal zoo. Germany
1990 Grizedale Forest, Deer and Dogs.
1987-89 Grizedale Forest, Boars
Solo Exhibitions
2021 ‘From the Studio’ RCA Conwy.
2019 ‘Hunted’ , Grizedale Forest 100th anniversary of Forest England.
2019 ‘DOGS ‘. The Drawing Room. Hay on Wye.
2009 Burghley House, England.
2003 ‘Homing’ Huyton Gallery, Knowsley.
2002 Arte Sella Italy.
1999-01 ‘Sentient Beings’ Oriel Mostyn touring exhibition.
1994 ‘With Animals.’ Touring Exhibition Tullie House, Carlisle.
Mixed Exhibitions
2023 Josef Herman:Artistiad Ffoadur Cymru Refugee Artists. Hay Castle
2022 ‘EarthBound’ National Stone Centre.
2019 ‘Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting’. Oriel y Parc.
2018 ‘Hill’ with Kate Bellis. Copeland Gallery, London.
2017 ‘Contemporary Welsh Painting’ Cafarthfa Castle.
2016 ‘Out of Nature’ Newport House.
2015 ‘Varc in the City’, Abject gallery, Newcastle.
2013 ‘Naturales Quaestiones’ Monza Italy.
2013 Open Air, Knebworth house with the British art Portfolio.
2012 ‘Disegno’ sculptors’ drawings, Moma Wales
2012 Burghley House, Stamford.
2012 ‘Castell – Sculptural Responses’. Sculpture Cymru.
2011 RCA at MOMA Y Tabernacle , Machynlleth.
2006 ‘Gathering’ with photographer Kate Bellis -touring exhibition.
2005 Burghley Sculpture Garden ‘Sculptors Drawings’
2004 Royal Welsh Show ‘Farming and the Welsh Landscape’
2003 ‘Horse’, The Study Gallery, Poole
2003 ‘Open to the Elements’ Hampton Court, Leominster.
2002 Peggy Guggenheim collection, Venice. Sculpture at Goodwood
2001 RCA, Conwy
2000 Globe Gallery, Hay-on-Wye.
1997 Ebbw Vale Festival site exhib. sheep.
1995 Collyer Bristow Gallery, London.
1995 Smiths Gallery, London.
1989 Grizedale Forest Gallery.
1988 Alexander Palace, London. Outdoor Festival Exhibition.
Education and awards
2023. Selected for Education Project –CASW, Engage Cymru and NAEN.
2008 ‘Art and Design 2008’ Interview-Graduate Teacher Training Prospectus.
1992 Awarded Northern Arts Bursary
1989 Awarded Northern Arts Print Bursary.
1982 Foundation, Loughborough College of Art and Design.
1983-86 First Class BA Hons Fine Art, Sculpture. Loughborough
Selected catalogues and books
‘With Animals’ Bede Gallery, Jarrow.
‘Sentient Beings’ Oriel Mostyn, catalogue.
‘Living Sculpture’, Paul Cooper.
‘Public Sculpture of North East England, Liverpool University Press.
‘Sculpture at Goodwood: A Vision For Twenty-First Century British Sculpture’
‘Thinking Big’ Sculpture at Goodwood, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.
‘Arte Sella’ catalogue 2003.
Farming and the Welsh Landscape, RWAS
‘Gathering’ catalogue 2005. Little Fish Press.
‘8 Stones, 8Artsists’ 2007 Brecon Beacons National Park.
Sally Matthews – Burghley Sculpture Garden Catalogue
‘Hill’ Documenting one Derbyshire hill with Kate Bellis.
Essay in The World of Deerhounds BB press.
‘Gardening for the 21st Century’ Anita Pereire.