Nichola Theakston MA
Nichola Theakston has established herself as one of the UK's foremost contemporary sculptors working with animal genre. She has exhibited widely across the country and is collected enthusiastically by many who appreciate her exceptional natural ability and skill coupled with sensitivity and awareness of her subject.
Limited Edition sculptures are usually made on an armature which is packed out with clay to assume a rough sketch which is worked to completion before moulding. Traditional plaster moulds are made of the sculpture from which she is able to remake and remodel a ceramic edition.
Nichola’s unique hand-built sculpture is usually fabricated without an armature, using thin slabs and small pieces of clay and built up like a puzzle or mosaic. The resulting fragility is integral to both the concept and aesthetic.
The notion that an individual creature may experience some ‘otherness’ or spiritual dimension beyond our understanding of its instinctive animal behaviours is the premise behind these works, and portraiture the vehicle I use to explore feeling and expression. Primates are an obvious and compelling choice of subject, and it is important to me that they are sculpted with sensitivity and empathy inviting the viewer to relate and reflect.
