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I see myself as a jack of
all trades: former dancer, former translator, professional sculptor of
course, and sculpture teacher, but also mother,
dog lover, poet, occasional photographer,
songwriter, web designer, concerned "world citizen" working on a
number of community art projects, for a recent example see Log
Henge and a different, earlier Arte
Para Todos project I contributed to, organised by the United
Nations of Honduras.
A bit of a puzzle to some perhaps (accent-wise) in that I grew up as a
world citizen (first few months in France, then 6 years in the US, then
back to France for 11 years, then back in the US for 8 years, then back
to France for 3 years, then England for 22 years..., then a stay in
Montana... and back to England again and France, with forays to many other
places throughout. My mother was Dutch (raised in Indonesia), my father
was French (born in Japan and raised in Greece). Both of their
backgrounds influenced my life and my education - academic and
otherwise - tremendously.
I now have working studios whenever I need to in China, in the UK (as artist-in-residence for Belvoir Castle &
Estate on the Lincolnshire/Leicestershire border), in France where I now spend a great deal of the year, and have also access when I require it to studio spaces in plus access to in Canada and the USA. I undertake regular public, corporate and private commissions in countries around the world. While you can see samples of existing sculptures I
have for sale (original and limited edition work) as well as previous
commissions elsewhere in this site by clicking on headings below, in this page I've concentrated on
presenting my curriculum vitae (or
resumé) and on explaining what makes me tick, the projects I'm
working on, etc.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
- BEPC, Lycée
International, Saint-Germain en Laye, France, 1969
- Baccalauréat
(philosophy and languages major), Cours Vauvenargues, Paris, France,
1972
- Sculpture and Foundry studies
(clay modeling, wood and stone carving, plaster and bronze casting),
Venice Sculpture Studio (under Martine Vaugel), California, USA,
1975-1982
- Graphic Design studies, Art
Bureau, Los Angeles, California, 1981-1983
- Sculpture course, Atelier de
Métal, Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 1984-1986
- Web Design & Internet
Marketing studies & projects 1998 - 1999 - 2000
- Numerous PR, Marketing and
Communication workshops
- Awarded Master of Fine Art
International Practice degree (and Post-Graduate degree in Fine Art)
from University College of the Creative Arts (UCCA, formerly KIAD or
Kent Institute of Art & Design), Canterbury, England, 2006. See MFA pages (which need bringing up to date!)
and Artist
of the Silk Road monumental trio of sculptures
PRINCIPAL SHOWS,
AWARDS, MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES
- International Art Academy of
Los Angeles Exhibit, 1979 - Awarded Jury's Selection Prize
- Muse and Friends
Retrospective Show, Tillard, France, 1984
- Salon du Printemps,
Association Nationale des Artistes Français, April 1985
- Musée des Beaux-Arts,
Paris, France,1986 - Awarded Prix de Portrait Paul Louis Weiller
- Saint Hill European Arts
Festival 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003
- Chelsea Arts Society
Exhibition, London, England, 1992, 1993, 1994 - Sculpture Award 1992
- Brighton Marina Exhibition,
England, 1994
- Worthing Museum, England,
June-September 1995
- The Grange Museum,
Rottingdean, England, 1996
- Chequer Mead Arts Centre,
East Grinstead, England, 1997
- Opum Magnus Gallery,
March-August 1998
- Isaac Hayes Tribute Event,
Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1998
- Gallery International - 1st
Spring Show, East Grinstead, England, 1999
- RAC Sponsored Autumn Show -
East Grinstead, England, 1999
- China
Changchun International Sculpture Symposium 2001 July-September 2001
See pics of "East Meets West" - the monumental sculpture created at the
Symposium plus some pics of China! Also read an article in the
China Daily online
- Harbin China Snow Sculpture
Symposium 2001 December 2001)
Team of 3: Chinese sculptors Zhang Yaxi and Bai Yuliang plus Laury
Dizengremel participated in this symposium and won 3rd prize!
- Faces of China Show
within Carl Roehrig's Studio Show 21 September 2002, Hamburg,
Germany Two person show
- The
Waitrose Gallery 1-31 March 2003, Western Road, Brighton
Faces of China Solo Exhibition - click here
for overall pictures or here for details and
prices
- A-Gallery 8 -14 June 2003,
Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, London - Click here to see my monumental
mixed media installation entitled: "Dream
Catcher Tribe: Guardians of My Soul"
- "L'Eté
des Sculpteurs" an exhibition of sculpture, 21 June-21 September,
Chateau de Bois Guilbert, France
- International
Sculpture Symposium, An Giang Vietnam 2003 , Nui Sam, An Giang
Province - click
here for pics
- International
Sculpture Symposium, Hue Vietnam 2004, along the bank of the
Perfume River in the ancient imperial city of Hue - click
here for pic of "Maze of Love & Friendship" or here for "Boat
People" steel sculpture.
- Arte
Para Todos 2004 Tegucigalpa, Honduras - an event sponsored by the
United Nations Development Team and the First Lady of Honduras - click
here for pics
- Future
Hope in HSBC London Headquarters 2005 - a group exhibition and
auction in April 2005, in the Canary Wharf HSBC building, to benefit
Future Hope, an Indian foundation helping children in Calcutta.
- South East Open Studios
(SEOS), Kent, England, 2004, 2005, 2006
- 1st International Sculpture
Festival of Kunming, 2005. Click here for pics of "Tsunami
Memorial" in concrete and bronze.
-
"Visual Artists for Human Rights" exhibition, Westwood Gallery,
Manhattan - United Nations Human Rights Summit, New York, USA, August
2006
- "Conversations" - Master of
Fine Art International Practice degree exhibition, University College
of the Creative Arts, Canterbury, Kent, 8-14 September 2006. See Artist
Statement, also Artists
of the Silk Road Series, as well as making
the monumental Artists of the Silk Road trio and Artists
of the Silk Road in Devon
- Canterbury Festival UCCA
Showcase, Canterbury, Kent, October, 2006
- Johnson Art Collection
gallery, Visual Artists
for Human Rights show, Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California,
October-November 2006
- "Art & Soul" -
group exhibition with approx. 30 other artists in each edition, along
with Anthony Gormley in 2006 and Damien Hirst in 2007, in
support of Demelza (Hospice Care for Children) Rhapsody House Gallery,
Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, October 2006 and 2007.
- Visual Roots - BBC Brighton
Headquarters (Lead Artist) - 28 April - 30 June 2007
- Beltane Gallery presents
"Laury Dizengremel", March - June 2007
- Spring 2008 Sculpture Show -
Broomhill Sculpture Park (North Devon Festival), Muddiford, Devon
(exhibtion still ONGOING)
- Winter 2008-2009 - Dana
Gallery, Missoula, Montana
- February
2009 - Wine & Chocolate Art Exhibition, Seeley Lake, Montana, USA
(awarded 1st prize by Kay Grissom Kiely, co-curator Montana Museum of
Art & Culture)
- May 2010 - Loon & Fish Art
Exhibition
- September 2010 completion of
large-scale outdoor sculpture installation entitled Log
Henge - Spirits of the Forest, in Seeley Lake, Montana
- 2011 saw the completion of
Belvoir Wood Henge and a 2012 sculpture - both collaborative works
involving dozens of primary and secondary school pupils in
Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
PRINCIPAL PRIVATE ART
COLLECTORS
- Dr. Berman, Culver City
Obstetrics, California, USA
- Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Wilkens,
Toronto, Canada
- Ms. Laurel Koftinov, Los
Angeles, California, USA
- Mr. Ian Krieger, Venice,
California, USA
- Dr. Philippe Remy, Paris,
France
- Arthur Hubbard, West
Hollywood, California
- Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Caplin,
Beverly Hills, California, USA
- Dr. Owen Dennis, Vice
President Chiropractic Association, Dublin, Ireland
- Mr. Oliver Richardson, New
York, USA
- Mr. and Mrs. Brett Stevens,
Dublin, Ireland
- Cathy & Steven Bird / Liz
Bailey Family, Forest Row, East Sussex, England
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin Ostertag,
Stuttgart, Germany,
- Mr. Peter Schouten, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
- Mr. and Mrs. Alastair Gordon,
Felbridge, West Susssex, England
- Mr. and Mrs. Nigel Ridpath,
Horsham, West Sussex, England
- Mrs. Margaret Lomas née
Luxmore, Devon, England
- Mr. Jason Ellis, Gibraltar
- Mr and Mrs Robin Ellis,
London, England
- Mr and Mrs Adrian Whicheloe,
Bristol, England
- Mr and Mrs Scott Smith,
Charlotte, North Carolina - USA see Portrait
of "Cooper" Labrador Retriever
- Mr. John Caudwell, Stoke,
England
- Mr. and Mrs Greg Cassar,
Hartfield, Sussex, England
- Mr. and Mrs Reginald Webb,
England
- Mr and Mrs James Martino,
Oakton, Virginia, USA
- Mr and Mrs Jensen, Wimbledon,
England
- Mr and Mrs Marc Bailey,
Surrey, England
- Mr and Mrs Walter Conkling ,
Colorado, USA
- Mr and Mrs Nigel Hopes,
Berkshire, England
PRINCIPAL CORPORATE,
PUBLIC & MUSEUMS COLLECTORS
- Presidential Collection of Mr. François Mitterrand , France
- World Literacy Crusade - USA,
bronze sculpture portraits of Isaac Hayes, John Travolta and Chick Corea
- Gordon Lamb Marketing Group,
bust of Mr. Gordon Lamb, Chesterfield / Sheffield Showrooms, England
- Changchun Museum, Dancer and
Cooper Labrador bust, Jilin Province, China
- HSBC Headquarters, Canary
Wharf, London, England, Artists
of the Future in glass
- For Dementia, Janet Jason Award,
London, England
- Sunset Country Club, Clydesdale
Horse Trophy Sculpture, St Louis, Missouri
- Tony "Socks" Byrne Lifesize
Commemorative Sculpture, Olympic Boxing Medallist, Drogheda, Ireland
- For ATP / Tennis Master Cup
2007: Tennis
Terracotta Warriors, Shanghai 2007, then Wimbledon Museum, now
National Tennis Centre UK
- Joey Maher Lifesize
Commemorative Sculpture, World Champion Handball, Drogheda, Ireland
- "Log
Henge - Spirits of the Forest" Community sculpture, Seeley Lake,
Montana, USA, in association with Monte Dolack, Merrily Dunham and
Jennifer Dyer
CURRENT OR RECENT
PROJECTS
Currently... started out end of October 2010 as artist-in-residence at Belvoir Castle &
Estate for the Duchess of Rutland. This is still on-going. I
lectured in 15 schools in the East Midlands and organized a sculpture
symposium which resulted in a new 3Rs: Recycled, Reclaimed, Raw
sculpture trail (see video on this page).
In this context I also have a new Wordpress blog: http://belvoirartist.wordpress.com/
which you may find interesting.
In September 2010, my new Log
Henge - Spirits of the Forest wood sculpture installation was
unveiled in Seeley Lake, Montana (USA)
A few years ago I executed a series of
sculptures for a corporate client such as the Tennis
Terra Cotta Warriors for ATP Tennis and the Tennis Master Cup in
Shanghai (see picture above) and also finished another of my Artists
of the Silk Road sculpture series following on from the context of
a Masters of Fine Art International Practice
degree course completed at the University College of the Arts at
Canterbury in Kent (England) in September 2006 (see picture below)..
OTHER PROJECTS, PAST
or IN PROGRESS
China - 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008:Projects in China
following the successful China
Changchun International Sculpture Symposium included attending
the International Sculpture
Convention 2003 as the leader of the European Delegation. See also
one of my most recent projects, a large-scale outdoor sculpture being
created at the 1st International Sculpture Festival of Kunming, China
2005, entitled "Tsunami
Memorial".
See
new sculpture designs here - these are awaiting a generous
collector's fancy or an urban commission and show the direction some of
my work is taking!
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"20 Heads of the
Year 2000", now a project moving towards 2020....
Completed "Heads": John Travolta, Isaac Hayes and Chick Corea all sat
for their sculpture portraits. Anyone interested in helping establish
contact with other inspiring figures, please e-mail me.
"Faces" column: This is a column I'm working directly in
plaster (actually Kermaplast) and integrating faces cast from moulds of
earlier commissions or pieces, over an armature made from a wide metal
pipe and wire mesh. The possibilities for the final medium are
tremendous (I may cast it in bronze, or concrete or glass) and I'm
finding it formidably challenging and exciting!
I'm hoping to interest the interior design market in it . This column
can be used as a stand-alone piece of artwork, or it could be used as a
functional piece: as a plant-stand, artwork you place your pile of CDs
on, etc....
Masters of Fine Art
International Practice degree course: Started this in October
2004 and graduated in September 2006. The final award ceremony was
in Canterbury in July 2007.
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LECTURING
During the WINTER (2001-2002) I
was invited to do a lecture tour in China as a professional sculptor
(the poster on the left was designed by Jian Dian Kun, head of the
computer design team for North East Normal University in Changchun,
Jilin Province, China).
I lectured in
Changchun (Jilin Province), Harbin (Heilongjiang Province) and Dalian
(Liaoning Province) to the fine art and design students of 4 different
universities. I also delivered further lectures in Kunming (Yunnan Province) in 2005, and in Chongqing (formerly Sichuan Province) and
Chengdu on numerous occasions between 2004 and 2009.
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TEACHING
I started teaching a very small
selection of pupils from Greenfields
School in Sussex at GCSE and A level in
1995 in my own studio. Since then I took 2 to 4 students almost
every year for at least one term through a sculpture module for their A
levels, again in my own studio. I've also taught a one-week summer
workshop at Greenfields with students aged 10 to 70! And I'm always
happy to give sculpture instruction to friends or scupture students
when asked. Teaching opened up a whole new realm of understanding of
sculpture for me and I love it. I am confident I can teach anyone the
basics of portrait or figure sculpture and always welcome questions or
enquiries. To the left is the second sculpture ever produced by one of
my students, Clemency Scarfe-Beckett.
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PERSONAL
MILESTONES (in no particular order)
- Having President Mitterrand inaugurate my
sculpture of Jean Jaurès (picture at top of page) in a town
square in France
- Discovering the delightful poetry of Paul Geraldy, (discovering
poetry per se...)
- Getting a letter from the Irish tax office in Dublin Castle telling
me that my work was dubbed "of cultural merit", so I could avail myself
of the special tax status when I take up permanent residence in Ireland
(one of these days...)
- Climbing a volcano on the island of Maui with my small son Ilya on my
back (the colours of the sky...)
- Drinking my first glass of vodka at age 13 in Moscow (still behind
the iron curtain at that time) on a school trip from France - vodka is
not my favourite but the memory still lingers filled with balalaika
tunes
- Finding many of the spiritual and practical every-day-life answers I
sought in the works of various philosophers including Cicero and Hubbard
- Sunrise through the forest, being driven home 3 hours after
delivering my daughter Sophie and looking at
her perfect face
- Attending a live art performance in Venice, California and turning
round to find Dustin Hoffman perched on a radiator right behind me (I
remember him, but can't remember the live art...)
- Meeting Isaac Hayes (and Rev. Alfreddie Johnson) for the first time,
when we agreed Isaac would be my first "Head" in the context of the "20
Heads of the Year 2000" project... the sense
of having my dreams totally understood
- Finally having the homebirth I'd always wanted: the result was Chloë or warmth, laughter and talent
personified
- Working on John Travolta's portrait in clay for the "20 Heads"
project on twice 3 hours of sleep in 3 days... (gee, though,
having him pose for me was such an honour!) And then just a few months
ago meeting Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and so many other
tennis top players - not knowing who would be the final 8 for the
Tennis Master Cup Shanghai til the last moment, making those big tennis
Terra Cotta Warriors sculptures - that was beyond the beyond cool!!!!!
- Editing the "Aeon"
poetry anthology with Ed Long
- I was obsessed with the work in a positive way and had such a great
sense of accomplishment
- Seeing the pour for my first piece being cast in bronze... the
incandescent light, the heat!
- Tossing 3 inches of hair (my hair had just been cut) to the side
while whispering to A...
- Singing in public for the first time thanks to the insistence of
singer Gloria Rusch. Singing again with the help of Graham Todd. Both
of you are no longer alive, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Actually, there are so many milestones. Sometimes it also feels
like there have been different lives within this lifetime already
(living in so many different places, each with its own set of friends
and aquaintances, and yet retaining the continuity of people I've known
throughout).
If you want to know more about me,
see my monumental
sculptures or sculptures available now
and some previous portrait and bust commissions,
including Isaac Hayes, Chick Corea and John Travolta (for
charity). Also read some of my poetry if
poetry is your thing. And if you're after a romantic 8th Wedding Anniversary or 19th
Wedding Anniversary gift with the appropriate bronze theme - click here.
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