Sculpture is a powerful art which reaches way beyond the limitations of ornament and commemoration. It interacts with many of our senses, including sight, touch and in a peculiarly physically way, through shape itself. My fascination is with how form, and the space around and within a shape, can generate a presence and how this communicates and resonates emotionally with people. I trace my feeling for sculpture to my childhood spent among the majestic forms of the Dorset coastline and the slow absorption of the knowledge that these forms are being continually acted upon and shaped by the weather and the sea. Although seemingly static, the cliffs exist in a dynamic where exposure jostles concealment. An understanding of this communicates wordlessly somewhere deep within us and gives to sculpture an ‘inner life’ way in addition to its impact as a 3D ‘object’. A successful sculpture captures something of this inner dynamic and I’d like to think that the understanding of it sometimes comes out in my work, particularly when I am carving, which I do slowly with hand tools. My practice is very varied because I welcome the challenge of using different materials and because I like to explore the way that communication through sculpture operates. Sometimes my focus is intellectual, sometimes emotional. To this end, I work both figuratively and non-figuratively, motivated by the pure enjoyment of making and the alchemy of turning raw material into new forms and shapes. Drawing underpins everything I make and for some time now I have also been exploring the relationship between drawing and sculpture in the finished work. I started working directly with steel rod to produce 3D sketches and have progressed to cutting sheet metal outlines which retain the immediacy and verve of the original drawing. When a piece is finished, there is nothing more pleasing than learning that people are enjoying it, that it has made them smile, pause to consider or enhanced their lives.
Henrietta Bud Biography
Work and Experience
Henrietta Bud makes sculpture from a studio in Oxfordshire. She uses a variety of different materials, including stone, wood, ceramic, steel and mixed media. She enjoys the way that each material influences the nature of the sculpture and how the choice expands her range of artistic expression.
Henrietta’s work is often figurative because she is interested in both the narrative and the emotional resonances which the human form in particular can convey. Inspiration comes from a host of different directions but the motivating force is always a feeling for three-dimensional shape and the way it communicates with us.
Henrietta has a degree in the History of Art from Cambridge University and trained in Fine Art in London and Brussels. She is listed by invitation in the 'Dictionnaire des artistes plasticiens Belges'. She exhibits internationally and has sculpture in both public and private collections across the UK, Europe and Australia.
Exhibitions
Henrietta exhibits widely in galleries and outdoor venues. In recent years, among other places, she has exhibited at:
Galleries Vanderborght, central Brussels
The Mall Galleries, London, with the Society of Women Artists
Henley festival
FreshAir, Quenington
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Borde Hill gardens
The Sculpture garden, Cookham
Wisley RHS gardens
Blenheim palace
Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington
Asthall Manor
Whiteley’s gallery space, London
Many National Trust venues including Grey’s Court, Hidcote and Avebury
Oxford Festival of the Arts
Work on permanent display:
The Sculpture Park, Churt, Surrey
https:// www.thesculpturepark.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=henrietta+bud
Public commissions in the UK:
Three, life-sized, linked, steel human profile figures sited at the entrance to Blewbury Church of England Primary School, Blewbury, Oxfordshire
A wicker and mixed media sculpture entitles ‘Refuge for Rare Newts’ at Sutton Courtenay Environmental Centre, Oxfordshire
Private Commissions
Range from work in bronze, wood, ceramic and steel for clients in the UK and Europe
Societies
Oxford Sculptors’ group, Surrey Sculpture Society, Bicester Sculpture group and Medical Art Society
Contact details
www.artandartists.co.uk
www.facebook.com/henriettabudsculpture/
www.instagram.com/henriettabudart
sculpture@hotmail.co.uk
