Amanda Harrison, born in London and raised in Sydney, has been a passionate sculptor all her life.

Alongside her earlier careers in film-making, writing and graphic design, she now works as a fulltime sculptor.

Her greatest passion lies in figurative sculpture, where she seeks to capture the essence of the human body in her contemporary style. Inspired by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, Harrison’s work is characterised by simplicity and evocative form. Essential shapes are reduced to create complexity through the interplay of sweeping curves and surface texture. Joy and positivity permeate Harrison’s work, an enduring motif expressed through emotional gestures, loving embraces and gleeful movements.

After studying fine arts at high school, Harrison pursued writing and media at university before travelling extensively. While working in London, she completed a certificate in sculpture at the Kensington & Chelsea College, learning the elements of armature-building, developing the form and mould making. Upon returning to Sydney, she worked as a graphic designer while continuing to build her sculptural practice at evening classes and weekend workshops.

After establishing her studio in Greenwich Sydney 15 years ago, Harrison launched into a full-time sculpting career that has been highly successful. She has been accepted into prestigious sculpture shows, won numerous awards and is held in a number of private collections.

She is currently on the committee for The Sculptors Society, and has been the convenor of the annual Greenwich Village Arts Trail for the past 14 years.

 

ARTIST STATEMENT
I create contemporary sculptures in ceramics, bronze and marble from my Sydney studio. My previous work in writing and graphic design trained me to seek simplicity and to keep only the essential parts of a story - and this philosophy now guides my sculptural style. I search for the essential elements in a form, especially the human form, through the interaction of shape, line and space.

My first love is figurative sculpture. While people’s relationships with each other is my favourite subject - especially the parent and child - my message is focussed on joy, life and love. I am an optimist at heart, always seeing the best in people, and I reflect this hope, and strength, in my figures.

Balance is an area I like to explore, particularly in my metal pieces. The strength of the material allows for a tiny anchor point, often a toe or a hand. I love exploring the movement and tension that balance brings to a sculpture.

Surface texture and patterns also fascinate me, and the way these markings can both highlight the shape of the piece and give it depth and personality. Texture also stamps a piece as 'made-by-hand'.

PROCESS
My starting point is often a quick pencil drawing of an image in my mind. Sometimes I'll make a small clay 'maquette' which then acts as a first draft for the larger piece. The next stage, 'roughing out', is a relatively quick process. Creating something from nothing and watching it suddenly come to life can be very exciting. The process becomes more meditatative in the final stage, as I tweak and modify the piece and its finished surface.

All my ceramic pieces are one-offs, created from rolled slabs of clay formed into hollow shells. The walls of my ceramic pieces must be thin to ensure they are thoroughly dry before being fired in my studio kiln. Even a drop of moisture retained in the clay will cause a distastrous explosion in the kiln as the temperaturen rises.

Most of my metal sculptures are one-offs using the 'lost wax' method. I sculpt directly in wax from which a ceramic mould is created at the foundry and then subsequently destroyed during the casting process. Hence the wax is lost and the piece becomes a 'one-off'. A few of my pieces have a silicone mould made first, after which a limited edition of 10 metal sculptures are cast before the silicone mould is manually destroyed.

 

"Art opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine." (Unknown author)