Sally Fawkes is a material based sculptor whose primary material is cast glass. Her work explores the intersections between the intangible and the physically apparent. An image floating displaced on a horizon that is itself distorted by distance and haze. A space where multiple histories hint at past lives and happenings. The wonder of sunlight breaking through the tree canopy, creating infinite light patterns on what is below. All these things can be observed in Fawkes’ glass sculpture as well as the experiences you bring from your own memory and transplant into her sculptures.
Her research encompasses sensory response and interactions with places and spaces; physical space, and, or a concept in space. She records historical and contemporary interests through drawing, painting and photography and most recently video.
Her transparent optical casts of glass become the core of her three dimensional narratives that she works to highly polished surfaces, adding layers of engraving, textures and deep carving to provide a richness of language that holds the attention and begs further investigation.
Her trademark application of mirrored surfaces add a further layer of complexity and animation that delight in confusing and beguiling the eye whilst also giving her the opportunity to paint on a reverse surface. The resulting surface colours and textures give voice to more layers of information and inevitably you are drawn in to explore further. The Latin word for mirror, ‘speculum’ gives us the verb to speculate. Fawkes’s sculptures invite you to immerse yourself in the complex realm of what you see, what you think you see and so what is potential.
Fawkes holds a First Class Honours degree in 3D Design-Glass from Surrey Institute of Art and Design, UK and has received several awards for researchand development from both the Arts Council and Crafts Council of England. She has worked as a professional artist since 1999 and is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. She has also lectured at UK universities and currently lectures at The Royal Danish Academies of Fine Art and Design, Denmark at the specialist glass and ceramics department on the island of Bornholm. She has an international profile of exhibiting with recent exhibitions include London Art Fair, London, Art Shanghai, China, Coburg Glass Prize, Germany, and Salisbury Cathedral, UK. She also works to commission (often site specifically) for private, corporate and public spaces and has 15 years experience of creating artworks for marine vessels.
Her work is represented in numerous Museum and Public collections in the UK and abroad, for example, V&A, London, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, M.A.V.A., Madrid, Spain, MUDAC, Lausanne, Switzerland.
