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Hazel Reeves

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Hazel Reeves
MRSS SWA
Reeves in January 2019
Born
Croydon, Surrey, UK
NationalityBritish
Education
Known forSculpture
Websitehttps://www.hazelreeves.com

Hazel Reeves, MRSS SWA is a British sculptor based in Sussex, England, who specialises in figure and portrait commissions in bronze. Her work has been shown widely across England and Wales.[2] Public commissions can be found in Carlisle,[3] London,[4] Congleton[5] and Manchester.[6] Since 2021, Reeves' work increasingly embraces soundscapes of nature and movement.[7]

Early life and education

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Reeves was born in Croydon, Surrey and now lives in Brighton, East Sussex. She attended Imberhorne School in East Grinstead, West Sussex, Kingston Business School[8] and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to study international development and gender equality MSc (Econ).[9] In 2003 she studied sculpture with Sylvia MacRae Brown at the University of Sussex, at Heatherley School of Fine Art (London)[10] and in 2009 at the Florence Academy of Art, Italy.[11]

Statue of Sir Nigel Gresley by Hazel Reeves, King's Cross Station, London

Career

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Reeves' first quasi-public commission was of Sadako Sasaki for the Hedd Wen Peace Place, Llanfoist, Abergavenny, unveiled on the World Day of Peace, 21 September 2012. It tells the story of Sadako and her 1000 paper cranes, used worldwide in peace education.[12]

The statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of steam locomotives Flying Scotsman and Mallard, was Reeves' first major public commission. Her original design had included a mallard duck but it was removed after objections from two relatives who thought it was demeaning. The statue was unveiled at London King's Cross railway station on 6 April 2016, the 75th anniversary of his death.[4][13]

The Cracker Packers bronze statue by Hazel Reeves, Carlisle, 2018

On International Women's Day, 8 March 2018, Reeves' Cracker Packers statue was unveiled in Caldewgate, Carlisle, close to the pladis factory, where Carr's Table Water Biscuits are manufactured.[3] The statue celebrates the lives of women biscuit factory workers from the Carr's factory in Carlisle.[14] Based on former and current Cracker Packers the statue is of two women factory workers, one from the past and one from the present, standing atop a giant Carr's Table Water Biscuit. The statue was commissioned by Carlisle City Council and was one of hundreds that were nominated for Historic England's "Immortalised" season in 2018.[15]

Rise Up, Women bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst by Reeves, Manchester, 2018

In 2017, Reeves' winning design – Rise up, Women – was selected from a shortlist of six designs for a bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, by winning the public vote and being the unanimous choice of the WoManchester Statue Project selection panel.[16] The statue of Emmeline Pankhurst was unveiled in St Peter's Square, Manchester (her hometown) on 14 December 2018.[17] In 2021 it won the Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA) Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.[18]

"Our Elizabeth" bronze statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy by Reeves, Congleton, 2022

Reeves' statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy (1833-1918), a pioneering activist who fought for equality throughout her life, was unveiled in Congleton by Baroness Hale of Richmond on International Women's Day, 8 March 2022.[5][19][20]

Reeves seeks to redress the lack of representation of women in some of her public commissions as well as private commissions, such as portrait sculptures of disability rights activists Baroness Jane Campbell and Diane Kingston.[21][22][23] Reeves has been appointed to sculpt Ada Nield Chew (1870-1945), the vocal factory worker who became a women's rights campaigner, for installation in Crewe. The 'Statue for Ada' campaign is coordinated by Cheshire Women's Collaboration.[24][25]

Sir John Manduell CBE, the Founding Principal who brought together two Manchester music schools to establish the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), will be honoured June 2024 with a new bust created by Hazel Reeves.[26]

Reeves was artist-in-residence in 2021 at Knepp Estate, West Sussex, recording bird soundscapes to inspire movement.[27] Her resultant Sculptural Murmurings project at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, was funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England,[28] who are also funding Reeves' Soundscapes of Hope project in 2022/23, drawing on her field recordings at Knepp and the nature reserves of Svartådalan, Sweden.[29] Two sound events resulted in 2023: Layback with Nature (Phoenix Art Space, Brighton) and Sculptural Murmurings (II) (Fabrica Gallery).[30]

In 2024, Reeves' collaborated with pianist and composer Damian Montagu on the track Knepp Dawn, released on 5 May 2024 to mark International Dawn Chorus Day. The track celebrates the dawn chorus in the Knepp scrubland that features bird species facing cataclysmic declines elsewhere, like the nightingale, turtle dove, cuckoo, white stork.[31]

Reeves was elected to the Society of Women Artists (SWA) in 2009 and elected a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors (MRSS) in 2017. She teaches portrait sculpture workshops at Art Junction in Billingshurst, Phoenix Brighton, Morley College (London) and Masterclasses at the Art Academy (London).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Artist Hazel Reeves talks to The Art Academy ahead of her Portrait Sculpture Masterclass that starts in less than one month's time". Art Academy London. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Hazel Reeves, SWA". Society of Women Artists. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Cracker Packers statue". Carlisle City Council. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b "'Demeaning' duck absent from Sir Nigel Gresley statue". BBC News. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy: Suffrage campaigner statue unveiled". BBC News. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst unveiled in Manchester today". Government of the United Kingdom. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Telling Stories in Sound". Hazel Reeves. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Graduate Blogs". Kingston University London. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Putting Gender on the Map" (PDF). London School of Economics. 29 July 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Hazel Reeves and Hilary Daltry visit Emmeline Pankhurst's Grave". Heatherleys. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  11. ^ "Biography". hazelreeves.com. 24 January 2016.
  12. ^ Magee, Tamlin (31 December 2021). "Spaces for pondering, meditating, praying and 'being': 10 of Britain's best small pilgrimage sites". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Sir Nigel Gresley at King's Cross". 3rd Dimension (PMSA). 20 March 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  14. ^ "Cracker Packer statue unveiled in Carlisle". ITV News. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Carlisle's Cracker Packers statue to be celebrated in special London exhibition". News & Star with The Cumberland News. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Hazel Reeves wins Emmeline Pankhurst Statue Commission". The Womanchester Statue Project. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  17. ^ "Thousands welcome Emmeline Pankhurst statue in Manchester". The Guardian. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  18. ^ "The 2021 PSSA Marsh Awards Winners". Public Statues and Sculpture Association. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  19. ^ "'Our Elizabeth' comes home at last!". Elizabeth's Group. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  20. ^ "'Our Elizabeth' cemented in town's history". The Chronicle Series. 16 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  21. ^ Hurst, Carmen (October 2018). "Hazel Reeves and the Representation of Women in Public Art". ARTICULATE. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  22. ^ McIntosh, Anthony (11 December 2018). "Deeds Not Words: commemorating the women's suffrage movement through statues". Art UK. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  23. ^ Grace, Deborah (January 2019). "Making a Stand". Open Up South Manchester. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  24. ^ Watterson, Kaleigh (30 July 2023). "Ada Nield Chew: The factory girl who fought for women's rights". BBC News. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  25. ^ "A statue for Ada". A statue for Ada. 30 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  26. ^ "RNCM Founding Principal to be honoured with sculpture". 4barsrest. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  27. ^ "Reveil 2021 Streams: Hazel Reeves". Reveil 2021 Streams. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Making Space - Sculptural Murmurings - Hazel Reeves". Fabrica. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Knepp Wildland Podcast - The Soundscape (episode 24)". Apple Podcast. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Soundscapes of Hope". Hazel Reeves. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  31. ^ Gupta, Tanya (5 May 2024). "Rewilded park's birdsong inspires artists". BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
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