Anna Gillespie was born in Surrey in 1964. She studied Philosophy, Politics, Economics at Wadham College, Oxford and then International Relations at the London School of Economics. In 1988 Anna returned to sculpture, taking a City and Guilds in Stone Masonry and Carving in Bath before going to the Centro d'Arte, Verrocchio, Italy to work as studio assistant to sculptor, Nigel Konstam. Anna then completed an MA in Fine and Media Arts in Cheltenham. Anna now lives and works in Bath and is represented by the Beaux Arts galleries in Bath www.beauxartsbath.co.uk and London www.beauxartslondon.uk
Anna Gillespie has work is in the collections of The Prudential, Burghley House Sculpture Park, The Somerset Museum, Museo Arte Contemporanea Sicilia, Bodrum Sculpture Park Turkey and also in private collections throughout America, the Middle East and Europe.
Photo: Colin Hawkins
Over the last 10 years Anna Gillespie has attempted through her work to recapture a feeling of immersion in nature, often employing beech nuts, acorn cups, twigs, galls - with these natural found objects then cast into bronze. The act of gathering each autumn the artist considered a meditation; on the beauty of nature and our human place within it. She describes it as humbling, viscerally realising the way in which we humans are just another mass product of nature – all fundamentally the same and yet no two alike.
Recent visits to Africa and America have somewhat shifted her focus on to the way in which humans are influenced by the man-made environment and to the way in which we interact with the planet as a species. Whereas most work using organic materials depicted solitary figures, often in a meditative or perhaps even spiritual stance, the new work favours groups, walking or standing. Whilst it may appear to draw on current events, Gillespie is also seeking to draw a parallel with the historical experience of people and their movements across the surface of the Earth through the ages.
In her organic work the individual was subsumed by the experience of melding with nature and in simply being another beautiful product of it. Her new sculpture deals with the question of what it takes to recognise an individual as an individual, both in terms of being part of a mass of humanity and in the face of passing time.
Anna Gillespie MRBS | |
Education & Training | |
1997 | Italy. Scholarship and teaching assistant at the Centro d'Arte Verrocchio, Italy |
1996-98 | MA Fine Arts, Cheltenham |
1995 | Studio assistant to Nigel Konstam at the Centro d'Arte Verrocchio. Italy |
1986-87 | Diploma International Relations, LSE |
1983-86 | BA Hons, Wadham College Oxford |
Shows & Commissions | |
2022 | Beaux Arts Bath, Three person exhibition |
2021 | Abbey House Gardens |
2020 | Watermans Art Centre, London. Solo exhibition plus dance performances collaboration |
2019 | Commission for Morecambe Bay Partnership at Half Moon Bay |
2018 | Beaux Arts Bath, Solo Exhibition Commission for Crest Nicholson at Riverside, Bath The Steel Rooms, Solo Exhibition, Brigg, Grimsby Two person show Christies Contemporary, Jersey Collaboration with choreographer Richard Chappell. Preview at Royal Opera House Grizedale Sculpture Park, Group RBS exhibition 'Inspired by Nature' London Art Fair, Beaux Arts Bath Member Spike Island Print Studio |
2017 |
Baltic Triangle, Liverpool, Installation 'The Waiting' Society of Women Artists, London, Group Show Royal West of England Academy, Group Show 'Drawn' Beaux Arts Bath, London Art Fair Residency, Drawing Projects UK CCA International Gallery, Jersey, Four person show |
2016 |
Acclimatize E-exhibition, Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, Solo Exhibition Royal West of England Academy, Autumn Exhibition Beaux Arts London, Summer Show Beaux Arts Bath, Solo Exhibition Open Studio Show, Bristol Lacock Abbey, Group Show |
2015 | Glastonbury Festival, Greenfields gateway commission RHS Chelsea Flower Show with Chris Beardshaw Frensham Heights School Commission Solo exhibition, Beaux Arts London Group exhibition, Homo Sapiens, Beaux Arts London |
2014 | National Trust Headquarters, Heelis, Swindon Glastonbury Festival, Greenfields gateway commission Art in Action, Gateway installation, Oxford Alderney Performing Arts Festival, site specific installation Beaux Art Bath, Solo London Art Fair, Solo Stand, Beaux Arts Bath Royal West of England Academy, Autumn Exhibition |
2013 | 5 Person Show, September Beaux Arts London Gloucester Cathedral, Open West group Show Solo Show, Beaux Arts Bath 160 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Chris Beardshaw Gold Winning Garden Glastonbury Festival, Greenfields gateway commission Beaux Arts London, Summer Show |
2012 | Two Person Show, Beaux Arts Bath Summer Show, Beaux Arts, London Royal West of England Academy, Autumn Exhibition Derwent Wye Fine Arts-Group Show |
2011 | Solo Show - Beaux Arts Bath Burghley House, Sculpture Garden The Big Draw Self-Portrait Drawing Show, Chapel Row Gallery, Bath Work also shown at Byard Art, Cambridge and Artzu Gallery, Manchester |
2010 | Three person show with Peter Randall-Page and Sarah Gillespie. Waterhouse & Dodd, London Cambridge -Solo Show. Byard Art, Cambridge SEEDS Film Festival. Minneapolis, USA London. Victor Felix Gallery, Three person show |
2009 | Manchester. Artzu Gallery. Solo Bristol Contemporary Open. Group Show Bristol. View Gallery. Opening Group Show |
2008 | London. "The Figure" at Sarah Myerscough Fine Art London. "Coda" with Chuck Elliott at The Gallery in Cork Street Plymouth University. "Art spaces". Group Show |
2007 | Bristol. Royal West of England Academy. Open Sculpture Bath. Chapel Row Gallery, Solo Show Bath. Beaux Arts Gallery, Summer Show Cambridge. "Breath of Fresh Air" and Summer Show, Byard Art Oxfordshire. Art in Action Corsham. Pound Arts Centre, Solo Show |
2006 | Art Miami Art Fair with Osborne Samuel Gallery Palm Beach Art Fair with Osborne Samuel Gallery London, Osborne Samuel, Summer Show Manchester, Artzu Gallery, Group Show Oxfordhsire, Art in Action |
2005 | Bristol. New Gallery at the Royal West of England Academy Solo Plymouth. Peninsula Art Centre. Four person show London. Osborne Samuel. Three person show Frome, Somerset. Black Swan Arts. Buckfastleigh, Devon. Rill Centre London. Osborne Samuel Gallery. Summer Show Bath. BANA group exhibition London. The Artist and Radio 4. South Bank Gallery Manchester. Artzu Gallery. Big Shots |
2004 | Bristol. Royal West of England Academy 'Encore' group show London. Candid Arts Trust. Network A.D. group show Bristol. Centrespace group show Bristol. Tobacco Factory. Black Cube group Bristol. South Bristol Art Trail Bath. Fringe Festival. Installation in Bath Abbey Yorkshire. Hebdon Bridge Sculpture Trail London. 'Art London' with the Berkeley Square Gallery Athens. ARTiade 2004. 'Olympics of Visual Arts' Gloucestershire. Prema Arts Centre. Solo London. Spectrum Fine Arts Bristol. Royal West of England Academy. Autumn Exhibition Bath. Hotbath Gallery. Pause: capturing the sublime Exeter. Home is Where the Hurt Is Plymouth. New Street Gallery. Christmas Show Ashburton. Gallery No 8. Christmas Show Somerset Museum Services art collection |
2003 | Bristol. Centrespace Gallery. Solo Dorset. Sherborne House Arts Centre. Two person show Royal West of England Academy Open Bristol. Botany Studios. Open studio show. Bristol Black Cube group. UV light exhibition Lichfield District Council. 'Inspire' 100 people collaboration |
2001 | Salisbury. Site-specific stone commission for Lord Chichester Birth of second son |
1999 | Birth of first son Bristol. Work shown at The 3-D Gallery Totnes. Ariel Centre. Work shown alongside solo exhibition of paintings by Sarah Gillespie |
1998 | Work shown at the Gardens of Gaia Sculpture Park, Kent. 1998-1999 Work shown at the Michael Wright Gallery, Bristol |
1997 | Ireland. Work shown at the Yello Gallery, Kinsale. 1997-1998 Gloucestershire. Work shown at the Anderson Gallery. 1997-1998 |
1996 | Italy. Studio assistant at Centro d'Arte Verrocchio Bristol. The Happening Gallery. Solo London. Work shown at The Cadogan Gallery London. Work shown at The McHardy Sculpture Gallery Worcestershire. Work shown at the Ombersely Gallery Bristol. Group show by 'Artery' at the Leadworks Edinburgh. C Venue 19. Fringe Festival five women show |
1995 | Bristol. The Happening Gallery. Solo Bristol. The Happening Gallery. 'Cruciform' group show London. Wembley Exhibition Centre. Natural Stone Show City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. 'Broad's Boards' Edinburgh. C Venue 19, Fringe Festival group show Royal West of England Academy Open. |
1993-95 | Royal West of England Academy Printmaking Open Bath Society of Artists. Open Royal West of England Academy Open |
Anna Gillespie www.annagillespie.co.uk info@annagillespie.co.uk |