Celia Smith

Celia Smith

22 August - 11 October 2020

Celia Smith is an artist who draws with wire, as others draw with pencil. For her, creating sculptures out of wire is like drawing in three dimensions. Birds are her main inspiration; capturing their movement and character is her primary concern. She finds that wire has a spontaneity that can give her sculptures a feeling of life and energy.

The majority of Celia’s sculptures are of native British birds. She aims to capture not only their shape but also their movement and character. A lot of time is spent drawing and studying the birds and often, small wire studies and life-size pieces are made directly in front of the subject.

Over the past 3 years Celia has been experimenting with new ways of making while on a part time MA in Multi Disciplinary Printmaking at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. Her interest in printmaking grew after inking up one of her wire drawings and putting it into a relief printing press. 

“It excites me that one wire drawing can lead to artworks on paper and in enamel. I love the idea of ‘printing’ flocks of birds and making multiple of one piece.”

In the printing workshops at UWE this ‘impression taking’ quickly led to embossing wire drawings into copper foil. The embossed lines are then etched away using ferric chloride so a negative of the wire bird is left. The delicate relief is then woven into with copper wire before being enamelled.