Many of you reading this foreword will already be familiar with the work of Claire Norrington and may have viewed her highly successful first solo exhibition in the gallery two years ago. That show was particularly well received and sales far exceeded our wildest expectations. However, for those who are not so familiar with this brilliant young artist I shall give a brief resumé of her background before mentioning some of the more important milestones since 2002.

From an early age Claire was in love with the animals that surrounded her at home on the farmlands of east Essex and spent much of her time drawing them, becoming an accomplished draughtswoman by her early teens. At one time she had thoughts of becoming a vet and did voluntary work in the local veterinary practice before deciding on a career in fine art.

In 1991 she graduated from Winchester School of Art with an honours degree in Fine Art Sculpture and had her work taken by the Hampshire Trust and Queen Mary's Art Centre in Basingstoke. During her degree course she had utilised many different materials but found that forging, bending and welding steel brought a vitality to her animal sculpture.

Claire now models her pieces using such materials as slats of wood, string, cardboard and foam before they move on to the foundry for casting. The nature of the surfaces which she achieves in their construction makes casting a long and complex process and Claire balances her time carefully between overseeing the foundry activity and studio time.

Of course, Norrington's sculpture is the culmination of many hours spent drawing her subjects and she will go anywhere to study the animals which she sculpts. It's not uncommon for her to spend days at a time at venues such as the Hawk Conservancy, The New Forest Show or various zoos producing up to 100 sketches of an animal. "I'm always striving to capture more about an animal or bird and by executing multiple sketches of the same creature I try to build up a 'library' of knowledge in my head which can be recalled later in the studio Even after years of studying my subjects, I see different things every time I look at them".

In the past two years, Claire's work has been featured in The Telegraph, The Financial Times and International Artists magazine and her sculpture is included in 'Public Art in the South East', published by the Arts Council of Great Britain. She has also had a very successful solo exhibition in London.

Such is her self-belief in where she is going, Claire undertook the highly expensive business of casting by far her largest piece to date, 'Wild Deer Leaping', which is twelve feet wide. The movement in the three deer is staggering (no pun intended) and the first of the edition was purchased by the internationally acclaimed Chewton Glen Hotel and Country Club in Hampshire. Last autumn private clients of ours acquired the second casting and the piece is wonderfully situated in their garden. It is a truly exceptional piece and has given Claire the confidence to produce further bronzes on this scale in the future.

Miss this show at your peril! You will have missed viewing the work of an artist who has everything it takes to reach the very summit of her profession. Claire Norrington -- if you don't know it already, remember the name.

Ian Courcoux

Click here to see details of Claire Norrington's previous show (2002)

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