Sasha Constable The Great-great-great-grand daughter of John Constable
The studio of Sasha Constable was once situated at Coombe End Farmhouse, Whitchurch Hill. Residing with Ian Gibson and family. And at Dingledell Whitchurch on Thames. Now also known as The Modern Artists Gallery.
Along with many other talented, young and aspiring artists and musicians, Coombe End Farmhouse was a centre of creativity: Jonus Bruce, Alex Churchill, Phil Saatchi, Justin Gibson, Will Gibson, Kate Garrett, Gue Yue, Pol Brennnan, Frank Drake, Chris Bissell, Sam Williams, Tim Turan, Liza Fitzgibbon, Claudia Holt, Annie Moss, John Fortis - Phil Saatchi - Frank Drake - to name a few!
Sasha Constable
‘I started carving the new series of sculptures that forms the core of this exhibition in mid-March. The lockdown was looming. I wanted to translate all the feelings the nascent pandemic provoked into a more physical and visual form. Art, in any medium, tends to stem from the feelings and experiences of its creator but a work takes on a life of its own when those resonate with the audience. Like everyone else my life has been changed by the events of the last few months. So while my attempts to articulate visually my ideas about the situation we’re in are inevitably personal, I hope that the shared nature of this ordeal means they’ll give voice to the feelings of others too.
When I first sat down to think properly about the title that had been suggested to me for the exhibition, ‘The Uncomfortable Beauty of Terrible Things’ I had reservations about how my work might fit. But over the past weeks it has become clear how perfect this fit had become. The title is ‘limited but specific.’ It reflects my interpretation of various current issues; political, environmental and personal. Just as artists like C R W Nevinson, Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer and Wyndham Lewis were called to bear witness to wars past, today’s artists will record their response to this latest crisis. It’s a collective endeavor. This is my small contribution. The work on show was a mix of new work and a few older pieces that I felt belonged in this exhibition.’
Sasha Constable completed a Sculpture degree at Wimbledon School of Art in 1992. Specializing in stone carving with a love for block print making. These two mediums have been a constant in her varied journey in the art sector as teacher, curator, mentor, art projector coordinator and artist. Seventeen of her adult years were spent living and working in Cambodia, it’s complex culture and history had a formative effect on Sasha’s views and values.
Specialising in carving different limestones and observing the works of other sculptors who used the direct carving technique such as Epstein, Brancusi and Guadier-Brzeska.Constable's work is predominantly figurative, even when pursuing different themes or abstractions the sculptures are imbued with connotations of a figurative element.
Her sculpture has combined fragments of the body with simple architectural features.
Sasha Constable co-founded the Peace Art Project Cambodia in October 2003. Working with 23 art student's from RUFA the project involved transforming weapons into sculptures as expressions of peace.
Living and working on various projects in Cambodia, initially as the artist in residence for the World Monuments Fund and as design consultant + teaching young Khmer artists.
Taking a pro-active role in nurturing contemporary artists in Cambodia, Sasha Constable uses the Art House in Siem Reap as a platform for displaying art created at this new Interactive Art Space, a place for Khmer artists and visiting international artists to make new art and engage in creative exchange.
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Sasha Constable is the daughter of Richard and Valerie Constable. And the Great Great Great Grand Daughter of the English Landscape Artist John Constable. Her father was the artist Richard Constable - who sadly died in 2015.
In March 2020 with the looming lockdown, Sasha decided to focus solely on carving stone. She began creating small sculptures using offcuts of Portland stone she had acquired a couple of months previously. Later in 2020 Sasha started a new journey working with different stones after finding a local source that sold various Alabaster, Soapstone and Marble.
These new stones have such different qualities, varying hardness, colour and texture. Each carving is a new discovery and the irregular shapes of these stones have dictated a much freer approach. Free flow carving is exciting and spontaneous and in many ways connects the sculptor to the material in far more depth as the forms appear and are shaped rather than what can be a methodical approach after drawing, making Maquettes and carving a replica in stone from a model.
These recent sculptures have taken a different direction and are a personal reflection on various current issues involving Politics, the Environment and the Wildlife Trade.
Some people don’t like their art political. But art is life and life is political. At a point in our history like this a collision is unavoidable.
The common thread running through these three pieces is the pandemic. It’s dominated all our lives since the beginning 2020, mine included, and for it not to have found its way into my work would have been to pretend that the world outside my door didn’t exist.
Sculptures are for sale unless indicated otherwise.
Photographs by Louise Roberts, Sasha Constable, Robin Mills, Jay Alice and Dana Langlois
Breaker - Green Soapstone with Portland Stone Base - 33 x 24 x 20cm
Breaker - Image ll - Green Soapstone with Portland Stone Base - 32x24x20cm
The Four Seasons Spring Soapstone 10x19x13cm Image 1
Four Seasons Summer Soapstone 8x19x15.5cm Image 1
Flow - Image l - Green Soapstone with Portland Stone Base
Flow - Image ll - Green Soapstone on Portland Stone Base
Goose Laying a Golden Egg Bronze £2800 Edition size 2/2 - 15x20x10cm
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Four Seasons Spring Image 2
Proud Cat Bronze £2950 Edition size 2/12 Front view
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Proud Cat £2950 Rear view Bronze Edition size 2/12
Edition 2/12. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Proud Cat Bronze £2,950 Edition size 2/12 Side view
Edition 2/12 is reserved. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
SHELTER ALASBASTER - 9x46x15cm
Four Seasons Summer Soapstone 8 x 19 x 15.5cm Image 2
Four Seasons Winter Image 1 7.5x21.5x12cm
DREAMING PORTLAND STONE 21 x 50 x 28cm
The Four Seasons Winter 7.5 x 21.5 x 12cm Image 2
SHELTER
ALABASTER - IMAGE 1
BRONZE FORM ORBIS
Phoenix Resting - Alabaster - £4600
Not in gallery
Goose Laying a Golden Egg - Bronze - £2800-rear view - 15x20x10xcm
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Goose Laying a Golden Egg - Bronze - £2800 - Edition size 2/12 - 15x20x10cm £2800
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Sleeping - Bronze - Edition size 2/12 - front view - 9x18x33cm - £28600- according to foundry costs.
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Sleeping -Bronze - 9x33x18cm - head view - Approx: £2800 - according to foundry costs.
Rich Dark green mottled patina. Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Sleeping - Bronze - £2800 - 9x18x33cm - back view.
Edition 2/12 is available to view in the gallery. Please note for all future editions pricing will vary. This is due to foundry costs at the time of order.
Triptych - Limestone (2nd & 3rd section shown) - Not available to view in gallery.
This sculpture consists of 3 sections. Each approx: 51 x 39 inches Monumental and Heavy.
Coombe End Farmhouse Whitchurch Hill 23.12.93 Linocut 2/26 Private Collection
