{"id":48262,"date":"2021-11-18T16:38:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T21:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=48262"},"modified":"2025-04-14T16:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T20:42:53","slug":"qa-with-lucy-glendinning-extraordinary-british-sculptor-works-from-inside-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2021\/11\/qa-with-lucy-glendinning-extraordinary-british-sculptor-works-from-inside-out.html","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Lucy Glendinning<\/em><\/font>
Extraordinary British Sculptor Works from Inside Out<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some of her pieces are to be exhibited at Art Miami (Nov. 30 – Dec. 5, 2021)<\/h4>\n\n\n
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From left: Feather Child 3 <\/a> \/ <\/a>The Unknown Boy 2<\/a> \/ Folding Girl<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

These sculptures have a striking “innerness,” an interiority of gaze and stance. In all their variations they express a human connection to animal origins. Is that what you intended? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GLENDINNING: I like the idea of the works being internalised as if contemplating themselves. Sometimes this is deliberate and sometimes this is how they turn out \u2014 so to speak.  I think it is because in some ways I want the sculptures to feel as human as possible. If they are self-engaged rather than looking out, I feel they might have more of a human presence. And I am interested in the inner animal, in our subconscious and how we think of ourselves, how we are connected to animals and nature, or are separate and in charge. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Feather Child 6<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Feather Child 3<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They also have a primal quality, which seems to me partly a function of their feathery or furry surfaces. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GLENDINNING:  I heard that the gene for feathers had been discovered, and it made me think of the gift of flight and the myth of Icarus. I made a series of works in wax of sleeping feathered children<\/a><\/strong> around this idea.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started to think of how these feathered children would feel. Would they be human or animal? At the same time I was listening to some lectures on psychology, and how modern humans show behavioural and emotional tendencies that would promote the survival and reproduction of prehistoric ancestors (much more than they do us).  I wondered if these prehistoric behavioural reactions are like an inner animal. The bit of ourselves we cannot control, the feeling of instinct, of second nature, of the hairs on the back of our neck.  Are these our prehistoric reactions? Our inner animal? Is this how we reconnect with nature?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Fledgling<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The Unknown Boy 2<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Together<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Some of your sculptures look malleable. They are not like Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, but they look soft and folded. (Together<\/a>, for example).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GLENDINNING: Those works are in a way like backwards moulds.  I make the sculpture and then cast it into rubber, I pose the rubber and then cast it into a solid material.  I love this process as it forces mistakes; it is like mending and breaking work and trying to find the in-between in an attempt not to overwork pieces, which I am very prone to do. This series is an ongoing investigation into the physicality of a mental state: the ghost in my machine\u2019<\/a>. How we feel, how we look in different mental states. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I see you are also a poet<\/a>. In fact, your terrific poem “My Animal,” which applies to My Bear<\/a>, among other pieces, actually addresses that ghost from the inside out. So I will quote it whole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

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My Bear<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
My Animal\n\nInside the animal stirs\nstretching limb and pulling flesh\namongst the twisted guts\nand unchewed food.\nThe creature grows in skin and bone\nfrom skull to toes it pulls me in.\nWith the slow pulse of red flows\nit pumps itself to every limb.\nI wrestle logic against its grip\nargue fact to stop its fix.\nBut each time it comes and goes\npart of me wishes it was always here.\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
GLENDINNING: My ideas often start with short phrases or poems, but I wouldn\u2019t say I am a poet. They are more a means to an end.  A way of noting down an idea or thought quickly. I love reading poetry, I think because I\u2019m quite dyslexic, I have always found poetry accessible and very inspiring. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where are you from? And did you start out as a sculptor?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
GLENDINNING: I am from Somerset; I grew up here and live here now, so I haven\u2019t moved far. I studied fine art after school and did painting and printmaking for a short time at college, but I was quickly drawn to sculpture. I love making things. I worked in a bronze foundry for a while, which was very helpful technically. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
 <\/strong>Any particular influences?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
GLENDINNING: My husband Mark Merer<\/a> is the biggest influence on me. He is a sculptor \/ land artist and also makes some buildings. He has an entirely different approach to making work and does extraordinary landscapes and objects with such ease it is often annoying. We work separately but discuss and criticise each other\u2019s work, despite our work being very different. I think my parents influenced me. They were both G.P.s (physicians with a general practice) in a small village, and my grandfathers were both surgeons.\u00a0 I had access to a lot of medical\u00a0 books and I have my grandfather\u2019s surgical tools which are wonderful objects.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also Gerard Bellaart<\/a> has been a big influence. I have known him for a long time now. I love his work, the energy and intrigue in it; and his integrity to it has always inspired me.\u00a0I love Louise Bourgeois and always come back to her; Berlinde de Bruyckere; Kohei Nawa\u2019s deer, extraordinary and beautiful;\u00a0 Kiki Smith’s work;\u00a0Erwin Wurm is funny; Rebecca Horn, and Ronnie Horn.\u00a0 I recently saw a wonderful installation by\u00a0Shipla Gupta called “Sun at Night” at the Barbican. There are so many wonderful artists. I could make a long list but that probably wouldn\u2019t be very much help.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Thanks for taking the time to reply. I know you must be busy preparing for Art Miami<\/a>. <\/em>Best of luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Her sculptures, to be exhibited at Art Miami, have a striking “innerness,” an\u00a0interiority of gaze and stance, as well as a primal quality that seems a function of their feathery or furry surfaces. In all their variations, they express a human connection to animal origins. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-main","9":"category-news","10":"category-political-culture","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/feather-child-4-1-2-259x259-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-cyq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48262"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66082,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48262\/revisions\/66082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}