Emma Maiden British, b. 1966

Emma Maiden has exhibited her sculptures throughtout the UK since the mid-1990s, with shows including The Fine Art Society, London; the RWA Bristol; West Wales Arts Centre, Fishguard; and at Asthall Manor. Over the past few years Emma has focused on figural representations of animals.

Following a Diploma in Fine and Applied Art at City Lit in London, Emma completed an MA in Ceramics at the University of Wales and later a City and Guilds in Stonemasonry at the City of Bath College.

'My favourite sources of inspiration are museums and ethnographic collections. Back in my studio, I feel my way towards a new sculpture by drawing and redrawing an idea until the form feels 'right', then I'll try it out in the round by carving hand held blocks of hardened clay. I carve the sculpture that I'm going to cast in bronze from a block of solid plaster and extend and alter it by adding wire armature and fabric soaked in wet plaster, It's a method that suits the way I work: I'm a carver not a modeller, I like the way hard plaster responds to carving, honing, scraping and polishing.'