Artist of the Week / HSoA Anna Reading

"It’s the visual freedom that inspires and which engages me when Anna teaches. The way she is able to encourage students to experiment and experience a wide variety of materials from casting, assembly, paint and drawing, modelling or moulding, introducing an almost complete freedom of materials and process and thinking into your practice.” Isabel H Langtry, Principal

Anna talks to us about sculpture, landscapes and her classes.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I am a London based artist working mostly in sculpture but also in drawing, animation, performance and print, exhibiting nationally and internationally. I studied MFA Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art and BA Fine Art at Central St Martins. I have been teaching at HSOA since 2018.

What inspires you and your work?

I draw inspiration from the barren coastal landscapes of the UK. Forming mythological landscapes, my sculptures appear as human-made remnants that have succumbed to marine accretions., Combining layers of shredded foam, gravel, oyster shells, chip forks and cement, materials cling to the sculptures as if they’ve grown there, without being cleaned away. I learn from experimenting with making, allowing happy accidents to inform the process.

What does teaching mean to you?

Teaching is a chance to get right to the route of making. Why a student might make in the first place and how they might go about it. The Material Inspiration Course gives the chance to experiment with methods making, allowing us to learn together through play.

What awards have you received?

In 2018-2019 I received the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award which gave me time and funding towards a national touring solo exhibition. I was also a Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 artist and am winner of the Creekside Open Award 2015. In 2019 I received an Elephant Trust Grant.

And finally, could you tell us about the class you will be tutoring this term?

This term I will be taking on the Course Leader role for the Advanced Course in Fine Art, working closely with students to develop their individual practices. Alongside this, on Wednesday afternoons I will be running a critical studies course, giving artists a chance to explore their own work through group discussion and introducing key ideas from cultural theory.

On Tuesdays I will continue to teach Material Inspiration for the third year. Learning from a diverse history of Sculpture, we will play with making techniques using a range of materials in an open and experimental way, allowing new ideas to leak out in the process.

Book onto Anna's classes

Full-time

Advanced Practice Course
Foundation Course

Classes

Tuesday morning Ceramics & Sculpture, Material Inspiration - 2D to 3D
Tuesday afternoon Ceramics & Sculpture, Material Inspiration - 2D to 3D
Wednesday afternoon Advanced Practice (Critical Thinking & Development)