Laura Ford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Laura Ford
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Laura Ford in 2012
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| Born | 6 February 1961 Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
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| Nationality | British |
| Education | Chelsea School of Art |
| Known for | Sculpture |
Laura Ford (born 6 February 1961) in Cardiff, Wales is a British sculptor.
Early life
Growing up in a travelling fairground family, Ford was educated at Stonar School in Wiltshire, and then at Bath Academy of Art from 1978 to 1982, while spending a term at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. In 1982 she was invited to take part in the annual New Contemporaries exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and then studied at the Chelsea School of Art from 1982 to 1983.
Work
Ford has lived and worked in London since 1982 and has been identified with the New British Sculpture movement since her participation in the 1983 survey exhibition The Sculpture Show at the Serpentine Gallery and The Hayward, as well as participating in the British Art Show 5 in 2000.
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Marcello Spinelli wrote (British Art Show 5) "Ford’s creatures are faithful representations of fantasy and, at times, a nightmarish imagination. With their bitter-sweet, menacing and endearing qualities, her stuffed animals and dolls appeal to childhood memories and inhabit a world we immediately recognize as somewhat familiar."
Her work is represented in many public collections including; the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Government Art Collection, Potteries Museum, National Museums and Gallery of Wales; Museum of Modern Art, University of Iowa; the Arts Council of Great Britain; the Contemporary Art Society; Unilever; Penguin Books; Oldham Art Gallery, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, The Meijier Gardens, Grand Rapids USA, and The Gateway Foundation, St. Louis.
She has exhibited widely including; Solo, "2012 Days of Judgment", Kulturzentrum Englische Kirche und Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, and The New Art Centre, Roche Court, UK, 2011 Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, 2007, "Rag and Bone", Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2006 "Armour Boys", Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2004, "Wreckers", Beaconsfield, London, 2003, Ford "Headthinkers", Houldsworth Gallery, Cork Street. 2002, "The Great Indoors", Salamanca Centre of Contemporary Art, Spain, 1998, Camden Arts Centre, London (with Jacqui Poncelet) Group 2011 with Magdalena Abakanowicz, at the Industriemuseum Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Bocholt, Germany, 2005, Venice Biennale for Wales, 2004 "Into My World: Recent British Sculpture", Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Connecticut, USA, with Matt Franks, Roger Hiorns, James Ireland, Jim Lambie, and Mike Nelson.
Academic career
Between 1983 and 1995 Ford was a lecturer at Chelsea School of Art, Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University, also teaching extensively at most London art schools.
Public commissions
- 2014 Southmeads Hospital Bristol,
- 2012 University Hospital Heidelberg Germany,
- 2009 City Stockholm, Sweden,
- 2007 'Look Ahead', Short Term Housing Project,
- 2006 ‘Weeping Girls’ Jupiter Artland,
- 2002 Swiss Cottage Children’s Library, London,
- 2001-02 Swiss Cottage Children’s Library, London
- 1998 British High Commission, Ottawa
- 1997 Surrey Docks/Dockland Development Agency
- 1993 'Chiltern Sculpture Trail', Oxford
- 1989-90 West Bromwich Town Centre, WBC/PADT
Gallery
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'Armour Boys' Houldsworth Gallery, 2006
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'Armour Boys', (installed at Sculpture in Pilane, Sweden) 2006
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'Rag and Bone', Stockholm, 1998
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'Rag and Bone', 2007
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Houldsworth Gallery, London 2003
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'Moose', 1998
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China Cats
Personal life
Ford lives and works in Camden alongside her husband, the sculptor Andrew Sabin, and their three children.
