• Eilean Eland
  • Sculptor
  • Northam, Bideford

About Eilean

About my work I always enjoy talking about my work and my studio is always open if I’m there working. My sculpture is based on a fascination with organic form and swinging movement. I am drawn to natural things like bones, shells and those plants like huge cacti that twist and turn as they grow. I respond to the same elements in the female body and am preoccupied with this at the moment. In my work the three dimensional character  is really important. The way the the forms and movements travel round the sculpture as it grows is compelling. I work on a turntable to be able to see all sides at more or less the same time. I use line and texture a lot. I draw on the clay as I work, defining the fluid lines and swelling forms as they begin to emerge. I beat the clay into shape with a square stick. For some reason, everything is  blue-green, or blue-grey just now. This, to me, suggests a maritime, coastal feel. Probably because my studio overlooks Bideford Bay and as I work I gaze at the changing colours and textures of the sea. About me After a degree in Fine Art (sculpture) and an Art Teacher’s Certificate I taught at Holland Park Comprehensive School, the Cockpit Arts Workshop in Marylebone and the National Portrait Gallery before joining the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Here I stayed for many years, becoming Head of Department and Professor. I also established a sculpture studio in the Department of Adult Education, and ran some classes there. On moving to Devon in 2006, I was able to devote time to redevelop my sculpture and have found a way of reshaping my identity as I shape the clay!

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