Celia Smith is an artist who draws with wire, as others draw with pencil. For her, creating sculptures out of wire is like drawing in three dimensions. Birds are her main inspiration; capturing their movement and character is her primary concern. She finds that wire has a spontaneity that can give her sculptures a feeling of life and energy.

The majority of Celia’s sculptures are of domestic and native British birds. She aims to capture not only their shape but also their movement and character. A lot of time is spent drawing and studying the birds and often, small wire studies and life-size pieces are made directly in front of the subject.

Growing up as a farmer’s daughter has given Celia a passion for the natural environment. To get ‘close to her subject’ Celia spends time away from her Bath based studio in beautiful and inspiring rural locations – these range from studying migratory Whooper swans in Norfolk to creating Greylag Geese in the Shetland islands.

Her sculptures are also very eco friendly - the materials that Celia uses are mainly sourced from scrap yards, each visit brings new colours and textures which helps to inspire the next creation. Her beautiful forms are constructed out of wires, which may have previously been used for telephone and electrical wiring, or perhaps some rusty fencing found abandoned in a field.

Celia originally studied Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art, graduating in 1996. The degree course offered her the chance to experiment with lots of different materials and techniques, but wire became her most favored medium. She works from a shared group studio in Bath as well as on rural location throughout the UK on educational and research residencies.

Celia is an associate member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and regularly exhibits at their shows in London and nationwide. She is also a newly appointed member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.
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