Laura Ford
BIO
Laura Ford was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1961. She grew up on the carnival circuit, as both sides of her family traveled the fairgrounds when she was very young, and that experience would later come to influence her sculpture.
Ford earned a Bachelor’s degree at Bath Academy of Art in Bath, England, from 1978-82, and a Master’s degree at the Chelsea School of Art in London, England, from 1982-83. Afterwards she spent a year traveling and lecturing in India. In 2005 she represented Wales in the Venice Biennale.
Ford’s work can be found in numerous museums and private collections around the world, including the Tate Gallery in London; the Elspeth and Imogen Turner Collection, in Lancashire, United Kingdom; the National Museums and Galleries of Wales; the Museum of Modern Art and the University of Iowa; the Arts Council of Great Britain; and the Oldham Art Gallery in Manchester, England.
ART
Laura Ford creates playful and disturbing hybrid creatures. Part human and part animal, they are developed through observation of her own children and recollection of her feelings of growing up. As a child, she was introduced to the world of sideshows and fairgrounds. It had an early and lasting influence on the way she saw the world and her ability to move easily between the real and unreal, the creepy and sweet, the funny and mean.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
ABOUT THE SCULPTURE
Bird, 2007
Bronze
60″ x 40″ x 22″