Introducing: Sue Freeborough

At the age of 42 in 1986 I started my career in art at Chichester University studying for a BA Related Arts Degree. The breadth and depth of this unique degree was very exciting, and a perfect introduction to art; studying dance, music, literature and art in the 19th and 20th Century. Focusing on two art forms for the final year, I chose dance and art which led me to the realisation that sculpture was the art medium I would like to create using the form and image of the body. I furthered my career studying for a B.A. Fine Art Sculpture degree at Cheltenham University in 1998. This was a very stimulating and challenging course, guiding me towards a more focused practice, concentrating on creative development through academic study and technical achievements.

Following my degree I worked for Pangolin Editions which gave me an opportunity to access more technical foundry experience, introduced me to other artists and the possibilities of bronze casting for my own work. I have exhibited with Gallery Pangolin and Pangolin London since the nineties and received a residency in November 2011 with the Rwenzori Sculpture Foundation, Uganda, followed by a solo exhibition with Gallery Pangolin in 2012. In 2002 I completed a part-time MA in Art Design and Media at Portsmouth University, a project-based academic course directed towards my chosen discipline. I was introduced to lectures, visiting artists and the philosophy of art that enabled me to pursue new depths and directions towards my sculptures. Each new educational input has strengthened my understanding of my art. Both academic and practical learning has stimulated new ideas. While working towards deadlines and exhibitions focuses the mind and inspires innovation.

The use of the figure, for me, has never been ‘just a body’ but signifying and suggesting deeper meanings of the human condition. It is through the body we experience an inner and outer life and with these experiences and the need to express my ideas through sculpture and printmaking, my philosophy has always been to suggest through the metaphorical use of the body, how we live through the body, the meanings attached, how it functions and how it parallels life’s universal themes and mysteries. 

I am concerned with the ideas of womanhood, a woman’s self-image and her place in society. Of the inter-relationships between her own identity and expected identities. What is so fascinating with portraying the figure is that it is never a straight forward representational object, but considers aesthetic qualities as well as innovative interpretive concepts and my ongoing aim is to extend using the figure in more diverse and lateral ways.

What influences my work most is the need to make art, and to help me achieve this, my past experiences as a dancer, a nurse and a mother have all focused on the body. Whether it is the spatial bodily awareness of dance, the reality of the naked body, old or young, fat or thin, its biological function, and the power and protectiveness of motherhood, all are a subliminal influence.

Words, maybe only one word, are often a trigger to an idea whether through poetry, philosophy, psychology or mythology. Seamus Heaney’s Electric Light collection influenced my work ‘Cardinal Points’, from his poem Vitruviana and Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Mrs Midas’ from The Worlds Wife, influenced ‘Please Touch Mrs Midas’  with humour and insight, together with Ted Hughes’ Tales from Ovid, and Khalil Gibran’s philosophical poem The Prophet was the inspiration for ‘Let There be Spaces in Your Togetherness’  The French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy introduced me to his innovative concepts of the body in his book ‘Corpus’ which influenced my work, ‘Exposition’. Homeostasis is a word so relevant to the efficient functioning of the body and the stability of our planet earth and inspired me to combine the balance of dance with sculpture.

Artists, of whom many have influenced me, centre around the use of the figure, Auguste Rodin, Antony Gormley, Louise Bourgeois, Lynn Chadwick, Germaine Richier and of more contemporary artists I admire, Sarah Lucas,for her use of the body, Tracey Emin’s use of self and Kiki Smith’s evolving concepts, innovation, concerns with the human condition, her materiality and feminism strike a chord with me. Collecting thoughts around an influence whether a word or human issues or science, or a title for an exhibition help me to evolve my art.

Creating a sculpture of a body or life drawing is a haptic experience for me, an inner awareness of the feelings and sensations of my body, transmitting to the process of making. I endeavour to create with a flexibility and fluency allowing for innovation.

The surface texture of my work is very important and complements its integrity. It gives sensations of touch, movement and spontaneity, abstracting the form. For this I choose materials and textures that enhance the concept of the work, such as glass for transparency, reflective and contrasting bronze for negative and positive spaces, nails for sensation and painted colour surfaces. 

‘Inner Skin,’ a life size figure was enlarged digitally from a maquette of clay and is covered in the rich earth colours of the inner skin of Ugandan bark cloth showing the fibrous structure of the tree suggesting our reliance and interdependence on our natural resources. When making a sculpture I consider its supportive structure in the early making, its armature and stability providing a secure structure for applying materials, evolving and changing the form as it develops using materials such as plaster, wax or clay, building up or removing as the work develops. I use a diversity of materials leading to differing approaches whether steel, bronze, glass, lead, or copper, creating a broad range of work. I used a life model for ‘Please Touch Mrs Midas’ and body casts for the surface area of skin for ‘Exposition’. When constructing ‘Memory Vows’, a myth from African Nkisi, I carved a pillar of plaster and grog that formed the inner core, covered the form with wax, modelling as necessary, inserted nails and steel wire ready for bronze casting. ‘Artemis’ was complicated with an interchange of positive and negative moulds before bronze casting.

Sculpture uses its transformative power to suggest the indescribable, to hint and question.  This is what I aim for, to move away from a literal interpretation and use my aesthetic sensibility that has developed over time.

Sketches and drawings are important to my sculptural practice, particularly life drawing as an ongoing practice throughout my career. It offers a fluency of expression, line and movement and I enjoy the physical freedom with drawing materials such as charcoal, inks, coloured pencils and graphite. I often transpose a simple line drawing into a three dimensional sculpture, and together with notes and suggestions the drawings guide me towards a structure. I use technical drawings to construct an armature or consider how the sculpture is to be supported.

Printmaking is an extension of my sculpture as a physical making of woodcuts and screen prints informed by life drawings. But most importantly sketching out a few ideas and gathering supporting notes and quotes from artists in my sketch book leads to the progression of a work.