Featured Artist: Sandra Bell

Geronitius by Sandra Bell, Bronze Sculture

Sandra Bell lives in Ireland and creates bronze sculptures. She is self-taught and uses the lost wax method to create abstractions of the human form. "My aim is an artist is to portray the essence of the human form and the tranquility of the inner self by means of abstract figurative expression."

One of her healthcare pieces was for the Galway Clinic. I asked her how she got that job.

It was quite by chance that a director of the clinic visited an exhibition and saw the maquette of Gerontius. He bought it to place in the foyer of Galway clinic. He had in the past bought small pieces of mine through galleries and was familiar with my work. Galway clinic features a grand piano in the foyer and the sculpture being on the theme of Elgar's Gerontius may have seemed suitable.

Tell me about where the name of the piece came from.

I find "The Dream of Gerontius" by Elgar uplifting.

What process did you use in creating Gerontius?

I concentrated on a vertical theme of the figure with a trumpet, however the base needed to be stronger visually and I added the bars to denote bars of music and strings of a harp. The sculpture seemed well balanced at that stage and I resisted doing anything further.

In the US Sandra is represented by Kearon-Hempstall Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. You can see her work on page 143 of The Guild Sourcebook Volume 23 or on her website: www.SandraBell.com