Alison Wilding facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alison Wilding
'On the Day' by Alison Wilding
Born	1948 (age 76–77) Blackburn, Lancashire, U.K.
Nationality	British
Known for	Sculpture

Alison Mary Wilding is a famous English artist known for her amazing abstract sculptures. She uses many different materials in her art. Her work has been shown in art galleries all over the world.

Life and Education

Alison Wilding was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1948. She loved art from a young age. She studied art at several colleges:

• Nottingham College of Art (1966–1967)
• Ravensbourne College of Art and Design in Chislehurst (1967–1970)
• Royal College of Art in London (1970–1973)

Her career really took off in the 1980s. She became part of a group of important sculptors, including artists like Anthony Gormley.

In 2019, Alison Wilding was given a special award called the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This award recognized her great contributions to art.

Since 2018, she has been a professor of drawing at the Royal Academy Schools. She lives and works in London.

Her Art and Career

Alison Wilding, Untitled (Angry Drawing IV), 1988, a drawing on paper.

Alison Wilding became very interested in sculpture during her time at art college. She was inspired by artists like Constantin Brâncuși, who used simple shapes in their sculptures.

She uses many different materials in her sculptures. She often finds and reuses things like wood, stone, and bronze. But she also uses unusual materials such as steel, wax, silk, and rubber. Sometimes, she puts these materials together in surprising ways. For example, her sculpture Stormy Weather (1987) is made from pigment, beeswax, and oil rubbed into galvanised steel.

Alison Wilding once said, "I like stuff and not particular materials." This means she enjoys working with all sorts of things. Her sculptures often combine two very different materials. She uses them to show opposing ideas, like positive and negative forces. This helps create a balance in her art. She also tries to avoid wasting materials when she creates her work.

Alison keeps detailed notes and unique numbers for all her artworks in small black notebooks. These books also contain her early ideas and how she made each piece.

Besides sculptures, Alison Wilding also creates many artworks on paper. She loves drawing because it feels very free. She says, "The thing I like about drawings is that they can float. You don’t think about gravity." She feels that drawing allows her imagination to run wild.

Alison's first solo art show was at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1985. Her work was later shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1987.

In 1991, a big exhibition of her work, called Alison Wilding: Immersion – Sculpture from Ten Years, was held at Tate Liverpool. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in both 1988 and 1992. The Turner Prize is a very important award for British artists. In 1999, she became a Royal Academician, which is a special title for artists in the UK.

One of her large public artworks was "Ambit." It was a necklace of stainless-steel tubes that floated in the River Wear in Sunderland in 1999. It even lit up at night from underwater!

Alison Wilding has won several awards. In 2008, she received a Paul Hamlyn award. In the same year, she won the Charles Wollaston Award from the Royal Academy for the best artwork in their summer exhibition.

Exhibitions and Awards

Alison Wilding's art has been shown in many places around the world. Here are some of her most important solo exhibitions:

• Young Friends of the Tate Gallery, Tate Gallery, London, UK (1970)
• Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (1985)
• Projects: Alison Wilding, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (1987)
• Immersion, Sculpture from Ten Years, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK (1991)
• Alison Wilding, Tate Britain, London, UK (2013)

She has also been part of many group exhibitions with other artists, including:

• The Sculpture Show, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (1983)
• Transformations: New Sculpture from Britain, touring Brazil, Mexico, and Portugal (1983)
• Starlit Waters: British Sculpture, 1968–88, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK (1988)
• The Tuner Prize 1992, Tate Gallery, London, UK (1992)

Awards and Commissions

Alison Wilding has received many honors and commissions for her art:

• Public drinking fountain, Rathbone Square, London (commissioned by Great Portland Estate)
• National Memorial to British Victims of Terrorism Overseas, Staffordshire (2018)
• Installation of Shimmy, London (2014)
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (2008)
• Elected to Royal Academy of Arts (2001)
• Installation of Ambit on the River Wear, Sunderland (1999)
• Nominated for Turner Prize (1988, 1992)

Collections

Her sculptures and drawings are held in important art collections, meaning they are owned by museums and galleries for people to see. Some of these include:

• Arts Council of Great Britain
• British Council
• Tate Britain
• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
• Scottish National Gallery, UK
• British Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Selected Publications

Several books have been written about Alison Wilding's art:

• Alison Wilding (2018): This was the first major book looking at all of her work.
• Alison Wilding: Art School Drawings from the 1960s and 70s (2011): This book focused on her early drawings from when she was an art student.
• Alison Wilding: Tracking (2008): This book included essays about her art.

Images for kids

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  'On the Day' by Alison Wilding

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  Alison Wilding, Untitled (Angry Drawing IV), 1988, a drawing on paper.

See Also

• List of Royal Academicians
• Turner Prize