Bob Sloan facts for kids

Bob Sloan (born in 1940) is a famous artist from Northern Ireland. He creates amazing sculptures, paintings, and art installations. He is a special member of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, where he has won many awards for his art. Bob Sloan's art has been shown all over the world, but he is most famous for his sculptures. He also helped lead the Sculptors Society of Ireland for a few years. Bob Sloan has taught and inspired many young artists throughout his career.

Early Life and Education

Growing Up in Belfast

Robert W. Sloan was born in Belfast on April 10, 1940. His father worked with furniture, and his mother was a school cook. He grew up in Belfast, near the Donegall Pass and Ormeau Road areas. When he was young, Bob Sloan was inspired by watching blacksmiths. He saw them shoeing horses and fixing things like harnesses and cart wheels.

School Days

Bob Sloan went to Annadale Grammar School from 1952 to 1959. There, he was taught by Kenneth Jamison, who later became the head of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Art School Training

After high school, Sloan studied art at the Belfast College of Art from 1959 to 1963. He learned from well-known artists like Romeo Toogood, Tom Carr, John Luke, and David Heminsley. He then went to the Central School of Art in London from 1963 to 1964. In London, he saw many important art galleries and public museums like the Tate Gallery. He was especially inspired by a sculpture by Picasso and Degas' Little Dancer. Bob Sloan also met his future wife, Vicky, in London, and they soon got married.

Art Career and Achievements

Starting His Career

In 1965, Bob Sloan moved back to Northern Ireland. He started working at Lisnagarvey High School in Lisburn and opened his own art studio. He began showing his artwork in exhibitions. In 1971, he became the Head of Art at Parkhall School in Antrim, a job he held until 1974. Later, in 1974, he became a lecturer at the Ulster Polytechnic at Jordanstown.

Developing His Own Foundry

In the late 1970s, Bob Sloan was disappointed that there were no good places in Northern Ireland to cast metal sculptures. So, he decided to build his own casting workshop, called a foundry. He kept this foundry until 1982. He traveled to North America several times, visiting sculpture conferences and workshops. These trips inspired him to make his foundry even bigger, with help from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His travels also introduced him to new ideas for large sculptures by artists like Nancy Holt, Richard Serra, and Mark Di Suvero.

Exhibitions and Recognition

In 1977, Sloan took part in an art event in Germany called Documenta 6, where he showed performance and installation art. In 1979, he showed two sculptures, Even Smaller Dancer and Confined, at an Independent Artists exhibition.

In 1982, Bob Sloan had two solo art shows. One was at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Gallery, and the other was at the Tom Caldwell Gallery in Dublin. Sadly, the Arts Council show had to close early because a car bomb exploded nearby, damaging the building and some of Sloan's art. Just a month before, on March 17, 1982, his large metal cross sculpture was revealed in Downpatrick.

Throughout the 1980s, Sloan had many solo shows at different galleries in Belfast and Craigavon.

Awards and Academy Membership

Bob Sloan has regularly shown his art at the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts annual exhibitions since 1982. He won a silver medal from the Academy in 1983 and gold medals in 1990 and 1999. In 1998, his self-portrait sculpture, made of wax and lead, won a special prize. People praised it for being clever and well-made. Sloan became an Associate of the Royal Ulster Academy in 1990 and an honorary Academician in 1995. He also served as a Director for the Sculptors' Society of Ireland from 1988 to 1991. In 1991, a gallery in Waterford held a special show looking back at all of Sloan's sculptures.

Public Art and Later Works

In 2001, Bob Sloan was one of sixteen Belfast artists invited to show their work at the Waterfront Hall as part of the Belfast Arts Festival. Two years later, he received a special request from Lisburn City Council to create a sculpture for a public art trail. His sculpture, Tree of Dreams, is a nine-meter-tall stainless steel tree with five thousand copper leaves. Each leaf has a hope or wish written on it by people from the Lisburn area.

Bob Sloan sculpture at Bowling Green, Strabane

In recent years, Sloan has participated in group shows like A Northern Light in Galway. He showed his work alongside other Northern Irish artists such as Richard Croft, Betty Brown, and Catherine and Joe McWilliams. Bob Sloan continues to create art from his studio in Carryduff, near Belfast.

Legacy and Collections

Bob Sloan's artwork can be found in many important art collections, both in Ireland and internationally. These include the Ulster Museum, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland, the National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland, and the Royal Ulster Academy Diploma Collection. His sculptures and other works continue to be admired and studied.

Images for kids

• 

  Downpatrick High Cross (1982)