Websites

www.louisehibbert.com/
www.louisehibbert.etsy.com
www.cawdaw.etsy.com
www.louiseandsarah.com

Instagram @louisehibbert72

Qualifications

1991-94

BA (Hons) University of Brighton, England (Wood/Metal/Ceramics/Plastics)

Selected Exhibitions

2022		This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum, Washington D.C., USA
2021 2021		Wizardry in Wood, Worshipful Company of Turners, London Alien Invasion:(Un)Familiar Forms in Contemporary Art, Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA
2019		Y Lle Celf, National Eisteddfod of Wales, Llanrwst, Wales
2018 2018 2018		Clay Barn Winter Exhibition, Red Hill, England 100th Anniversary of the Armistice, Worshipful Company of Turners, London Turnabout: Women at the Lathe, Appalatian Center for Craft gallery, Tennessee, AAW Gallery, St. Paul & Arrowmont, Tennessee, USA
2016 2016		Wizardry in Wood, Worshipful Company of Turners, London Brick by Brick, World Wood Day, Kathmandu, Nepal
2015 2015 2015		Welsh Collection II, Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales Naturally Inspired, Clay Barn, Redhill, England Collect: The International Craft Fair for Contemporary Objects, Saatchi Gallery, London, England
2014 2012—14 2014 2014		Is it Wood?, Ruthin Craft Centre, Ruthin, Wales MADELondon, London, England West Dean Design and Craft Fair featuring MADE, West Dean College, England Harmony, World Wood Day Symposium, Xianyou, China
2013 2013 2013 2013 2013		Woods at Work, Centre for Creative Practices, Dublin, Ireland Handmade in Britain, London, England SOFA, Chicago, USA Working Wood, Platform Gallery, Clitheroe, England Fiveways, Brighton Festival, Brighton, England
2012 2010—12 2012 2010—12 2012		MADE12, Brighton, England Boxes and Their Makers, Messler Gallery, Rockport, ME, USA; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, USA and touring Natural Mix, Clay Barn, Redhill, England The Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey, Devon, England Beyond Containment, AAW Symposium San Jose, CA, USA
2010—11 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011		Made by Hand, Tredegar House, Newport, Wales The World Turns: AAW @ 25, SOFA, Chicago, USA Made11, Brighton, England The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester, England Inside & Outside the Box, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, USA Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2010 2010 2010 2010		Origin, Spitalfields Market, London The Color of Wood, Habatat Gallery, Washington DC, USA Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show, PA, USA Phyla, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA, USA
2009 2009 2009 2009 2009		33rd Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Philadelphia, PA, USA Flora and Fauna, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA The Spindle, 23rd AAW Symposium, Albuquerque, NM, USA Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington, DC, USA Selected Works, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008		In the Palm of Your Hands, Messler Gallery, Rockport, ME Collectors of Wood Art Exhibit, SOFA, Chicago, IL SOFA, with del Mano Gallery, Chicago IL New Masters of Woodturning, Nina Bliese Gallery, Minneapolis, MN Wood Takes Root, St. George Art Museum, North St. George, UT Resident Artist exhibit, 22nd AAW Symposium, Richmond, VA
2007 2007 2007 2002—07 1998—07 2005—07		Not the Same Old Grind, Wharton Esherick Museum, Paoli, PA Man Made: In the Natural World, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Coming of Age, Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, PA Featured Artist (del Mano), SOFA, New York, NY Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005, Phillip and Muriel Berman Museum, PA. and travelling
2005—06		SOFA (del Mano), Chicago, IL
2004—05 2005 2005 2005		Craft & Design Show, Richmond, Virginia, USA Genus Australis, touring various venues, Australia Hot Tea 2002, del Mano Gallery, LA, USA Collect, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
2004 2004 2001—04		Genus Australis, Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, England Genus Australis, Kew Gardens, London, England Challenge VI, touring various Museums in the USA
1999—03 2003 2003 2003 2003		Chelsea Craft Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London Plankton, Model House Gallery, Llantrisant, Wales Plankton, Grace Barrand Design Centre, Surrey, England Plankton, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Plankton, Craftwest, Perth, Australia
1999—02 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002		SOFA (del Mano), Chicago, IL, USA Plankton (Crafts Council), V&A, London, England Colors; Materials-Contemporary Illusions, Brookfield Craft Center, Connecticut, USA Turned Wood, del Mano Gallery, LA, USA Designing Futures, Craftwest, Perth, Australia Hot Tea 2002, del Mano Gallery, LA, USA Plankton, World Conference on Phytoplankton Productivity, Bangor, Wales
2001 2001 2001		allTURNatives, Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, USA Craft Focus, Mission Gallery, Swansea, Wales Fiveways Open Houses, Brighton Festival, Brighton, England
2000 2000 2000		The Fine Art of Wood: The Bohlen Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts Horizons, Brookfield Craft Center, Connecticut, USA Hot Tea, Del Mano Gallery, LA, USA
1999 1999 1999 1999		National Eisteddfod of Wales, Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Wales Art in Action, Oxford, England LIGNA, Hanover, Germany SOFA (del Mano), New York, USA
1998 1996—1998		Artisan, Edinburgh Festival of Contemporary Craft, Edinburgh I.C.C. Fiveways Open Houses, Brighton Festival, Brighton, England
1997 1997		Chelsea Craft Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London, England Turned for Use (AAW), San Antonio Museum of Art, USA & North Carolina State University Craft Center, Raleigh, USA
1996 1996		Decorative Arts Today, Bonhams, London, England Wood and Clay, European Ceramics, Knaresborough, Yorks, England
1995 1995 1995		Chelsea Craft Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London, England San Francisco Int. Gift Fair, Moscone Center, San Francisco, USA New York International Gift Fair, Jacob K. Javits Center, New York, USA

Bibliography

• Intersection: Art and Life, Kevin Wallace, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2018
• Amercian Woodturner, ‘Turnabout – Women at the Lathe’, Aug 2018 vol 33 no 4
• Financial Times online, ‘How to Spend it – Wizardry in Wood Opens in London’, Oct 2016
• Woodturning, Featured Artist, ‘Louise Hibbert- Macrodontia Box II’, Sept 2015 issue 283
• Amercian Woodturner, Texture as an Element in Woodturning Design, Tania Radda, Dec 2013 vol 28, no 6
• Artizen, ‘Jewelry by Louise and Sarah’, Cindy Marks, issue April 2013
• A Gathering of Spoons, Norman D. Stevens, Linden Publishing, 2012
• Latest 7, ‘Match Made’ Nov 2012
• New Masters of the Wooden Box, Oscar Fitzgerald, Fox Chapel, 2009
• New Masters of Woodturning, by Kevin Wallace and Terry Martin, Fox Chapel, 2008
• Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005, Wood Turning Center, 2005
• Craft Arts International, ‘Genus Australis: bridging Science, Art and Ecology’ by Andrew Nicholls, issue 64, 2005
• Resin Jewellery, Kathy Murphy, A&C Black, 2002
• Crafts, ‘Fruits de Mer’, p.38-41, no. 178, Sept/Oct 2002
• Nature, ‘Science in Culture’, p.920, Vol. 418 29 August 2002
• Craft Arts International, ‘Manifesting the Invisible’ by Kevin Wallace, issue 55, 2002
• Scratching the Surface: Art and Content in Contemporary Wood, Michael Hosaluk, 2002
• Ideales Heim, ‘Aus dem Nixenreich’, p.22, June 2002
• Woodturning Magazine, Front Cover & ‘Fair Exchange’, p.49-52, January 2002
• Turning Points, ‘ITE Experience 2001 – Part Two’, p.18 – 29, fall 2001
• Turning Points, ‘ITE 2001’, p.18-21, summer 2001
• Challenge VI – Roots, M.Holtzapfel, R.Rice, CD.Tyler, Wood Turning Center, 2001
• Crefft (Arts Council of Wales newsletter), Front Cover, Issue 98, March 2001
• BBC Homes & Antiques, ‘Crafts Today’, p.72-73, March 2001
• Crefft (Arts Council of Wales newsletter), Issue 97, ‘Breaking Barriers’, Dec. 2000
• The Fine Art of Wood – The Bohlen Collection, Bonita Fike, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2000
• Woodturning Magazine, ‘Scott and Hibbert’, p.72-76, April 2000,
• Crefft (Arts Council of Wales newsletter), Issue 93, ‘Profile’, p.4, December 1999
• Bowl Turning Techniques Masterclass, Tony Boase, GMC Publications 1999
• Contemporary Turned Wood – New Designs in a Rich Tradition, Del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, 1999
• The Visit (National Eisteddfod of Wales), HTV programme, 8^th August 1999

Awards/Grants

First prize Worshipful Company of Turners Open Themed Competition 2016
Arts Council of Wales Grant for Coleoptera – an exploration of beetle inspired boxes 2010
Grant from FORM, Australia to help develop the Genus Australis project, 2004
Grant from the Worshipful Company of Turners for Plankton Project, 2002
Welsh bursary for Plankton Project with Sarah Parker-Eaton, 2002
Arts Council of Wales grant to attend ‘Breaking Barriers’ Conference, Canada, 2000
£2000 Award at the National Eisteddfod of Wales 1999, Arts and Crafts Exhibition

Public/Private Collections

Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum, Washington D.C., USA
Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA.
Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, USA, 2001
Detroit Institute of Arts, USA, 2000
The Aldrich Collection, University of Brighton, 1994
Various private collections

Residencies and Collaborative Projects

Part of an International Collaborative Wood Project in Nepal, 2016

Part of an international sculpture project ‘Carving the Way to Harmony: International Wood Carvers Create a Collaborative Masterpiece’, China 2014

Part of an international sculpture project ‘Improvisations on the Theme of an Irish Wall’ Carlow, Ireland 2013

Resident Artist as part of the ‘Ingrained’ project at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA in 2009

Resident Artist at the 2008 American Association of Woodturning Annual Conference, Richmond, VA

Designing Futures International Residency Programme 2003, one month residency in Perth, Western Australia organised by the FORM Gallery

International Woodturning Exchange 2001, two month programme in Philadelphia, organised by the Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, USA

Personal Statement

I have had a passion for the arts and crafts from a young child when I constantly painted, sketched and made things. As I grew older, although I also had a strong interest in biology, this creativity eventually led to a degree in 3D Design at Brighton University, UK in 1994, and a career as a professional designer / maker.

During my studies I worked in wood, metal, ceramics and plastics and it was at this time that I discovered that wood was a perfect medium for my designs. Although I am perhaps known for my use of colour and resin, wood remains my main material of choice and the lathe the best means of creating my forms. I chose to work in wood not because I was attracted to straight lines and joinery but rather because I could shape it into forms with flowing lines and crisp details. As a living material, wood has a warmth and tactile quality that resonates with my organic designs. It is important to me that people are able to have a sense of this when they interact with my pieces. My favourite timber is sycamore, a sustainable wood with a pale even grain and translucent quality that works well as a blank canvas for my designs.

All of my work begins with extensive visual research, sketching and a technical scaled drawing. Many of my pieces evolve from shapes with organic bisymmetry and the turning technique allows me to effectively create these forms. I find that using the lathe gives my work rhythm and balance, almost like a structural backbone within each piece. I then begin carving, texturing, applying airbrushed inks, resins or metals to create the intricate details.

My initial concepts derive from an exploration of form, texture, colour and symmetry. Inspiration for me has always been dominated by a fascination with the natural world, particularly marine life, microscopic creatures, insects, plants and fossils, which together offer a fantastic repertoire of imagery. But it is not just the beauty of its surface that attracts me to nature; it is the harmonious order of its parts, the science, the way it continuously finds solutions to problems, which I find both awe-inspiring and fascinating. Through my work I hope to make accessible the wonder of these natural organisms and allow a tactile appreciation of them to a wider audience.

At present my work comprises a range of practical items, including salt and pepper mills and more whimsical one-off pieces – handheld sculptures, boxes and vessels. I have been fortunate over the years of my career to have won awards, received funding for continued research, attended conferences and collaborative events worldwide and been featured in many books and publications.

Although I lived for some time in the USA, I currently live and work on the beautiful North Wales coast. Looking out across the Menai Straights to the Isle of Anglesey from a small wooden workshop in my garden, I continue to strive to push forwards my ideas and techniques with every new piece that I create.