Louise Allison has added more busts and figures to the Trilogy exhibition now running at the Sculpture Garden, so we asked her about the inspiration behind these latest pieces.
“Many of them are adaptations of live models. The “Madonna” was a very beautiful girl who modelled for me, who looked so serene that I decided to call her "Madonna". I changed "Wind Swept Woman"'s hair, so she could become a flower pot if one wanted. Or, sometimes, I might alter the model’s clothes or hair to create the look I’m after.
Also when I work from photographs supplied by models or other studios, I often add something of my own to the final result - for instance “Venus emerging” evolved from a photo of a model, that stopped at her thighs… so I decided to have her emerging from something - although I’m not too sure what it is she’s emerging from!
Some of my favourites come from my own head though, like “man with a flat cap””.
A feature of many of Louise’s busts is that they have their heads tilted, mostly upwards… “Ah, that’s to make them more interesting! Heads that are just looking straight ahead can be quite bland, so I complete the head, then gently move it into a more dynamic position.”
