Our Patron
The Royal Society of Sculptors was first awarded royal patronage in 1911 when it was recognised for its services to the art of sculpture.
The Society has been privileged to enjoy the patronage of the reigning monarch and gratefully acknowledges the continuing support of His Majesty, King Charles III.
Image: Portrait of King Charles III, Buckingham Palace, February 2024. Source: The Royal Household
Our Board
The Royal Society of Sculptors champions sculpture and the artists who create it. We are committed to making the full range of contemporary practice accessible to all and also to promoting high professional and creative standards.
As such, our work is overseen by our Board, which elects the majority of its members from our community of artists. The remaining members are drawn from other professions and contribute expertise across a range of fields.
Chaired by the President, the Board comprises the Vice President, the Treasurer and up to eleven others, all elected for a three-year term.
The Board is responsible for defining the Society’s strategic vision, policy, procedures and programme. The sculptor members of the Board also review applications to the Society and select new members.
The Society is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and has appointed Board member Jane Reeves as EDI champion.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy
We have also appointed Bill Price, Director at WSP structural engineers, as our Board champion to lead on sustainability.
President - Laura Ford PRSS
Laura Ford studied at Bath Academy of Art between 1978-82 including a period at the Cooper Union School of Art, New York. Then completed an MA at Chelsea School of art 1982-83.Her work is represented in many public collections including; Tate, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Government Art Collection.
Laura's sculptures are faithful representations of fantasy with sometimes bitter sweet and menacing qualities mixed with tenderness. She uses humour and an acute observation of the human condition to engage with wider social and political issues. Her work is intensely crafted but playful, and she has used a range of media to realise her work including, drawing, painting, performance, set design and has increasingly taken on the challenge of public art alongside museum and gallery shows.
Vice President - Nick Hornby VPRSS
Nick Hornby is a British artist based in London (b.1980). He is known for sculptures that merge digital processes with traditional materials including bronze, steel, marble, granite and resin. His work explores perception, identity and the language of art history, often combining historical references with abstract or unstable forms that shift in meaning as the viewer moves around them. In 2023 he unveiled three major public commissions in London, each critically engaging with core sculptural typologies including the equestrian monument, memorial and abstraction. He was awarded the 2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture. Hornby is a Fellow and Trustee of the Royal Society of Sculptors and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Royal Mint Advisory Committee. Hornby studied at Slade School of Fine Art and Chelsea College of Arts. His work has been exhibited at Tate Britain, Southbank Centre, Leighton House, Fitzwilliam Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design, among others. Residencies include Eyebeam and Outset. His work has been reviewed in the The New York Times, Financial Times, Frieze and Artforum. A monograph on his work was published by Anomie Publishing in 2022.
Trustees
Andrea Geile FRSS
Andrea Geile trained in print making before studying Visual Art/Sculpture at FH Hanover, Germany. She has been working from her Scottish studio since 1995. Geile was elected Fellow in 2016.
Andrea’s sculptures and performances condense and interpret nature and ecology. Both her permanent and transient artwork investigate how social processes have shaped and utilized landscapes for our political, economic and immaterial needs.
She has participated in many art residencies and has extensive experience in exhibiting nationally and internationally. Her sculptures are in many private and public collections. Among others she has received Awards from the Royal Scottish Academy, Creative Scotland and Visual Art Scotland. Andrea currently has a major solo show at Gerhard Marcks Haus in Germany.
Anna Gillespie MRSS
Anna Gillespie MRSS is a contemporary British figurative sculptor.
Anna studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and International Relations at the LSE. After a period of travel and working for NGOs, in her late 20s Anna returned to her family’s artistic tradition studying stone masonry at City of Bath College and then taking an MA in Fine and Media Arts at Cheltenham.
For the last 20 years Anna has largely been making studio based figurative work and exhibiting in galleries. Her twin passions are the human form and climate awareness. In recent years she has branched out of the studio making sculptural installations, collaborating with a choreographer, and creating ‘protest’ street art alongside her more traditional sculptural practice.
As well as being a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, Anna is also a Royal West of England academician.
Barbara Beyer FRSS
Barbara Beyer’s sculptures show a great clarity in form and often resemble almost archetypical shapes, however imperfections and fragmentation, balance and tension evoke ambiguous feelings of sturdiness and vulnerability at the same time.
I try to create interventions or sculptures that have an anticipation of possibility about them and allow the mind to discover and be taken places. This can be encouraged through physical encounters as in the chair series of my earlier work or in contemplation of a sculptural configuration. In both I seek the confrontation with a physical object that should leave you with a sense of wonder without the need to be resolved in a narrative but with the possibility to evoke new perspectives.
Bill Price
Bill Price is a director at WSP and worked on the Shard at London Bridge from the earliest stages of design development to completion in 2015. Bill has worked with many artists and sculptors for over 20 years assisting with engineering, safety, transportation and site activities. Bill is currently project director for the Paddington Square development and range of other infrastructure and public realm initiatives. Bill is also a trustee of the Rose Theatre in Kingston, supporting original drama and family shows as well as a wide range of community engagement.
Edwina Sassoon MBE
Edwina Sassoon has had a career in the visual arts, working with museums and galleries. In 1990 she established her own consultancy advising both sides of the arts and business partnership. Amongst other roles, she is currently a Trustee of the Garden Museum.
In 2010, Edwina was awarded the Victoria & Albert Museum Knowledge and Inspiration Medal.
Eugene Macki MRSS
Eugene Macki studied at Chelsea College of Arts, Sheffield Hallam University, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in the United States. He is the recipient of the Gilbert Bayes Award, the SPACE Studios Artist Award, and the SPACE 12-month free studio. Between 2012 and 2014, he co-founded Void Art Gallery in London, founded Moon Spring in 2019-2022, and the Peut Guard in 2023 (a project that consists of an artist award, research retreat, curatorial program, and exhibition). He has exhibited at the National Liberty Museum (USA); The Salisbury Museum (UK); The Royal Academy of Arts (UK); GroundWork Gallery (UK); Aspex Gallery (UK); 20-21 Visual Arts Centre (UK); and performed at Socrates Sculpture Park (USA) among others.
Gordon Watson
Gordon Watson is a former museum director. As Chief Executive of Lakeland Arts, he led the development of the Trust's portfolio of museums and galleries, particularly exhibitions, collections, learning and community engagement at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Blackwell the Arts & Crafts House and the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry. He directed the project to create Windermere Jetty Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories, designed by Carmody Groarke architects, and secure over £18 million to complete the new Museum ready for the public opening in spring 2019. He also oversaw the first stages of the Abbot Hall redevelopment project, designed by MUMA.
Previously, Gordon directed the development of The Hepworth Wakefield, designed by Sir David Chipperfield. He took the award-winning gallery from the initial concept and visioning through to completion of construction in 2010. Gordon was manager of Wakefield Council’s museums, arts and heritage services from 1995 to 2004.
Gordon is a Governor at Kendal College and was previously Chair of Governors for a secondary special school in West Yorkshire.
Jane Reeves
Jane has a long career in corporate law and extensive experience in non-executive roles in the third sector, working with the Legal Education Foundation, the Publishers’ Association, the University of Lincoln, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, the RSPB and the Green Alliance.
As well as bringing a legal perspective to the Board, Jane brings experience from other organisations whose priorities include supporting a sector, meeting members’ needs, widening access and participation, balancing budgets and maintaining glorious but costly listed buildings.
Mark Burch – Treasurer
Mark Burch has near forty years working in financial services as a lending banker, a corporate finance adviser and as an investment manager. He has a MBA from Columbia University New York.
Outside his working career he has been active in finance Trustee roles at the Hackney Empire, the Charleston Trust and ArtsEd where he was also Chair. He is currently Chair of Stage One, the theatre producers training charity, and Chair of Governors at the University of Brighton.
Tere Chad MRSS
Tere Chad MRSS (Chile, b.1990) is a sculptress, artist, curator and creative inventor based in London. She is focused on fostering collective sustainable practices and the cultural values of the Global South. She has worked in over 15 countries, exhibited in more than 60 international shows, and had her works installed in public space in the UK, Italy and Mexico.
Tere graduated in 2020 with an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London, having previously graduated in 2018 with an MA in Art and Science from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. In 2020 Tere was granted a Global Talent Visa. She has managed public and private funding, including grants and sponsorship from institutions such as the Arts Council England, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, Rotary Club Est Palermo (Sicily), Municipio San Pedro Garza García (San Pedro Borough – Mexico), Caruna (Finland), Stora Enso (Finland), Camden Giving, the Contemporary Bolivian Arts Trust, Paladar Restaurant, Fundación Cultural de Providencia (Chile) amongst others. Her work features in private and public collections in the UK, Germany, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Chile and the United Arab Emirates.
Our Team
Caroline Worthington, Director
Caroline has worked with artists throughout her career as a curator. She brings a wealth of experience gained while leading two independent, non-profit organisations. As Chief Executive of Bexley Heritage Trust for six years, she ran two historic houses and introduced a contemporary art programme, featuring the work of artists including Gavin Turk, Laura Ford, and Joana Vasconcelos among others. Prior to that she was the Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum on London’s South Bank, where she raised funds and oversaw a complete redesign and re-launch in 2010.
Caroline became Vice Chair of the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) in 2020 and a Trustee of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery Trust in January 2021.
Eilidh McCormick, Residencies & Awards Manager
Eilidh brings extensive experience in contemporary art curation, gallery management, and artist development, alongside a deep commitment to supporting creative practice and professional growth within the visual arts.
Prior to joining the Society, Eilidh was Gallery Manager at Everard Read London and Visual Art Curator at the Royal Over-Seas League. Her earlier experience includes roles at Whitechapel Gallery, the Zabludowicz Collection, the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, and me Collectors Room Berlin, giving her a rich understanding of both institutional and independent art contexts.
Eilidh holds a Master’s degree in Curating the Contemporary from London Metropolitan University and the Whitechapel Gallery, and a First-Class BA (Hons) in Sculpture from Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen.
Andrea Arnold, Head of Finance
Andrea has a background in financial management across advisory, commercial and non-profit organisations. In addition to her professional qualifications, she has a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and an MFA Fine Art from Wimbledon College of Art.
Works Monday / Thursday
Maria Marro-Perera, Membership & Communications Manager
Maria has a background in commercial as well as non-profit arts organisations including membership networks. She has an MA in History of Art from UCL and a Post-Graduate Diploma from the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Our Volunteers
The Society is also supported by a fantastic team of volunteers and we welcome applications from anyone wishing to get actively involved with our work.
