Caroline Saunders MRSS

I use local and found materials to transform observations into playful, tactile sculptures that give voice to what often goes unseen. 

My current practice focuses on direct carving, celebrating the process and unique qualities of the raw materials. Each piece starts with my intention—a form I want to impose on the material. Then the stone or wood fights back. A fault line changes my plan. An unexpected grain pattern demands I follow it instead. The material has its own powerful beauty, and I've learned to work with it rather than against it. 

I draw inspiration from the storytelling power of outsider and primitive art. Working slowly by hand allows the development of something more honest than the original sketch. Where tension and perfection give way, and the visible evidence of this struggle injects energy into the sculpture.

Public art 2023 Sculpting Nature, instillation in windows of empty department store Exeter. 2010 Darmstadt Waldkunstpfad, 'Wolf Walk' the path weaves through forest  copying the Darmstadt street plan. 2004 Pirkkala Finland 'Little Red House' cast iron for Pirkkala sculpture park. 2004 Shrewsbury Art for the Environment 'Street Geoglyphs' printed steel signs of plants and animals that can be walked 2015 The Lion of Namibia, land art instillation Ludwell Park, Exeter. 2005 St. Leonard's School Exeter, playground sculpture 'Conker' bronze. 2002 Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture, iron symposium 2000 Gargia Norway, 'Talisman' wood and stone road marker.