Hazel Reeves MRSS

Hazel's life-long activism weaves its way through her artistic practice. Her passion is for telling stories in bronze of struggles for social justice and redressing the lack of women represented, one statue at a time. A statue must be a catalyst for change.

Bronze public commissions are what you probably know her for, such as Sir Nigel Gresley at King’s Cross Station, the women biscuit factory workers – ‘Cracker Packers’ – in Carlisle, and for her iconic statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester, unveiled in 2018. This 'Our Emmeline' statue won the prestigious Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture in 2021. 

Hazel's latest statue was unveiled on International Women's Day 2022, of suffragist Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy for Congleton. And her bronze bust of Sir John Manduell, founder of the Royal Northern College of Music, was unveiled in Manchester to much acclaim in June 2024.

But Hazel's artistic practice is never static. Choreography underpins it all; choreographing stories in bronze, choreographing dancers, choreographing the sounds of nature. In 2021 she undertook two residencies. One at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, where she delivered the extremely successful Sculptural Murmurings project (sound/movement) with Arts Council England funding. The other at  Knepp Wildlands in West Sussex, creating bird soundscapes to bring Knepp's audio story of hope to urban spaces. 

Further Arts Council Funding enabled the fulfillment of collaborative projects Sculptural Murmurings II (Fabrica Gallery, Brighton) and the Layback with Nature listening event (Phoenix Brighton).

Hazel is an elected Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and a member of the Society of Women Artists (SWA), and former advising sculptor for the Hove Plinth initiative.

www.hazelreeves.com