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; suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester, winner of the prestigious Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture; suffragist Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy for Congleton; and bronze bust of Sir John Manduell, founder of the Royal Northern College of Music.

But Hazel's artistic practice is never static, transitioning towards a more fluid multi-disciplinary, site-responsive nature-immersed practice. At the heart remains story-telling - telling stories of hope, of place, of burgeoning biodiversity. 

Hazel sculpts with clay, soil, wood, other natural artefacts, But also sculpts with more ephemeral materials, creating sonic journeys drawn from the rhythms and musicality of the sounds of nature, such as in Bird Hide. And through movement, where dancers respond to these sonic journeys, as explored in her Sculptural Murmurings projects and her latest project Wild Grooves Silent Disco, a collaboration with Axel Wild at Fabrica Gallery. 

The development of Hazel's practice has been through residencies (Knepp Wildlands; CampFr, Pyrenees; Fabrica Gallery, Brighton) and collaborative projects, often with Arts Council England funding. Her field recordings are being acquired by the British Library Sound Archives.

Hazel is also a member of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society. 

www.hazelreeves.com