Vimeo Channel | Royal Society of Sculptors

Introducing Material Encounters

Introducing Material Encounters, a new online series of talks presented by independent curator and cultural producer Isabel de Vasconcellos. Each conversation pairs two Fellows of the Society and invites them to focus on a shared element of their practice, exploring how they work with a particular material or process, what draws them to it, and how it has come to define their sculptural language.

For the inaugural conversation on Wednesday 25 February, we were thrilled to have Cecile Johnson Soliz FRSS and Jacqui Poncelet FRSS.

Cecile Johnson Soliz FRSS is deeply engaged with drawing and sculpture. She works with a wide range of materials and processes in her studio, while also developing projects across industry, craft, design, music, and dance. Her studio and project-based work exist in continual dialogue, informing and challenging one another. Cecile lives in Cardiff, Wales, where she works in a city centre studio and regularly travels across the UK, the US, and Europe.

Jacqui Poncelet FRSS has been drawn to pattern and colour since the beginning of her career, with form later becoming equally important in her work. She initially studied ceramics and worked exclusively with clay until the mid-1980s, when she began incorporating other materials. Since then, her practice has expanded across sculpture, painting, and installation, alongside collaborations with other artists, curating exhibitions, and undertaking public commissions of varying scales. Her work embraces the visual complexity of the world, seeing it not as overwhelming but as something positive, enriching, and full of energy.

Isabel de Vasconcellos is an independent curator and cultural producer with extensive experience working with artists and visual arts organisations to realise world-class public commissions and exhibitions. She writes on contemporary art, photography, and design, and is the author of Fourth Plinth: How London Created the Smallest Sculpture Park in the World.

Material Encounters

Watch the third conversation in Material Encounters, a new online series of talks presented by independent curator and cultural producer Isabel de Vasconcellos where we were delighted to feature Simon Hitchens FRSS and Susan York FRSS.

Simon Hitchens FRSS
“My sculptures subtly investigate the essence of the things we perceive: the physical world, nature, and our place within it. I am fascinated by rock—historically as a medium for sculpture, physically as the very earth that supports us, and geologically as an almost ageless constant that resonates through time, giving perspective to our lives on this planet.”

Susan York FRSS
“I explore the relationships between form, space, and elemental material in my work. Rooted in a minimalist sensibility, my practice spans sculpture, drawing, prints, and site-sensitive installation. By committing myself to a single medium over long periods, I sculpt and draw in graphite, clay, copper, and iron.”

Isabel de Vasconcellos is an independent curator and cultural producer with extensive experience collaborating with artists and visual arts organisations to realise world-class public commissions and exhibitions. She writes on contemporary art, photography, and design, and is the author of Fourth Plinth: How London Created the Smallest Sculpture Park in the World.

For the second conversation in the Material Encounters series, which took place on Wednesday 25 March, we welcomed Kathy Prendergast FRSS and Rob Olins FRSS.

Rob Olins FRSS
Olins’ work is rooted in art-science practice. He uses a wide range of materials to create artworks spanning from the micro to the macro scale, often collaborating with scientists, psychologists, and musicians. He is a sculptor informed by architecture, acoustics, and modern engineering techniques, with a particular emphasis on the boundaries between art and science. His work combines traditional materials with sound and digital technology.

Kathy Prendergast FRSS
Intimate in tone and subject matter, Kathy Prendergast’s practice combines drawing, sculpture, and installation. What may initially appear minimal or elusive often reveals a complex web of emotional, personal, and political resonances. Her work, closely connected to the body and subjective reflections on the world, explores themes including power, identity, landscape, memory, geography, and family.

Isabel de Vasconcellos is an independent curator and cultural producer with extensive experience collaborating with artists and visual arts organisations to realise world-class public commissions and exhibitions. She writes on contemporary art, photography, and design, and is the author of Fourth Plinth: How London Created the Smallest Sculpture Park in the World.

Exhibitions

Watch Polly Bielecka the curator of Sculpture in the Home, the Royal Society of Sculptors 2025 Summer Show speak about how she approached the selection proces and the curation in the exceptional setting of Burgh House, Hampstead. Polly is Gallery Director, Pangolin London Sculpture Gallery.

The theme of the 2024 Summer Show was Reality Check selected by our guest curator David McAlmont and he has written an essay about the exhibition that you can read on our website.

David McAlmont is a recording artiste, art historian and tutor at the Architectural Association Interprofessional studio. He is a Birkbeck and Middlesex University alumnus (History of Western Art and Architecture, and Performing Arts), author of the 'Permissible Beauty' film.

International Sculpture Day

On Saturday 25 April 2026, the Royal Society of Sculptors marked International Sculpture Day 2026 with a panel discussion exploring the positive impact of artist residencies with a particular focus on mid-career artists. The panel was chaired by Matthias Persson Artist Residencies Director at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation who is also a practising artist and featured Julian Wild FRSS who completed a residency at Thread in Sinthian, Senegal, in 2023 and Susie MacMurray FRSS who was artist in residence at The Hugo Burge Foundation in the Scottish Borders in 2024.

The topic of residencies is particularly relevant to the Society in 2026 as we celebrate the Year of the Home marking 50 years since the Society moved into Dora House thanks to the generosity of Cecil Thomas CBE FRBS who bequeathed it to us in the 1970s. As part of the Creating a Home for Sculptors works, a self-contained apartment will be built in our basement so that we can host artists in residence here at Dora House from late 2026.

On Saturday 26 April 2025, the Royal Society of Sculptors marked International Sculpture Day 2025 at Dora House with a talk 'Sculpture, Public Realm and Soft Sustainability' delivered by Ivan Clarke, Director at millimetre in conversation with Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark MRSS. This was followed by the announcement (32' approx) of the First Plinth: Public Art Award 2025 winner Bea Haines MRSS. Read more on https://sculptors.org.uk/awards/first-plinth-public-art-award

Sculpture Terrace Series

Almuth Tebbenhoff VPRSS was in conversation with independent curator and writer Isabel de Vasconcellos as part of Almuth's work Redhead Orange Stack being installed at the sculpture terrace at Dora House.

Alastair and Fleur Mackie MRSS were in conversation with independent curator and writer Isabel de Vasconcellos as part of their work Stack 5 being installed at the sculpture terrace at Dora House in the winter of 2026.

First Plinth: Public Art Award

Madi Acharya-Baskerville MRSS winner of the First Plinth: Public Art Award 2023 in conversation with Damon Jackson-Waldock, Programme Director at The Art House.

First Plinth 2021 Winner Polly Morgan MRSS talks about her commission ‘Open! Channel! Flow!’

Behind the Studio Doors

Behind the Studio Doors with Susan York FRSS

Behind the Studio Doors with Anne-Laure Cano MRSS

With Alex and Emma Devereux MRSS

With Emily Young FRSS

Conversations about Sculpture

Watch this presentation of the ongoing project Monumental Welsh Women by co-founder Helen Molyneux one of the key initiators behind this initiative set up in 2016 to erect Cardiff’s first statue honouring a Welsh woman.

Public Art Commissioners and the liminal spaces we inhabit by Emma Price, co-founder at Studio Response

Watch this presentation by Tom Littlewood, Founder of Gingko Projects, an independent Public Art & Cultural Producer who speaks about who they work with artists.

Public Art Commissioners and the liminal spaces we inhabit by Emma Price, co-founder at Studio Response