Sculpture
Tracey Ward is a sculptor, predominantly a carver of stone and Jesmonite. She carves by hand with mallet and chisels. She also saves the dust when carving stone and add this to Jesmonite to create a stone substitute which looks, feels and carves like stone. This way, she can make a stone any shape or colour she wants. Tracey is inspired by nature, frequently carving animals in a stylised form reminiscent of Art Deco. Form, symmetry, sweeping lines and the feel of the piece, are the most important aspects of the work for her. If you see her working you will notice that she spends as much time running her hands around the stone as she does hitting it, that is because feeling enables her to “see” in a different way and more accurately establish symmetry. When it feels and looks right, her work on that piece is done.
About The Artist
An artist from birth, Tracey has created art her entire life. But, at the age of 40, she decided she could sculpt, and set about learning to carve via Portsmouth University’s Decoration and Restoration degree. Three years later, she emerged with a First Class degree and a host of skills including gilding, carving, specialist paint effects and plaster work. Many of these skills she now uses every day. If the sun is shining you will find her outdoors, hitting a rock or block of jesmonite. On duller days, Tracey hides in her small garden studio and spends a vast mount of time sanding! Sometimes, she gets time to model a piece in clay but will often jump straight into carving purely from reference photos. From successful pieces she will occasionally take a mould from and produce limited edition runs for those who are unable to afford original pieces.
