About

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1965, Alison Crowther is a sculptor and furniture maker working exclusively with English Oak. Having first studied 3D design at Buckinghamshire College and then Furniture design at the Royal College of Art, her first notable commission were the pews she created for the Prior Silkstede Chapel at Winchester Cathedral (1996) followed by Lover’s Seat at Chatsworth in 1999. Over the last twenty years, she has produced significant, site-specific works for international, corporate clients such as Swire Properties in Hong Kong: the Sheraton Hotel at Ghuangzhou, China; and the Shangri-La Hotel’s iconic Ting restaurant at The Shard in London. She has also undertaken many private commissions throughout Europe and the USA, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island.

The way Crowther observes and responds to her material, taking cues from the density, grain and growth pattern creates what Madeleine Bunting described as a ‘dialogue between material and human intervention'. Using tools that range from chainsaws to chisels, she produces work that is sometimes domestic in scale and functional in use, such as Glyndebourne Kissing Benches and sometimes monumental, as with Scale Tree I, created for One Shenzhen Bay. All her work is painstakingly hand-carved from great trunks of unseasoned oak, taken from responsibly managed woodlands within the South Downs National Park. Guided by the natural characteristics of the wood - often embracing the gnarly surface texture - her forms are true to the organic nature of the oak, while also complementing the environments in which they are to be ultimately used and displayed. The wood itself is on a continuous process of change and refinement as the timber ages and weathers, adding to its beauty and character.

Curator of Crowther's 2008 exhibition 'The Ripple Effect', Ann Elliott said the surfaces of the work are 'delicately carved into rippling lines, that radiate from knots or boles, crossing or flowing with the grain - a lyrical passage between artist and material’.