BRIDGET MCCRUM
The Conference of the Birds

works live from
5 September – 24 October

Plan visit  Buy catalogue

 

“There is the simplified form that allows the eye to comprehend the piece as a single coherent whole, like a passage in a Bach Cello Suite. Less is more, no fuss. Balance is all. A sweeping line fades and then reappears as you move around the undulating form, invoking the optical effects the artist experienced among the dunes of the Arabian deserts. And, with this, comes a sense of rhythm and dynamism; of an object in motion, as light and shadow and perspective generate a kinetic energy. Such things are in the DNA of a Bridget McCrum sculpture or painting or drawing.” Will Gompertz, BBC arts editor.

Bridget McCrum (née Bain) was shipped to the west country from a home in London to avoid the war. This exhibition charts her recent work and also looks back at some of her earlier pieces. It considers life through a shifting between shapes and images and looks at how McCrum found ways to free herself from the restraints of figurative precision.

McCrum’s approach to sculpting is a reductive one, removing mass from a block of stone using carving and sanding tools. Now in her eighties, McCrum’s technical ability has not faded and she arrives at stylised shapes that play with light and weightlessness, as with her many birds which may be taking off, alighting or in flight.

Photo: Steve Russell Photography

Bronze sculptures

Longtail Bird, 1998

bronze
13 x 15 x 43 cms
Edition 6/9

£4,850

Colly Birds, 2009

Bronze
18 x 36 x 38 cms

Edition 9/9 available

£7,850

Zenobia, 2017

Bronze
33 x 31 x 18cm
Edition 6/9

£9,850

Duck Weight 37kg, 2012

Bronze
42 x 48 x 41 cms
Edition 3/9

£12,850

Crescent Birds (Maquette), 2015

Bronze
70 x 70 x 20cms
Edition 7/9

£18,850

Crescent Birds, 2016

Bronze
210 x 210 x 31 cms
Edition 3/6

£95,000

Spring Bird, 2014

Bronze
18 x 43 x 10 cms
Edition 6/9

Edition 7/9 available

£4,850

Java Axe Bird, 2019

Bronze
66 x 46 x 8cm
Edition 1/9

RESERVED

Edition 2/9 available

£6,850

Uccillinis, 2019

Bronze
33 x 27 x 8cm & 20 x 24 x 8cm
Edition 1/9

RESERVED

Edition 2/9 available

£8,850

Samara II

Bronze
edition of 9
62 x 19 x 7 cm

£11,850

Samara I

Bronze
Edition of 9
39 x 15 x 10 cm

£9,850

Toscana (maquette)

bronze
an edition of 12
22 x 16 x 8cm

£4,850

Stone sculptures

 

Mesopotamia, 2017

Carrara marble and Kilkenny limestone
61 x 56 x 24cm

£16,850

Gharfur I, 2016

kilkenny limestone
34 x 24 x 20 cms

£9,850

Gharfur II, 2017

Kilkenny limestone
83 x 28 x 41 cms

£28,500

Works on paper

 

Flight IX, 2020

Charcoal on paper
56 x 76ccm

£3,850

Flight VII 2020 (large)

Charcoal on paper
71 x 100 cm

£4,850

Flight, 2019

Charcoal on paper
76 x 101.5cm

£4,850

Flight VII 2019

Charcoal on paper
56 x 76cm

£3,850

Flight over Gozo, 2008

Mixed media on paper
76 x 56cm

£6,850

Morning Light, Cittadella, Gozo, 2010

Oil on canvas
100 x 140cm

£12,850

Works on hardboard

 

Flight over Clouds 1, 2018

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
52 x 54cm

£4,850

Flight over Clouds 2, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
79 x 53cm

£5,850

Flight over Clouds 3, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
49 x 63cm

£4,850

Flight over Clouds 5, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
60 x 79cm

£5,850

Flight over Clouds 6, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
60 x 79cm

£5,850

Flight over Clouds 8, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
60 x 79cm

£5,850

Flight over Clouds 9, 2019

Acrylic on blackboard paint & gesso
60 x 79cm

£5,850

Flight over Clouds 10

2019

Acrylic on blackboard, paint and gesso

60 x 79 cm

£5,850

Films

 

Filmed by handheld camera and drone, the film features Bridget McCrum’s home, studio and gardens which are home to many of her sculptures. Filmed by Steve Russell Photography.

 

 

Virtual tour of ‘The Conference of the Birds’ at Messums Wiltshire in July 2020
Filmed by Steve Russell Photography.