Andrew Stonyer British, b. 1944

Overview

Andrew Stonyer (b. 11th October 1944) studied at Northampton School of Art, Loughborough College of Art, The Architectural Association School of Architecture, and Leicester Polytechnic in collaboration with the Slade School of Fine Art. This last period of study was marked by his being awarded the first PhD for studio based research in Fine Art in the UK (1978). This PhD concerned the use of solar energy in the development of kinetic sculpture. 

From 1994 – 2011 he was Professor in Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire. Andrew has taught, exhibited and completed commissions in Turkey, Holland, Canada and USA. His work can be found in public and private collections in all these countries. 

Andrew makes all of his sculpture, a process that commences with an exploratory sequence of maquettes. The underlying theme in his work is concerned with mathematical and geometrical patterns and their use in mediating 2D and 3D form that is almost always circumscribed by the circle or the square. This has involved work that extends from drawing to the relief and sculpture. Additionally, it also encompasses sculptural responses to environmental stimuli and how sculpture – particularly kinetic sculpture – can reveal the aesthetic patterns that are intrinsic to these stimuli. This has involved him creating kinetic sculptures that respond to the vibration of trains; such as Pulse for Newcastle upon Tyne Metro; responses to the divisions of the hour as in a commission for Cumberland Infirmary; as well as responses to sunlight through his Audio Kinetic Solar Sculptures.

As well as his work with kinetic sculpture, he is also extensively involved in the creation of sculpture in which movement is implied, rather than being actual and physical. An example of this is 'Franklin Gardens', a commission for Cheltenham Borough Council, or the earlier 'Rotating Circle' that was exhibited in the first 'Promenade' exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Andrew Stonyer works from a large well equipped studio, rather than having his sculpture constructed by fabricators, he makes almost all of his sculpture. He is Chairman of The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust and Trail and a member of the Fabric Committees at both Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 2010.

Andrew Stonyer is represented by Brownsword Hepworth.

Works
Biography

 

Education and Qualifications

1961-63 Northampton School of Art.
1963-67 BA and Postgraduate Study, Loughborough College of Art and Design.
1970-72 Dip Arch, Architectural Association School of Architecture.
1975-78 PhD: The Development of Kinetic Sculpture by the Utilisation of Solar Energy. Leicester Polytechnic School of Fine Art and Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London (collaborating establishment).

 

Awards

1966-67 Loughborough College of Art and Design, Postgraduate Scholarship.
1975-78 Leicester Polytechnic, Doctoral Research Scholarship.
1978 A L Roberts Travelling Scholarship, to Berlin.
1979-81 Arts Council Visual Arts Awards.
1981-83 Concordia University, Montreal, Research Grant.
1986 Award of Merit. international competition for Gateway to Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, USA.
1987 Carleton University Research Grant, Canada. 1989 Ontario Arts Council Grant, Canada.
1997 South West Arts Visual Arts Award.
2000 Arts and Humanities Research Board.

 

Selected commissions

1970 Wellingborough Development Corporation.
1979 Leicester City Council.
1985 Bibliotheque Gabrielle Roy, Montreal, Canada.
1988 ‘A Sculpture For The Hague’ the Hague.
1989 Sparks St Mall, Ottawa, Canada.
1993 Atlantic Arc Sailing Challenge, Trophy.
1995 Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education.
1996 ‘The Ring Of Time’ Barlestone Memorial Gardens.
1997 ‘Kinetic Sculpture for the Hour’ Cheltenham Racecourse.
2000 ‘Pulse’, Newcastle upon Tyne Metro, for Four Lane Ends station.
2000 ‘Coming to Our Senses’, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
2000 Wolsley Art Gallery, Ipswich.
2000 McMann Galleries, Dundee.
2000 Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.
2000 Russell-Coates Gallery, Bournemouth.
2000 Eskisehir Sculpture Park, Turkey.
2002 Stourbridge College.
2002 ‘Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture, National Arboretum for Westonbirt Festival of the Garden.
2003 ‘Time within the Hour’ Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.
2004‘Lead Artist’ Gloucester Docks Redevelopment; Forest of Dean, Special School.
2005 ‘Limelight’ for Walsall regeneration initiative.
2006 ‘Bargearm’ Gloucester Docks.
2006 ‘Mariners Square’ Gloucester Docks.
2009 ‘Jessops Gardens’ Cheltenham Borough Council.
2010 ‘Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture’ for Fermynwoods Contemporary Art.

 

Selected exhibitions

1968 Kettering Art Gallery (solo) Oundle School, Northamptonshire.
1968 Heffer Art Gallery, Cambridge.
1969 Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham.
1969 Leicester University; Times Building, London.
1970 Kettering Art Gallery; Sheffield University.
1970 ‘Sculpture in Nottingham’, Arts Council Exhibition.
1971 Architectural Association Gallery, London (solo).
1974 Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham.
1978 Kimberlin Exhibition Hall, Leicester Polytechnic (one person).
1982 Pavilion du Quebec, Terre des Hommes, Montreal, Canada.
1983 Art 45, Montreal, Canada (solo).
1984 Art 45, Montreal (one person); Archifete Montreal, Canada.
1986 Gateway to Ybor City, Tampa, Florida (travelling exhibition).
1987 Galerie L’Autre Equivoque, Ottawa, Canada.
1988 Galerie L’Autre Equivoque (solo); Bishops University, Quebec.
1989 Art 45, Montreal; Galerie L’Autre Equivoque.
1989 Pulchri Studio, The Hague, The Netherlands (invitation exhibition).
1990 London Group, Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art.
1991 Newlyn Orion Gallery, Penzance; Inter Celtic Arts Festival, Lorient, France.
1992 Newlyn Orion Gallery, Penzance ‘Artists From Cornwall’, Royal West Of England Academy, Bristol.
1993 ‘Demarco’s Choice’, Newlyn Orion Gallery.
1993 Royal Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, Truro.
1993 Malvern Open Drawing Associates, Malvern.
1993 London Group, Concourse Gallery, Barbican Centre, London.
1994 ‘Millfield Open’, Atkinson Gallery, Millfield, Somerset.
1995 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London.
1995 Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester (solo).
1995 Oxford Contemporary Music Festival.
1997 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London.
1997 ‘Solar Kinetic Sculpture’, Falmouth Art Gallery. For the ‘Quality of Light’, Tate St Ives International Festival.
1997 'Art on the Move', Wysing Arts, Cambridge, travelling to Collins Gallery, Glasgow.
1997 Up Front Gallery, Penrith.
1997 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.
1997 Selections from Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Margaret Harvey Gallery.
1998 ‘Sound Proof’, Ikon in the City, Botanical Gardens; Birmingham.
1998 ‘XXth Century Sculpture’, Atkinson Gallery, Millfield, Somerset.
1999 ‘Three Academicians’, Royal West of England Academy.
1999 Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth, (one person).
1999 ‘Sculpture, an Abbey and a Cathedral’, a national sculpture exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral and Malmesbury Abbey.
1999 ‘Coming to Our Senses’, Craftspace touring exhibition to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Wolsley Art Gallery, Ipswich; McMann Galleries, Dundee, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Russell-Coates Gallery, Bournemouth.
1999 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy.
1999 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2001 Woodlands Art Gallery, London, (solo).
2001 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy.
2001 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2002 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy.
2002 Plus One Plus Two Galleries, London.
2003 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2003 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy.
2003 ‘Out There’, Crafts Council Gallery, London.
2004 Six Chapel Row, Bath; ‘Sculpture in the Wild’, Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire.
2004 ‘Westonbirt Festival of the Garden’ National Arboretum.
2004 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2004 ‘Sculptors Drawing’ Burghley Sculpture Garden.
2004 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2004 ‘Open Sculpture’ Royal West of England Academy.
2004 ‘Figure’ Burghley Sculpture Garden.
2004 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy.
2009 ‘Kinetic’ Royal British Society of Sculptors studio gallery, London.
2009 ‘Promenade’ Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
2009 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.
2009 ‘Timepiece’ Royal British Society of Sculptors (solo).
2010 ‘Kinetica’ P3 London.
2011 ‘Passengers and Goods’ Stevensons Works, Newcastle.
2014 'Elemental' Burghley Sculpture Garden.
2015 Gallery Artists’ Redfern Gallery, London.
2015 ‘British Art Fair’ with Whitford Fine Art, London.
2017 Shoreham Sculpture Trail, with London Group.
2018 London Art Fair, with Brownsword Hepworth.
2018 'Crafting Monumentality: Three Contemporary Approaches to Abstraction', Brownsword Hepworth.
2019 'Vibrancy' Brownsword Hepworth
2020 'Peter Waldron & Andrew Stonyer: Recent Work', Brownsword Hepworth

Memberships

Royal British Society of Sculptors, Fellow and member of Council.
Chelsea Arts Club.
Coordinator, Artist in Residence programme Gloucester Cathedral 1997/2011.
Trustee and Chairman, Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust and Trail.
Fabric Committees, Gloucester Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral.

Academic positions 

Professor in Fine Art, University of Gloucestershire, 1994-2010.
Visiting Research Fellow, Faculty of Engineering, Bristol University 2006-2009. 
Previous academic positions include lecturing in Fine Art and Architecture in the UK, Holland, Turkey, Canada and USA.

 

Published papers and articles

Artists' Thoughts on the Seventies in Words and Pictures', Studio International,  vol 18, issue 3, 1986, 1981. 
'Transparency in Art and Architecture', The Structurist, No 27/28, 1988. 
'Solar Responsive Kinetic Sculpture: a Collaborative Educational Experiment', Leonardo, vol 18, issue 3, 1988.
'New Context, New Methodologies: a world of our own?', International Conference on Art and Design Research, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, 1996.
‘Sensing Space’ ‘Sensiable Spaces’ conference, University of Iceland, Reykjavik. Cambridge UP', 2007.

Reviews etc. since 2000  

Cork, R.,'The future takes shape amid the rock of ages' Times 2 Arts, 5/6//2000, pp24/25. 
Cooper, E., 'Outdoors as indoors'  Tribune Arts Focus, 25/7/2003, p21. 
Cork, R., 'Annus Mirabilis? Art in the year 2000' Yale U. P., 2003, p 240. 
Gardiner, H., 'Art Practice in a Digital Culture' Ashgate publishing, 2003, p22. 
Jarratt, M.,''COMMISSIONS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND 2000-2003' Northern Arts, 2003, p 59. www.medesignmag.com/arts/299/s... 4/12/2007. 
Clark, R., 'Exhibitions. Andrew Stonyer, Kettering' The Guardian Guide, 4/9/2010, p38. 
Sykes, A., 'Tyneside Arts Bonanza' The Guardian Northern Blog, 3/11/2011.

 
Exhibitions