Harriet Mead

Harriet Mead
Born 2 September 1969 (1969-09-02)
Tring, England
Nationality British
Education St Albans College, Norwich School of Art
Known for Wildlife art, installation art, sculpture
Notable work Suffolk Trinity
Awards Capmark Wildlife Award 2007

Harriet Rebecca Mead [1] (born 2 September 1969) is an English Wildlife Artist specialising in metal sculptures.

She received formal art education during a foundation year at St Albans College, followed by a degree in Fine Art at the Norwich School of Art.

Mead’s work is inspired by animals and birds. From an early age she was encouraged to observe and develop a keen interest in British wildlife due to the influence of her late father, Chris Mead,[2] who was a well-known author and broadcaster. Harriet uses personal experience and direct observation to provide inspiration for her work. The countryside and wildlife around her home in Hilborough[3] in rural Norfolk and her travels to various places around the world, including Asia and Africa, provide subject matter for her work.

After showing at its annual show for several years, Mead was elected a full member of the internationally renowned Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA). In 2004, she was elected to Council of the SWLA. Harriet has won the Society’s prestigious Capmark Award in 2007 [4][5] and was runner-up in 2006. In 2009, she was elected as the Society's President, making her the youngest and first woman in its 47-year history.

Her work

Chameleon by Harriet Mead

Although predominately a sculptor, Mead also produces drawings and prints, but focuses on using steel to create her sculptures. Harriet’s steel sculptures fall into two categories the “true-to-life” form made predominantly from sheet steel that resemble as accurately as possible the species being created, and “found objects” in which Mead uses everyday objects to produce an abstract form of the animal.

Harriet tends to work to commission, but does maintain a few examples of her work in key galleries.[6] She seems to be able to tackle any subject from the natural world.

Art and conservation

Peafowl by Harriet Mead

Harriet recognizes that an appreciation of wildlife and the natural world cannot be taken for granted and she has used her art to promote and raise funds for conservation and animal charities. Most notably amongst the organizations she has supported are The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust,[7] the Countryside Education Foundation[8][9] and the Suffolk Horse Society.[10][11] Together with other leading international wildlife artists Harriet has taken part in two Artists for Nature Foundation[12][13] projects, which bring artists together to promote and raise funds for conservation projects around the world, including the Great Fen Project in Cambridgeshire, UK and the Hula Valley, Israel.

Public art

Suffolk Trinity by Harriet Mead

Harriet has produced two large-scale public art pieces. One is the Suffolk Trinity[14] which includes a life-size Suffolk Punch horse, a Suffolk Ram and a Suffolk Redpoll Bull providing an impressive feature at the entrance of Trinity Park (the Suffolk show ground), near Ipswich. The other is a life-size heavy horse[15] being led by a man at Dromore, West Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

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