Rebecca Buck

Rebecca Buck is a contemporary sculptor born in New York and raised between the U.K. and the U.S. After attending North Oxfordshire School of Art, she ventured to Cornwall, where she trained in resin and fiberglass figure sculpture, followed by a program in Artisanry at Boston University, focused on ceramic sculpture, figure drawing, and printmaking. There, she worked with Richard Hirsch, American abstract ceramicist and ceramics professor.

Completing her formal studies, Buck chose a nomadic existence, traveling as far as Malaysia, Italy, as well as back to the U.S., honing her sculpting on the road and being inspired by the journey. She parted ways with many of her creations in order to travel onward, until the birth of her first son in 1992 in the U.K. In 1998, Buck’s work underwent a paradigm shift; in moving to Wales, she was deeply inspired by its brick-making tradition and rugged, yet stunningly pristine landscape – Buck’s Osprey Studios had found its new home. Here, she works in series, wherein one theme, such as the paradoxically entitled “Up is Down”, is explored through a set of sculptures. The series is then displayed at Osprey Studios and supported with accompanying music.

The sculptures themselves reflect Buck’s extraordinary technical ability with a range of different clays, as the forms effortlessly present the context of the series and its title while avoiding complete abstraction. Her sculptures present a healthy respect for early 20th century Modernist sculpture, coupled with a comprehensive and exploratory understanding of the medium. This union of technical skill and respect for tradition, utilized in series, enables Buck to combine relatively figurative sculptures that feature explicit, gestural portrayals focusing on emotional representation, which then complement the more abstract forms, in turn allowing the viewer to come to terms with the series’ narrative.

Buck’s sculpture is grounded in a deep respect for and acknowledgment of the oneness of humanity and the natural world; clay is her perfect medium; the construction process, like the natural world, is raw, visceral, and expressive. Buck ensures all of this is conveyed through careful selection and adept manipulation of clays, resulting in her striking organic forms. Her series’ serve as a spiritual medium between the natural world, and those of us who are relatively less connected from the earth that birthed us. Buck’s sculptures are held in private collections worldwide, as well as with the National Trust and National Parks in the U.K. She also works collaboratively with the public, sharing techniques online and through workshops, and always seeks to give back to the world through her work.