Flamingo Lifesize

Zita Abreu, Spain

I am a British artist living in the south of Spain, which has provided me with the oportunity to spend time in the Doñana national park which is not far from where I live. Here I am able to observe and photograph wildlife. I have always been interested in art but I actually have more of a scientific background. I studied a biomedical science degree and have worked as a biology teacher. The biomedical science degree gave me the oportunity to study anatomy and physiology which has helped me a lot with sculpting. I attended sculpture classes while I was at university during the evenings which I loved and concidered giving up my degree to persue an art foundation course for which I had been offered a place but decided I should finish the biomedical science degree now that I had started it. I continued sculpting as a hobby making bronze sculptures along side other jobs until I was finally able to dedicate all of my time to sculpture. I have worked with several foundries here in Spain to produce my sculptures. First I make my sculptures in clay and then I prepare molds to take to the foundary to be cast into bronze. They are cast using the lost wax process which has remained little changed since the time of the Ancient Greeks. The sculptures are limited editions of twelve, I love travelling which provides me with plenty of inspiration for sculptures. I am currently working on sculptures inspired by my travels in South America. my grandfather was Venezuelan and I have always been interested in exploring nature and culture there. I have also spent time in traveling in South East Asia, from which I have many photos which I will be using for future projects.