From 10 – 16 November visit the iconic Royal Liver Building on the ground floor between 12pm – 5pm to see the work of renowned local artist Faith Bebbington, whose work was not only the most popular ever seen on The Liverpool Plinth in 2021 but was also one of the selection panel for Liverpool Art Fair, and was interviewed as part of a special event on site in August.
Faith said: “I studied sculpture at Winchester College of Art, set up my Liverpool studio in 1993 and now work nationally creating public artworks and exhibiting my sculpture. I also devise art projects in partnership with local schools, communities and cultural organisations such as Culture Liverpool and Dadafest.
My artistic practice initially stemmed from having cerebral palsy, a disability that has made me curious about how people and animals move. I explore this through figurative sculptures playing with balance, the process of falling, and capturing sequences of movement whether human or animal. In 2014 my artistic perspective shifted radically after surviving ‘terminal’ cancer! I stopped working with fibreglass resin as my main medium and focused on more sustainable, environmentally friendly ways of working, particularly re-using plastics by breaking the component parts down to then reconstruct them.”
This will be the first time since showing with dot-art in 2017, that the public with be able to purchase a Faith Bebbington sculpture, something that has been reserved for public commissions only during that time. With sustainability at the heart of Faith’s practice, purchase of the sculptures supports the ethical value of artwork that prioritises working with recycled materials.
Faith has a diverse range of sculptures on show including works from her Joy collection which inspired the title of the exhibition. Faith’s work acknowledges our need to find Joy, as we navigate through tough times. Sixteen new small-scale recycled paper sculptures will be presented, all created with wastepaper as the key material. The patterned papers used to create the paper mâché surface were collected over time by neighbours, friends, and colleagues.
Faith has created many animal sculptures over her career and now debuts five new hybrid, domestic pet-like Creatures. These sculptures of stretching, growling and slinking creatures have fur coats made from waste plastic milk bottles.
As you visit the exhibition, you will discover the variety of scales Faith explores, from smaller works to her large-scale public pieces that you may recognise from their temporary homes around Liverpool. “Jimmy” the work horse sculpture shown on Liverpool Plinth in 2021 and “Super Rat” which lived on the Baltic Skatepark wall, offering a chance to see public domain works, up close and personal.
In addition to the exhibition, you will have the opportunity to meet the artist and learn more about her process during the exhibition week from the opening evening, a lunchtime workshop, to informal chats with the artist while in residence. Please do visit our socials for details of these events.
‘Joy’ Exhibition
Friday 10 November – Thursday 16 November 2023
Opening times: 12-5pm
All artworks are for sale. (Excluding public artworks).
