Meet Yorkshire Sculpture Park's Resident Artist Rebecca Appleby
Sculptor Rebecca Appleby is resident ceramicist at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, she's just returned from working with the Qatari royal family and has clients waiting on numerous commissions
It was internationally-renowned Yorkshire ceramic artist David Roberts who first introduced Rebecca to clay when she was studying a foundation course at Dewsbury College (now Kirklees College). ‘It was amazing to have him teach on our foundation course,’ says Rebecca. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2001 and headed back to her home city of Leeds to set up a workshop studio with artist-led arts charity East Street Arts. Whilst teaching for more than a decade at the college in which she was taught, Rebecca continued to create her own work, but in 2014 she made the leap and became a full-time practising artist.
‘I decided it was “my time” to actively get out there and to see what I could do,’ she says. ‘It was a crazy time really. It was super busy! I was very focused, very determined and I really wanted to see what I could achieve by pursuing my goal, ambition and dream. I applied for everything going (all the art fairs and exhibitions), I contacted galleries and literally every waking moment I was either making work or attending fairs. Those few years were really busy and it was a success. I was building a profile, networking in the industry, and I tried to be quite strategic but I just followed my heart to produce my work.’
Rebecca has been experimenting with balance and structure within both the built and the natural environment for more than 20 years, and as time has gone by her work has been acquired by the likes of CoCA (Centre of Ceramic Art) and Lotherton and has been showcased within exhibitions and at fairs across the country. ‘I’ve got a few pieces with York Art Gallery (who acquired some work for their permanent collection) alongside the Crafts Council,’ she says. ‘I won Ceramic Art London’s Best Newcomer award in 2017 and that was a real turning point and really opened doors for me. People started to recognise my work and my name. I also had an opportunity to make a public art sculpture with Leeds City Council and East Street Arts. It was always my ambition to make large-scale work and to have the opportunity to make that in my home city of Leeds was amazing. That’s a permanent sculpture in Leeds City Centre. That was a great opportunity and profile building – and fun working in another material!’
By 2017 Rebecca’s career was progressing, but she took a break after becoming ill following the birth of her first child. ‘I came back from that year and it forced me to reassess everything – who I was as maker, an artist, and what my work was about – so the work I made off the back of that year was visually and aesthetically very different to what I’d been making before,’ she says. ‘It was the first time I really considered myself as an artist as oppose to a ceramicist. It was my intention to break all the rules and as well as my concept (looking at trauma), I was looking to introduce that into the technique as well, causing trauma through the technique and the materials I was using. It was an interesting departure from the work I was making prior to that, and it was quite controversial in many ways in the industry.
‘It was a real turning point and a really important body of work for me and led me to make quite radical decisions, enhancing my work and my understanding of my place as an artist in this world. In 2020 I received funding from Developing your Creative Practice (Arts Council England). That offered a really good opportunity to explore other materials as well, because at that point I was questioning my use of clay because of its limitations with the kiln and drying process. That [opportunity to explore other materials] allowed me freedom and it was a really spontaneous and very expressive period. There were no limitations in terms of process or scale. Actually I went full-circle and realised I do love using clay as a material, but I felt fortunate in that I had a good understanding of the technical side of things. I could allow myself to push the material to its limitations and break boundaries. Then I applied [and was shortlisted] for the British Ceramics Biennial which took place last last year – that’s a really prestigious platform that highlights ceramicists in the industry who are pushing boundaries of the material, processes and concepts. That was brilliant. I took part in an exhibition which included 10 ceramicists at that point in their career, exploring those notions.’
Rebecca and her colleague James Oughtibridge shared a studio together at the Sculpture Lounge in Holmfirth, working together to teach courses and workshops, when they were presented with the opportunity to move to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. ‘We decided to go for it,’ continues Rebecca, 'and it’s been wonderful to be here. It’s been game-changing in the sense of the courses that we run – 50 to 60 percent of our students now are international. We had someone from the Philippines, a couple from New York, Chile, we’ve had people from all over come to attend our courses which is just amazing. It’s partly due to the location and we’ve also really refined what we do in terms of what we offer on our courses, and the fact we both work together and deliver an exclusive experience (with only around 10 students per course). People seem to want to come along, which is wonderful!
‘We’re very fortunate to be surrounded, especially here at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, by incredible scenery. Honestly, we pinch ourselves most days. I can’t believe we’re actually working in such a beautiful location. It’s inspirational really in terms of God’s Own Country’s gorgeous landscape. Especially as an artist, I’m very heavily influenced by nature and the landscape and organic references come into my work a lot. It’s wonderful having all this on our doorstep. Only last weekend I went to the Yorkshire coast and again it’s just having all of that reference readily available, and to be able to interact with it on a daily basis – it’s inspiring.’
The forms Rebecca is best known for now are delicate as she continues to experiment with the balance of structure and order, disorder and disarray referencing the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. We look forward to seeing what she creates in the future.
Rebecca’s courses and workshops allow her to inspire a new generation of makers. ‘Ultimately you should just enjoy what you do. If you want to pursue it as a career it does take lots of hard work, dedication and motivation, but people come for various different reasons,’ she says. ‘For some it’s more of a mindful exercise and they just enjoy art for art’s sake and the experience, but if you want to pursue it as a career just keep going, keep learning. We never stop learning. You can get different things from a course and I think that’s the beauty of it. I’d love to go and attend a course myself – just to have that time and space to immerse myself in the learning.’
Rural Arts is a Thirsk-based charity that delivers inspiring and inclusive creative opportunities. Their creative producer Kate Redding has secured three days of Rebecca’s expertise for a series of workshops taking place in Thirsk this September. ‘A couple of their [Arts Collective] members had been on a course with James and I at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and had expressed an interest. Quite a number of them had wanted to come along to one of the courses but because there was quite a significant number they suggested that I’d go to them,’ Rebecca says. ‘I’m looking forward to going across, it’s always nice to work in other locations. I’ve taught in quite a few places now and I’ve just been over to Qatar actually working with one of the members of the royal family there – which was crazy, but a great experience! I’ve also taught in Athens. It’d be nice to be a bit more local and not have to travel so far,’ she laughs.
