Our Story
Welcome to a new chapter for The Sculpture School—one of the world’s leading resources for anyone wishing to master the art of realist figurative and animal sculpture.
Founded over sixteen years ago by artists Andrew Sinclair MRSS SWAc and Diane Coates Sinclair, The Sculpture School has earned an international reputation as a centre of excellence in realist sculpture. From complete beginners discovering clay for the first time to established professional sculptors refining their craft, we have inspired and trained hundreds of students from around the world.
A New Chapter
Although the way we teach is evolving, our mission remains exactly the same: to preserve, promote and pass on the professional skills, techniques and artistic understanding that underpin exceptional realist sculpture.
As our reputation has grown internationally, so too has our ambition to reach aspiring sculptors wherever they may be. We believe professional sculptural education should not be limited by geography, which is why The Sculpture School is entering an exciting new phase.
Alongside our growing collection of high-quality online courses, we continue to offer occasional bespoke workshops at our studios in Devon, tailored to demand. Our popular Sculpture Secrets Revealed podcast and Studio Secrets Revealed videos share professional advice, techniques and insights, while The Sculpture School On Tour takes Andrew’s unique teaching methods to sculptors around the world. Following previous workshops in Stockholm, Edinburgh and University College London, our latest international workshop takes place in Iceland in September 2026—with many more destinations planned for the future.
Our Online Sculpture Store complements our teaching with a carefully curated range of professional sculpting tools and educational resources. Designed by Andrew in response to the exacting standards of his own professional practice, these are tools created by a sculptor, for sculptors.
Together, these resources make decades of professional experience accessible to anyone with a passion for figurative sculpture—wherever they live in the world.
Andrew Sinclair MRSS SWAc
Recognised as one of the world’s leading realist figurative sculptors, Andrew Sinclair MRSS SWAc has spent more than three decades creating sculpture for public and private commissions across the globe. Andrew teaches his unique ‘narrative realism’ to students all over the world.
A member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and an Academician of the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, Andrew’s public commissions include the acclaimed David Bowie Sculpture in Aylesbury and The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Memorial in Halifax.
Renowned for his extraordinary craftsmanship and meticulous observation, Andrew’s distinctive approach—described as Narrative Realism—captures not only a subject’s physical likeness, but its personality, spirit and story. It is this unique philosophy that lies at the heart of his teaching, enabling students to understand not simply how to sculpt, but why great sculpture resonates so powerfully.
Diane Coates Sinclair
Artist, sculptor and painter Diane Coates Sinclair has overseen the development and running of The Sculpture School since its inception, guiding its development into one of the UK’s foremost centres for realist sculpture education.
Alongside her role as co-founder and director, Diane is an accomplished sculptor and painter whose fascination with dynamic form, anatomical structure and sensuous line underpins her own artistic practice. Following her BA (Hons) Fine Art degree in 2004, she developed a distinctive body of figurative bronze sculpture and expressive paintings, with work now held in private collections throughout Europe and the Middle East.
As The Sculpture School embarks on this exciting new chapter, Diane is once again dedicating time to her own creative practice, developing new sculptural and painted work for future exhibitions while continuing to help shape the School’s vision and global reach.
What people say…
This was the most exceptional demonstration of teaching that I have ever witnessed.
Andrew developed a figurative sculpting method which can only be described as a breakthrough. After a humbling decade of courses with sculptors in Florence, Paris and New York, I had almost lost hope that I would never be able to design my own sculptures or apply the anatomical importance I wanted in figurative sculpture.
After sculpting for 22 years I learnt so much that I didn’t know! A really enjoyable and informative course!
As an ex-teacher I have never met a better teacher!
There was a true sense of a master joyfully sharing his precious secrets – Truly inspirational