The Sculpture School Goes International – Iceland Success for “The Sculpture School on Tour”
Instead of asking the world to come to Devon, The Sculpture School is taking Devon’s sculptural expertise out into the world. From Devon to Iceland: Andrew Sinclair and Diane Coates Sinclair take The Sculpture School’s unique approach to realist sculpture teaching on the road.
The Sculpture School has just returned from a hugely successful week in Iceland, marking an exciting new chapter for its international teaching programme, The Sculpture School on Tour.
At the end of September, sculptor and tutor Andrew Sinclair MRSS SWAc, accompanied by fellow artist and Sculpture School co-director Diane Coates Sinclair, travelled to Iceland to deliver an intensive four-day Figurative Sculpture Workshop.
The visit came about following an invitation from long-standing Sculpture School student and Icelandic artist and woodcarver Jón Adólf Steinólfsson, who hosted the workshop in his studio in Kópavogur, near Reykjavík.
Held from 22–25 September, the course introduced students to Andrew’s distinctive methodology for creating the realistic human figure in clay – an approach developed over a professional sculpting career spanning some forty years and refined through more than sixteen years of teaching at The Sculpture School in Devon.
It proved an enormous success.
The Icelandic hosts described Andrew and Diane’s teaching as characterised by “great professionalism, clear guidance and a personal approach”, and the enthusiasm generated by the workshop has already resulted in an invitation for The Sculpture School to return to Iceland in 2027. Félag áhugamanna um
Taking The Sculpture School on Tour
The Iceland workshop represents an important milestone in the evolution of The Sculpture School.
Having welcomed hundreds of students from the UK and overseas to its purpose-built Devon studio since its foundation in 2010, the School is now taking its teaching much further afield through a combination of in-depth online tuition, specialist workshops and The Sculpture School on Tour.
Rather than students always having to travel to Devon, The Sculpture School on Tour creates opportunities for Andrew and Diane to take their specialist teaching directly to groups, studios, art organisations and creative communities in the UK and internationally.
“Iceland was everything we hoped The Sculpture School on Tour could be,” says Andrew. “There is something very special about bringing together a group of artists in their own creative environment and watching them embrace our methods. The enthusiasm was fantastic, and we were absolutely delighted by what everyone achieved during the week.”
Diane adds:
“It was a wonderful experience – not simply teaching a course overseas, but exchanging ideas, making new friendships and becoming part of another creative community. Being invited back next year is the greatest compliment we could have received.”
An Icelandic Welcome
The workshop was hosted by Jón Adólf Steinólfsson, an established Icelandic artist, woodcarver and teacher whose work has been exhibited extensively and is represented in collections and municipalities internationally. Félag áhugamanna um
The intimate studio setting provided the perfect environment for four intensive days of sculpting, demonstrations, discussion and individual tuition – with students working through the structure, anatomy, proportions and sculptural construction of the human figure.
And, judging by the smiles, there was plenty of laughter along the way.
The result was not only a successful workshop, but exactly the kind of international artistic exchange that The Sculpture School on Tour was created to encourage.
Where Next?
With a return visit to Iceland already on the horizon for 2027, The Sculpture School is now interested in hearing from art schools, sculpture groups, studios, societies and organisations in the UK and overseas interested in hosting future workshops.
Courses can be tailored to suit the experience and interests of individual groups, drawing upon Andrew Sinclair’s specialist teaching in realist figurative sculpture, portraiture, anatomy and animal sculpture.
Could The Sculpture School be coming to you next?
If you have a group of sculptors or artists and would like to discuss hosting The Sculpture School on Tour, we would love to hear from you.
Contact The Sculpture School to register your interest in future UK and international workshops.
The Sculpture School – Preserving the Art. Sharing the Knowledge. Inspiring the Next Generation of Realist Sculptors.