Edward Cronshaw is an English
sculptor. Cronshaw works exclusively in natural materials—wood, stone, fruit, bone—and casts them in bronze. His work is usually representative, but attempts to maintain the innate characteristics of the original material.
Beginnings
Cronshaw was born near
Blackburn,
Lancashire, but brought up in the rural
Pendle Pendle may refer to:
* Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England
** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency)
* Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England
** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill
* Pendle College of the University of Lancaster
* ...
district, near a hill named Cronshaw's Seat. The farm was sold in 1997 although Cronshaw no longer lived there at that time. At present he lives in the
West Riding town of
Todmorden, in the
Calderdale
Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...
metropolitan district. His career as a sculptor began while he was living at
Hebden Bridge.
Blackburn was Cronshaw's childhood home; he did a foundation course at
Blackburn College
Blackburn College may refer to:
* Blackburn College (Blackburn with Darwen), United Kingdom
* Blackburn College (Illinois)
Blackburn College is a private college in Carlinville, Illinois. It was established in 1837 and named for the Gideon Blac ...
. From there he went on to the
Leeds School of Art
Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds.
History
It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Schoo ...
and finished his BA at
Saint Martin's School of Art in 1984.
In the years 1985 to 1986, Cronshaw studied for an MA in fine art at the
Royal College of Art.
Exhibitions and major works
Cronshaw's work has been displayed at galleries and exhibitions including the Rebecca Hossack gallery (London), the Caz gallery (Los Angeles), the Henry Moore Gallery (Leeds), the Royal Academy Summer Show, the Los Angeles International Contemporary Art Fair, the Liverpool Garden Festival and the Third World and Beyond International Art Fair in Sicily.
Cronshaw was commissioned to create sculptures for
Liverpool City Council and for the
Boots PLC
Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...
head office in
Nottingham. The latter was a statue of the earth goddess Gaia, Gaia's body clothed in 3,000 succulent plants intended to suggest the transitory nature of life. The statue was cast by means of the
lost wax method at Cronshaw's studio/foundry at the Dean Clough complex in
Halifax, Calderdale.
The sculpture created for Liverpool City Council was named 'The Great Escape' by Cronshaw. It is a bronze horse, high and 4 tons in weight, formed entirely from rope in a spaghetti fashion. At the tail a piece of rope extends to the ground where a life-size sculpture of a man steps on it, forcing the horse to rear and apparently unravel itself.
Currently Cronshaw is continuing to work on his popular Midas Project of bronze succulent plants, as well as initiating a campaign to improve the environment of his adopted home of Todmorden by placing sculptures in and around the town centre.
References
The Rebecca Hossack GalleryThe New StatesmanThe Halifax Evening CourierThe Dean Clough Arts Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronshaw, Edward
20th-century British sculptors
21st-century English sculptors
English sculptors
English male sculptors
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
People from Blackburn
Living people
Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art
Year of birth missing (living people)