Wired & Fired

 

Wired & Fired is the joint initiative of sister sculptors Sandra and Hazel Reeves. Sandra creates copper and silver jewellery/sculptures and quirky, figurative wire sculptures, automata, and photographic greetings cards, while Hazel produces sculptures of the portrait and figure, and drawings.

Hazel undertakes portrait sculpture commissions in bronze, plaster and terra cotta. Her recent portrait sculpture commission in bronze (of age activist Ralph Chapman) was exhibited at the 45th exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors, 'FACE 2008', The Gallery, Cork Street, London W1 (12-17 May 2008).

In 2009 Hazel has been elected a full member of the prestigious Society of Women Artists (SWA) - again, six of her portrait sculptures were accepted for their Annual Open Exhibition, The Mall Galleries, London, SW1 (23 April to 2 May 2009).

Sandra Reeves - Artist

Born December 2nd 1960 in Croydon, Surrey, England. The older of three sisters.

I was encouraged to ‘look around with the eyes of an artist’ from a very early age. I grew up enjoying a large garden, and woods to explore. My parents took in injured wild birds and often homed rescue dogs. My bedroom was like a mini museum - fossils, owl pellets, skulls, old bottles and rusty bits of treasure were crammed into every available space.

My mother bought and sold antiquarian books and antiques, gardened, ran the house and acted as a taxi driver to her three girls driving us between brownies, friends, ballet, music and tennis lessons. My mother was good at sewing and made some of our clothes and on winter days we would arrive back from school to the smell of freshly baked wholemeal bread and homemade soup. In her little spare time she pursued her hobby as a racing cyclist. Our father would sometimes take us to follow her on her races and time trials. Recently my mother (a mature student) graduated from The University of Surrey with a B.A. Both my maternal grandparents were very musical each playing in orchestras and later for their church. As a young teenager I played the piano accordion for many years but one day I bought part of an old drum kit, that was more me and I have loved the drums ever since. My Maternal grandfather was a good artist and as a child I loved to leaf through his collection of pencil sketches.

My father is an entrepreneur with a background in mechanics and is very practical and creative. I grew up knowing how to use tools, and developed an inventive and mechanical mind. I loved taking things apart to discover how they worked. My father has also had the thankless task of keeping all three of his daughter’s motorbikes then cars on the road for many years. My paternal grandparents were both skilled and creative. Louis Haghe, lithographer and printer - known also for his work with David Roberts (The Holy Land), married into my father’s side of the family back in the 19th century.

When I was about eleven years old I visited an archaeological dig in East Anglia with my family and local friends, and found the only Roman Coin discovered on that site - sadly for me though it had to be handed over to The Cambridge Museum! I have always been observant and managed to unearth a rusty iron cross from my parent’s back garden (whilst visiting as an adult) the text on it translates as ‘Myself and God’ - these were sometimes fixed to the sides of doodle bugs on the production line in Germany during the II World War.

My Godmother Valerie Baxendine (also a racing cyclist) modelled as various ‘Flower Fairies’ for Cicely Mary Barker when young, this fired my imagination (It still does)-how magical - I really can say I have a ‘Fairy Godmother!’

A family friend the late Kenneth J. Wood - bird artist, painted a beautiful Peregrine falcon in flight on my bedroom wall - such an inspiration for a budding teenage artist - he encouraged my creativity and attention to detail. Kenneth was another family friend who suggested I applied to attend art school. Another artisitc influence as I was growing up was family friends Bill Gibbs and his wife Mary. Bill is an acomplished artist and photographer and always took time to encourage my creativity. In fact Bill painted wonderful clouds on my bedroom wall to accompany Ken Wood's Peregrine falcon. Mary is also very talented and creative - she often used to make our family a coffee and walnut cake - I'm afraid to say Mary's cakes are so delicious that I once stole one from the fridge and ate it all myself - suffice to say I pretended it wasn't me!

My mother enrolled me at The Crawley Arts Workshop aged fourteen where I enjoyed the performing arts and scene painting. The director Sue Oakes and her husband David Aspley took me under their wing especially during my teenage years. Sue also helped me build up an impressive portfolio on the merits of which I was accepted into art school. I am so grateful to these dear friends. Very sadly Sue Aspley has just died at an unacceptably early age.

I attended Reigate School of Art and Design, (Surrey) at sixteen for four years, gaining an H.S.D. in Graphic Design and Illustration. Before leaving I was commissioned by ‘Woman’s Journal’, to illustrate ‘The Alchemist’ for Amanda Hemingway.

I spent many years producing marketing/point of sales material for Oxford University Press on a freelance basis - designing brochures, posters, limited editions of 3D showcards for bookshop window displays and signing sessions, dump bins and exhibition panels.

Over the years I have spent a lot of time travelling on the canals of England and have also taken quite a bit of time out from my art to pursue other interests including, spirituality, organic farming, sustainable village community projects and travel.

I have always enjoyed photography - focusing (excuse the pun) predominantly on the natural world - with such a wild garden as mine I’m never short of inspiration close to home - I feed the birds every morning and can lose myself so easily in the garden. I have two wonderful wise cats and they keep me pretty well entertained and have taught me a lot - they model for me and I enjoy sculpting them.

In recent years I have spent several months in ‘The Deep South’ of North America exhibiting my sculptures along the Gulf Coast, in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana until Hurricane Katrina hit! I have enjoyed learning silver jewellery design with Sarah Pulvertaft designer/maker. I enjoy working with copper as much as with silver (Hallmark - London) - I love the properties of both hence my new copper/silver fusion range. Previously I spent much time illustrating and cartooning with a dip pen. Thank you for taking time to read this.