Vanessa Lawrence has gone from predominantly painting for many years to creating sculptures based on wildlife and the human figure.
These sculptures have been commissioned both privately as well as for large scale public art commissions. Although sculptures are the starting point these sculptures go on to influence drawings and paintings on to a variety of surfaces. One work can evolve into a whole series of works, which keeps the whole practice exciting and open ended.
In 1993 Vanessa attended a 9-month programme at Lorenzo De Medici, School of Art, Florence, Italy studying figurative drawing and painting, then continued to live, work and paint in Switzerland until January 1998 when she obtained an 18-month sponsorship to attend The New York Studio School of Drawing Painting and Sculpture. Vanessa then won scholarships from the school to complete the three-year program, including a 4-month exchange in autumn 2000 to the Ecole de Beaux Arte, Marseille, France.
After graduating from the Studio School in spring 2001, she was accepted to take part in the Studioscape Residency Program run by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on the 91st Floor of the North Tower of the Twin Towers. The residency was tragically ended on September 11th, which then forced Vanessa to return to Scotland where she works as a full time artist.
