#29 Women artists working in sculpture
50 stories from The Acme Archive
In 1988, sculptor Lorna Green conducted a survey of women working in sculpture, which has since been revisited as the feminist research project “Hepworth’s Progeny: Generation of Women in Sculpture in Britain, 1960 – 2022”. This research is the basis of a current exhibition at the Hepworth Gallery, featuring work by the artists who responded to both the first and second survey. This story will look at two of the female Acme artists who participated in that survey and are featured in the exhibition, who also exhibited early in their careers at the Acme Gallery.
Rose Garrard, ‘Incidents in a Garden’ was a multimedia installation, featuring sculptures, with one off performances between 18th May and 8th June 1977. This was the first solo exhibition for Garrard, who also worked from an Acme Studio.
Helen Chadwick’s ‘Train of Thought’ was an installation of a section of tube train in the upper gallery, with performances conceived by Silvia Ziranek. The exhibition took place between 28th November and 16th
December 1978, one of Chadwick’s earliest exhibitions. Helen Chadwick was also one of the residents of Acme’s Beck Road houses, alongside Deborah Duffin, who also features in the current Hepworth Exhibition.