About Neal French

Statement

My work is figurative and based on seen and experienced reality, often it is based on people I know doing ordinary things. However it is seldom literal. It usually derives from an image of a figure that seems entirely characteristic of that person, but which at the same time carries abstract sculptural qualities and possibilities. All of the work is about balancing those two elements and using the qualities of the materials to express them.

Curriculum Vitae

1949-53 Mid-Essex Technical College and School of Art, NDD Sculpture under TB Huxley-Jones
1955-58 Royal College of Art, DesRCA 1st Class Honours Ceramics, Sculpture under Arnold Machin
1960 Winner Design Award & Duke of Edinburgh Prize 1960
1958-72 Staff Designer/acting Chief Designer at Worcester Royal Porcelain Co Ltd
1972-91 Hornsey College of Art/Middlesex Polytechnic. In charge of ceramics/3D Design until made Deputy Dean of Art and Design 1988.
1992 Title of Emeritus Professor conferred by Middlesex University
2002 Elected Fellow of Royal British Society of Sculptors (ARBS 2000)
Elected member of Society of Portrait Sculptors
1970-Present Has had various books, papers and articles published on ceramic and sculptural subjects.