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Biography

2012
Jilly Sutton trained as a sculptor at Exeter College of Art. Her career developed in Nigeria, where the art forms that flourish there (particularly carvings and textiles) fired her imagination. She researched and worked with indigo dye both in Africa and back home in England. Now, her inspiration comes from the ancient trees and woodland that surround her studio and the home she shares with her architect husband on the banks of the River Dart in Devon.
Using locally fallen or felled timber, Sutton carves large heads and figures, sandblasting and liming to give them their unique, grainy character. Although her work is mainly figurative, often with an overriding sense of serenity, abstraction also features in her oeuvre.
In her own words: "The warmth of wood, the quality of the grain, and the life embodied in each and every tree, together with a veneration of the head as a sculptural form … this is my passion. However, working with the vagaries of the organic, still living, nature of the material, and pushing the boundaries of its plasticity, is the constant challenge."
Jilly Sutton’s sculptures have been exhibited internationally and are in public and private collections in the UK and abroad. Her carved wooden portrait of the former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion is in the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection.

Exhibition History

December 2025Bowie Gallery Totnes. Female Angel
2025 AutumnWimbledon Fine Art, London
May 3 - June 15 2024Moncrief-Bray Gallery Petworth Sussex
23 March - 18 May 2024Velarde Gallery Kingsbridge Devon
2023'Art for Cure' Suffolk
... '23Sculpture by the Lakes, Dorset
... '23Coombe gallery Dartmouth
...'23Hannah Peschar sculpture Garden
2020Plymouth Theatre Royal Devon
every yearMoncrieff Bray Gallery Petworth Sussex
2019, '20 ' 21 ' 22Fresh Art Fair Cheltenham,
2018The Garden Gallery, Stockbrige
2018Private Commissions
2017Kew Gardens
2015 - '23Lemon St Gallery, Withiel, Cornwall
2016Chelsea Flower Show/Chris Beardshaw
2016Judy Stafford Gallery/Wimbledon Fine Art London
2016Coombe Gallery Dartmouth Devon
14th -17th May 2015RCA London
Always openScarlet Hotel Cornwall
May-September 2015Moncrieff Bray Gallery Sussex
1st May 2015Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden Sussex
31st March 2015Lemon Street Gallery and Withiel Sculpture Garden Cornwall
2014Exeter Cathedral Gallery
2014Dartington Hall Gallery Devon
2014Galrie Het Vijfde Huis Belgium
30/3/15 -18/5/2015The Chelsea Arts Club London
2012/13The Fine Art Society London
2012Beaux Arts Gallery Bath
2012The Medici Gallery Cork St London
2008 - 2012Goodwood Sculpture Park Cass Foundation
2011The Victoria Gallery Bath
2008 every yearHannah Peschar Sculpture Garden
2010Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
98/02/09Rebecca Hossack, London
2006Galerie Het Vijfde Huis, Antwerp Belgium
2005Gallery Holly Snapp, Venice, Italy
2001/02Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
1996Simon Drew Gallery, Dartmouth, Devon
1994Dartington Hall Gallery, Devon
1993/02Andras Kaldor Gallery, Dartmouth
1989/07Coombe Gallery, Devon
GROUP SHOWS
2010Beaux Art Gallery Bath
2008 /9Goodwood Sculpture Park
2008-11Hannah Pescher Sculpture Garden
2008 /9Moncrieff Bray Sculpture Garden
2007RBS Dora House London
AnnuallyRCA 20/21 [R Hossack]
AnnuallyCoombe Gallery, Devon.
AnnuallySaumarez Manor, Guernsey
2002SPS Exhibition, Cork St, London
2002Kuwait British Studio Art
1996Exeter City Museum & Art Gallery
1999The Severn Shed, Bristol
2001Bahrain, National Arts Centre
1995/03Simon Drew Gallery, Devon
1993-04Andras Kaldor Gallery, Devon
1992Exeter Festival Community Art (Winner)
1989-93Exeter College Art & Design