Sculptor

Beatrice Hoffman

Oxford-based sculptor Beatrice Hoffman creates stylised sculptures of heads, figures and abstract forms in bronze or bronze resin.

With her sculptures Beatrice Hoffman aims to achieve a certain degree of simplicity and abstraction:
Beauty to me is simplicity, clarity, concentration and must extend beyond decorative prettiness. Beauty is to be able to hold contradictions, tensions and ambivalence – it is a balance kept despite conflict.
I am fascinated by ”strong form”. With both figurative and abstract sculptures, I search for a sense of fullness contrasted with negative shapes; sharp angles between surfaces, juxtaposed with smoothness
.”

Some of her ideas for sculptures derive from her other career as an arts educator and therapist, which makes her very aware of the psychological and expressive potential of sculptures:

“I am influenced by C.G. Jungʼs ideas of archetypes and equally by childhood memories of Sunday visits to a catholic church filled with Baroque carvings . I reconnect with the tradition of sculptures seen in places of worship, and work towards a spiritually potent image used in a secular context.

Themes on the interface of mythology, psychology and spirituality – mental states, relationships, human identity, maternal love, and solitude are universal experiences that influence my artwork.

I hope to enable engagement and contemplation: for the viewer to find reflected in my sculptures a feeling, experience or preoccupation, and through this empathy, solace, and understanding derive some healing . “

Beside sculptures for the domestic and garden environment, she has been working on a larger scale (2013-14 as part of an artist-in-residency at the Chenderit School) , suitable for either garden or a more public setting.

She has recently finished a large public sculpture for the main entrance of a hospital, to be unveiled in Spring 2019.

Visit Beatrice’s website, at www.beatricehoffman.co.uk.

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