Ali Jeffery

Billowing animal forms in a cloudscape, demonic symbolism in an inkblot and lewd visual puns in the supermarket produce section – all are familiar products of our misfiring, pattern-seeking brains. For most of us, such visions offer only passing amusement or perhaps some pseudo-Freudian insight, but little lasting consideration. For Ali Jeffery, however, they attest to the preconscious genius at the very heart of the visual system. It is a spontaneous creativity that comes to bear, resolving visual ambiguity into primal, ‘best guess’ hypotheses.
For Ali this is a faculty and resource too fertile to ignore. It’s the wellspring of her art. It informs every stage of her process from the initial inspiration – the discovery of a characterful root or branch or the fortuitous convergence of some wandering marks on a page – and through development towards completion. The wood is carved and the suggested image is patiently evolved, nudged with wit and restraint towards a possible interpretation. Ali achieves a masterful and seductive finish in all her media – ceramics, sculpture, drawing and photography - yet preserves in the final form that element of free-floating ambiguity which provokes the eye to enjoy ever more possibilities.

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1988 BSc. University of Bristol

August 2015 Solo exhibition Kigbeare Gallery. Sculpture, drawings, photography.

June 2009 Fresh Air 2009 Quenington Sculpture Trust

May 2009 Art In The Garden 09 Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire

Dec 2008 Artlink Mini Print exhibition, Hull.

Aug 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival.

April 2002 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition.

Oct 2001 Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition.

April 1999 "Hard Boiled." Touring exhibition. Ceramics

Aug 1998 "Elemental Interaction." Gracefields Arts Centre, Dumfries.

March 1997 "The Garden." Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire.