Breathe Print

​I sculpt portraits - seeking to interrogate identity through form, form with authorship, process and time. ​I aim to project the immaterial as material. Posing questions of the innate and the imbued - nature verses nurture Mapping the inside outside, creating a visual diary - a narrative to make sense of who we are and what it is to be human Inspired by portrait art of the past, from broken ancient artifacts to Old Masters and the philosophical ideas of Kintsugi, my work often involves destruction and repair, realism and abstraction, paralleling the process of making with altered states and adapted minds. ​I try to translate the inner being through a disrupted surface, creating new and different visual conversations. Using the traditional skills of realistic portrait sculpture as a point of departure, I experiment with colour to deceive and processes of making, destroying and repairing as a metaphorical journey of trauma and healing - the scars of life – a way of trying to make sense of what it is to be human, a way of trying to make sense of who I am. Member Royal Society of Sculptors Member Society of Portrait Sculptors Born in Northumberland in 1965, Billie Bond grew up in Essex and continues to live there now. An early career in nursing gave her an appreciation of human anatomy, which she considers sensitively in her figurative representations. Billie gained a 1st class Honours Degree in 3D Design 2011 at Colchester School of Art where she is now studying for an MA in Sculptural Practice. Her 20 years experience as a designer-maker includes designing children’s furniture, interiors, interior decorating and painting murals. During studies, her creative ideas were expressed in the form of figurative sculpture. She has guest-lectured in portrait sculpture at The Art Academy, London and has some of her work published in Modelling & Sculpting the Figure by Tanya Russell (2012). Inspired by broken ancient artefacts as fragments of social being, Billie uses this notion to create figurative works that question the lives of everyday people around her. In 2009 Billie sculpted on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’. Listen to interview below.