We visit renowned sculptor Nigel Hall RA at his studio

Q: Hi Nigel, it’s wonderful to chat. You currently have a solo exhibition at Towner Eastbourne, titled ‘Nigel Hall RA Here and Now, There and Then’. Could you tell us about the theme of the show, and the works that are included?

A: As the work in the Towner exhibition covers over half a century, the title refers both to looking back in time from this moment and location to a very different geographical place in the past.

The main sculpture in the show shares the same title with similar references to when it was made nearly a decade ago. It is made to show the same form in two ways, solid, positive space and negative volume.

All the works share a similar involvement with time, space and place. The titles of two works, ‘Winterreisse’ (winter travel) and ‘In the Bergell’ (a valley connecting Switzerland and Italy) hint at that preoccupation.

Q: When did you first know you wanted to be a sculptor?

A: My mother went to the same art school (West of England in Bristol) to which I would eventually go. She studied embroidery and her father was a skilled stone mason. It was through them that I discovered a love of making, both in two and three dimensions, at a very early age.

Q: What role does drawing play in your practice?

A: The charcoal and colour drawings have an equal importance to me as my sculpture. The two and three dimensional pieces are naturally related but have an independent existence. I will work for a period of time on one and then switch to the other, both of which have their rewards and challenges. I also keep ongoing notebooks of visual ideas, and these few hundred volumes are on shelves as a record of my working life since the early sixties. There is a third form of drawing which I would call observational; landscapes made during travels, trees, plants, objects of interest, etc.. These three categories of two dimensional work all interconnect and feed each other and also the sculpture.

Q: You’ve had an exciting career to date, including works in international exhibitions, as well as public collections (Tate and MoMA to name a few), lectured at the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Art & Design, and later being elected a Royal Academian. What have been some favourite moments for you?

A: I have been fortunate in that I have been able to continue doing what I enjoy but which is also what I have a need to do. During a long career there have been quite a few favourite moments. My first solo show in Paris in 1967. Docking in New York at dawn aboard the old Queen Mary at the start of my two year Harkness Fellowship was certainly memorable. Signing the book on being elected to the Royal Academy below the names of Turner, Reynolds and Constable. Receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts and seeing my work over time at a retrospective at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2008.

Q: In conjunction with your exhibition at Towner, you have published a collection of limited edition prints with K&M, titled Blink. Could you explain a little about these works, and in particular what makes them so special?

A: It’s very rewarding to make prints that are financially more accessible to people. This set of prints also breaks new ground in that the process of collage has been used to vary the physical depth of the elements. In this way, a link has been created between my drawing and my sculpture. When my grandfather made a cut in stone with his chisel, he both created a line, an edge and a shadow. These works have colour, form, edge and shadow.

Nigel Hall RA Here and Now, There and Then, is open now at Towner Eastbourne until 2 March 2025. Free Admission.

Nigel Hall Limited Editions are available now at an introductory price until 28 February 2025. Learn more.