Saskia Robinson

I care very much about sculpting the human form in clay. I am extremely interested in Greek and Celtic mythology, in particular parables with concurrent themes of growth, transformation and symbolism of plants and allegorical human figures. I have a special interest in sculpting within neoclassical tradition, primarily with figurative and portrait sculpture, statues and low reliefs in clay and plaster. I am drawn to the universality of classical aesthetics and principles, the human form in connection to nature and mythology in sculpture. I also have a great interest in human figures as allegories for processes in nature such as the changing of the seasons and plants with mythological significance.

I’m interested in the power of and relationships between people and plants on a spiritual level in mythology, but also a scientific level as I research herbal medicine and taxonomy of plants in relation to their significance to the body and healing. How I hope to convey these ideas through sculpture is by making allegorical human figures which represent certain plants with specific properties. I enjoy implementing clay or plaster figures with an incorporation of composed sculpted flowers and real dried plants and flowers with scents and a genuine medicinal and spiritual (according to folklore) purpose. By drawing on these areas of research I want to create my own narratives and modern mythologies of spirit-like human figures offering healing plants to viewers. I would hope that interaction with my sculptures by means of the “giving” of flowers from the sculpture to the viewer and the taking of them by the viewer from the sculpture, would put this narrative across while allowing for their own interpretation. I am compelled by the work of artists such as Kiki Smith, Cynthia Consentino, Claire Partington, Eleanor Bartleman, Sabrina Bosco and Zoe Dufour because of their common expression of a fascination with storytelling and contemporary personal mythologies through the human figure in relation to emblematic use of flora and fauna. Much of my research also is invested in Hellenistic sculpture as well as the Italian Renaissance, the Beidermeier period, and the Scottish Enlightenment movement.