Emily Young

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Emily Young is a British sculptor and is considered to be one of the finest stone carvers in this country ^[1]. She was born in London in 1951 into a family of artists and writers. Her grandmother Kathleen Scott was a pupil of Auguste Rodin and widow of the famous explorer Robert F. Scott. Her father is the famous ornithologist, conservationist and painter, Sir Peter Scott.

1 Early life
2 Sculptural style
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life

First interested in painting, she spent much of her youth in Italy before returning to the Chelsea School of Art and the St Martin's School of Art for her studies. As a young woman in the late sixties and seventies, she has travelled widely, vising Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, France and Italy, parts of Africa, South America and the middle east. She has also lived in the United States for a few years. It was during these years that she developed a broad view of the world. ^[2]

During the seventies and eighties, she has worked with Simon Jeffes of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. She produced the artwork for various album covers for the band. ^[3] She was involved in the psychedelic scene of London, and may have been an inspiration for the song See Emily Play, written by Pink Floyd's Sid Barrett ^[4].

[edit] Sculptural style

Emily Young's sculptures blend a contemporary approach with classical greco-roman traditions.^[5] She likes to use large chunks of marble or semi-precious stones to carve faces or bodies. She often leaves rough, uncarved surfaces on her sculptures, giving them a natural and sometimes antic feel, as if the sculture had been recovered from an archaelogical site. This technique also creates a contrast between the rough, natural-looking stone and the intricate veins of polished marble or calcedonia.

She works only with natural stone. Her preferred varieties are the milky Carrera marble, black Morrocan marble, milk-white alabaster, Purbeck marble and Portland stone.

Writer Louis de Bernieres wrote of her work:
"Emily Young’s work is characterised by the highly individual way in which it combines strength with gentleness. Her sculptures are massive, but their contours are rounded, as if moulded by a lover’s hand, rather than chiselled out by steel. Their curves are akin to those of the South Downs of England, which seem to be constructed of the limbs of sleeping giants, of their hips, thighs, shoulders and breasts."^[6]

Her sculptures, often massive, have been exhibited in various galleries and gardens around the world. ^[7] A large onyx disk, sculpted and polished by Emily Young and titled "Lunar Disc I", was installed in the close of the Salisbury Cathedral in 2005. ^[8]