Hazel Reeves, MRSSSWA is a British sculptor based in Sussex, England, who specialises in figure and portrait commissions in bronze. Her work has been shown widely across England and Wales.[2] Public commissions can be found in Carlisle,[3]London,[4]Congleton[5] and Manchester.[6] Since 2021, Reeves' work increasingly embraces soundscapes of nature and movement.[7]
Reeves' first quasi-public commission was of Sadako Sasaki for the Hedd Wen Peace Place, Llanfoist, Abergavenny, unveiled on the World Day of Peace, 21 September 2012. It tells the story of Sadako and her 1000 paper cranes, used worldwide in peace education.[12]
The statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of steam locomotives Flying Scotsman and Mallard, was Reeves' first major public commission. Her original design had included a mallard duck but it was removed after objections from two relatives who thought it was demeaning. The statue was unveiled at London King's Cross railway station on 6 April 2016, the 75th anniversary of his death.[4][13]
The Cracker Packers bronze statue by Hazel Reeves, Carlisle, 2018
OnInternational Women's Day, 8 March 2018, Reeves' Cracker Packers statue was unveiled in Caldewgate, Carlisle, close to the pladis factory, where Carr's Table Water Biscuits are manufactured.[3] The statue celebrates the lives of women biscuit factory workers from the Carr's factory in Carlisle.[14] Based on former and current Cracker Packers the statue is of two women factory workers, one from the past and one from the present, standing atop a giant Carr's Table Water Biscuit. The statue was commissioned by Carlisle City Council and was one of hundreds that were nominated for Historic England's "Immortalised" season in 2018.[15]
Reeves seeks to redress the lack of representation of women in some of her public commissions as well as private commissions, such as portrait sculptures of disability rights activists Baroness Jane Campbell and Diane Kingston.[21][22][23] Reeves has been appointed to sculpt Ada Nield Chew (1870-1945), the vocal factory worker who became a women's rights campaigner, for installation in Crewe. The 'Statue for Ada' campaign is coordinated by Cheshire Women's Collaboration.[24][25]
Sir John Manduell CBE, the Founding Principal who brought together two Manchester music schools to establish the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), will be honoured June 2024 with a new bust created by Hazel Reeves.[26]
Reeves was artist-in-residence in 2021 at Knepp Estate, West Sussex, recording bird soundscapes to inspire movement.[27] Her resultant Sculptural Murmurings project at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton, was funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England,[28] who are also funding Reeves' Soundscapes of Hope project in 2022/23, drawing on her field recordings at Knepp and the nature reserves of Svartådalan, Sweden.[29] Two sound events resulted in 2023: Layback with Nature (Phoenix Art Space, Brighton) and Sculptural Murmurings (II) (Fabrica Gallery).[30]
