Anthony Heywood

Anthony has made a strong contribution to developing a research strategy for the School and helping to promote a research culture in School/college through synergies between fine art and architecture at college level and other disciplines beyond college; for example with the  project Interreg and ICR - Framing the potential for these aspirations within the development of the university’s research culture and the School of Fine Art specifically.

He is also keen to explore how sculpture practices can be developed at Canterbury and linked to regional and national partner organisations, for example with the new Stour Valley Creative Partnership, DAD and Grizedale, and through the research BOAT project. At the heart of these aspirations is the same philosophy of ‘communities of practice’ that underpin the way in which the School of Fine Art and Photography provision at Canterbury has been developed over the last four years and one he would enjoy extending both philosophically and in terms of applied research.

During the 1980s Anthony played a significant role in contributing to the establishment of the Cyprus College of Art, its utilities studios and resource, as well as ‘the great wall of Lemba’ which he initiated with Professor Stass Paraskos.

Anthony has a track record in undertaking research work in a number of areas associated with issues of sustainability and recycling as well as having a concern for making work which has an underlying theme of peace - this is reflected in him being invited to work on Peace projects in Sweden 2012 and currently @ Iran Peace biennale2016 and is lead artist on European capital of culture 2017 Pafos Cyprus where he is creating a ‘Table of unification’ his ideas have articulated themselves through using the readymade in all of its forms and contexts to create sculpture which enables the language of material to stimulate a conversation with its audience. He has also represented the university formerly KIAD in all RAE submissions since 1992 and am now a member of the research UCA.

Anthony became interested in making sculpture from an early age though testing his ideas make things that a potential  audience would find challenging whilst engaging and he still holds to that today as he has always had an interest in everything from astronomy physics politics biology geology environmental issues- In the 1970’s when he was a student creating sculpture which was concerned with the environment it was then considered in the margins of fine art practice- and it has now swung to mainstream.

His burning questions that he wanted to answer were a combination of how we generate interest in political social and environmental issues whilst using an  iconic imagery as subject and developing strategies of how to articulate his ideas through materiality and context for example in his work;‘Dove of peace’ Netherlands 1994 and  Dover UK 2014-18; ‘boots’ Lisbon Portugal 2011;  ‘Earth elephant’ Australia 2044 and 2009; and ‘Pagoda’ Taiwan 2016

The challenges he has encountered are many and various including physical and economic difficulties to realize specific public art projects as creating sculpture on a monumental scale is expensive and very often he has achieved his ideas in and international context which now has a growing awareness of sharing his values of sustainability and recycling.

He has applied his research though engaging with outside agencies a whole vast array of different communities not all human and generated international publicity to create the dialogue his work desires through press critical acclaim and television.

He believes his work is important to society as we live in a period  of Climate change, precarious natural resources, demographic changes and mass migration, conflict and wars – with the globalised world in continued and accelerated crisis, Anthony believes his sculpture  has never been as important as today to bring about social, political, economic or environmental changes these  are all concerns held within his practice which he embrace’s through his use of subject, context or materiality.

He seeks to generate more international engagement with communities to demonstrate this he is currently engaged in the peace biennale in Iran 2016 and this offers a unique opportunity to show case his work which then creates a strong research profile for further projects.