Ali Jeffery is a sculptor, using natural materials; wood and ceramic. Her work has a distinctly organic quality, being abstracted from natural objects & the rural landscape, that informs & inspires her. It is concerned with line, poise, movement & texture and often has a surreal & darkly humorous feel. It is as if she is creating a new flora & fauna for another world.

Ali Jeffery makes sculpture according to the situation; smaller scale pieces for galleries, larger outdoor pieces for gardens/sculpture parks, and public art or private commissions. Sometimes these larger pieces have a functional aspect ~ sculptural furniture. Because of the organic quality of her work, she prefers to make site-specific work, to be situated outside.

Ali Jeffery also makes 2D work. Her graphic work originates from sub-conscious & wildly imaginative doodles in biro, and ends up as digital images or large charcoal drawings. Her photographic work is mostly concerned with strong, intense colour, that is less significant in her sculptural & graphic work.

She has two chainsaws (one for each hand).

 

 

 

 

“Billowing animal forms in a cloudscape, demonic symbolism in an inkblot and lewd visual puns in the supermarket produce section – all are familiar products of our misfiring, pattern-seeking brains. For most of us, such visions offer only passing amusement or perhaps some pseudo-Freudian insight, but little lasting consideration. For Ali Jeffery, however, they attest to the preconscious genius at the very heart of the visual system. It is a spontaneous creativity that comes to bear, resolving visual ambiguity into primal, ‘best guess’ hypotheses.

For Ali this is a faculty and resource too fertile to ignore. It’s the wellspring of her art. It informs every stage of her process from the initial inspiration – the discovery of a characterful root or branch or the fortuitous convergence of some wandering marks on a page – and through development towards completion. The wood is carved and the suggested image is patiently evolved, nudged with wit and restraint towards a possible interpretation. Ali achieves a masterful and seductive finish in all her media – ceramics, sculpture, drawing and photography – yet preserves in the final form that element of free-floating ambiguity which provokes the eye to enjoy ever more possibilities.”

Ewan McClure  September 2015