Kendra Haste is a British wildlife artist who produces both public and privately commissioned sculptures using

galvanised Galvanization ( also spelled galvanisation) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are coated by submerging them in a bath o ...

chicken wire mesh to create wire sculptures of wild animals. She is a member of the

Society of Wildlife Artists The Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) is a British organisation for artists who paint or draw wildlife. It was founded in 1964. Its founder president was Sir Peter Scott, the current president of the society is British artist Harriet Mead. The s ...

, the Royal British Society of Sculptors and the Society of Animal Artists. She lives in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England.

Career

Haste was born in 1971 in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, London, where she grew up. She graduated from the Wimbledon College of Art in 1990, and in 1993 earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with Honours in illustration from the Camberwell College of Arts. Haste went on to graduate from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where she first became interested in wire sculpture, using galvanised

wire mesh Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. It serves as a thesaurus of index terms that facilitates searching. Created and updated by th ...

over a steel armature, later on using the wire mesh as sculpting material on its own for indoor work. Haste's sculptures are generally created by building up many layers of wire mesh over the steel armature skeleton, spray finished with

enamel paint Enamel paint is paint that air-dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish, used for coating surfaces that are outdoors or otherwise subject to hard wear or variations in temperature; it should not be confused with decorated objects in "painted enam ...

. In 1999, her sculpture of a baboon won the

BBC Wildlife ''BBC Wildlife'' is a British glossy, all-colour magazine about wildlife, operated and published by Immediate Media Company. It produces 13 issues a year. ''BBC Wildlife'' was launched in January 1963 as ''Animals Magazine'', edited by filmmaker ...

Art Award. Haste lives in Surrey, UK.

Historic Royal Palaces commission

In 2010 Haste was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces to create a series of pieces, (thirteen in total), which tell the story of the Royal Menagerie that had existed at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

from 1210 until 1833. Throughout the 600 years that there was a menagerie at the Tower of London, apes and monkeys were always a feature. Baboons roamed the Tower freely until, in 1833, a child was killed by their aggressive behaviour. Soon after, the entire menagerie was moved to

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

, to become what is today the

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a colle ...

. Using research from the Tower of London archives, Haste returned the animals to their original locations around the Tower. File:2.Haste-Lion Installation at the Tower of London.jpg, Three

Barbary lion The Barbary lion was a population of the lion subspecies '' Panthera leo leo''. It was also called North African lion, Atlas lion, and Egyptian lion. It lived in the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt. It ...

s, gift of Frederick II to Henry III, 1235. File:10.Haste-Polar_Bear_at_the_Tower_of_London.jpg, "White" bear, King Haakon II of Norway to Henry III, 1251. File:3.Haste-Elephant at the Tower of London.jpg, Elephant, gift of Louis IX to Henry III, 1255. File:9.Haste-Baboon_Installation_at_the_Tower_of_London.jpg, Baboon troop opposite the Jewel House File:11.Haste-Baboon_on_the_Brick_Tower_at_the_Tower_of_London.jpg, Baboon on the Brick Tower. File:Flipped_Wire_Lion_Detail.jpg, Lion in detail

Waterloo Elephant

Haste's Waterloo ''Elephant'' was originally commissioned by the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

as part of its Platform for Art programme and set up at the Gloucester Road tube station. After the success of Haste's "Underground Safari" pieces, the London Underground purchased the African elephant sculpture and installed it near the ticket hall of a new

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in east London, via the West End of London, West End, South Bank and London Docklands, Docklands. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the ...

extension at the Waterloo tube station. The new location is on the site of the old Astley's Amphitheatre – sometimes considered the world's first circus ring – where in 1828 an elephant that was part of the show was frightened and blundered into the crowd.

Exhibitions

Solo

Haste's solo exhibitions include: * Parnham House, Beaminster, Dorset, (1998), *''Underground Safari'', Gloucester Road Underground station, (2000), *''NDUTU'', Davies & Tooth, Air Gallery, London (2003), *''NDUTU'', Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham.

Group

Haste's participation in group exhibitions include: *Annual Exhibition,

, (1995-9), *''Born Free Exhibition'', Fitchs Ark, London, (1996), *''Art of the Rainforest'', Nature in Art, Gloucester, (1997), *MA Degree show,

, London, (1998), *Graduate Multi-media Show, Candid Arts Trust, (1998), *Graduate Exhibition, Minsmere RSPB reserve, Suffolk, UK, (1998), *''Nature'', Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, (1999), *''Young British Sculptors'', Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath, UK, (2000), *''Underground Safari'',

, (2001), *''Wild Tigers of

Bandhavgarh Bandhavgarh National Park is a national park of India, located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh. It spreads over an area of and was declared a national park in 1968. It became Tiger Reserve in 1993 with a core area of . Bandhavgarh wa ...

,'' The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums & Art Galleries, (2000), *''Art 2001'', Davies and Tooth, London, (2001), *''Three generations of Sculptors'', Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath, UK (2001), *''Art London'', Davies and Tooth, London, (2001), *''Patrick Davies Contemporary Art'', (2003), *''Let's Dance! Animals – Art and Design Exhibition,'' Chimei Museum,

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "Taiwan Prefecture, ...

(2016).

Other works

Other works by Haste include: * ''Rhinoceros'',

Cannon Hall Cannon Hall is a country house museum located between the villages of Cawthorne and High Hoyland some 5 miles (8 km) west of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Originally the home of the Spencer and later the Spencer-Stanhope family, it ...

, Yorkshire, UK, * ''Bison Head'' (2016) National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming,

Awards and affiliations

Haste won the Artists for Nature Foundation Award (where she is a member) in 1997, the Dale Rowney Illustration award in 1998, and the

Art Award in 1999. Haste is featured among 95 sculptors in Guy Portelli's book "Modern British Sculpture". Haste is a member of the

, the Royal British Society of Sculptors and a signature member of the Society of Animal Artists.

References

External links

Kendra Haste website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haste, Kendra 1971 births Living people 21st-century British sculptors 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of Wimbledon College of Arts Artists from the London Borough of Wandsworth Animal sculptors British animal artists English women sculptors People from Putney Sculptors from London 21st-century British women sculptors