Barbara Keal

"The presence of Keal's work represents a first for St Ives art shows, combining qualities of performance, craft, sculpture and fashion amongst the more traditional art forms on display. Her unique lquote animalrquotehats c are crafted from local South Downs wool and wool from other sustainable sources, including alpaca. Each hat is a unique work of art inspired by badgers, hares, stags, tigers, wolves, leos and more. c Having graduated from the Wimbledon School of Art in 2003 with a degree in Fine Art Sculpture, Barbara has since worked on a variety of performance based projects involving concepts which include felt, ceramics, song and the role of the individual as part of a group. An important aspect of Barbara's work is the transformative effect her hats have on the wearer, which are fast becoming recognised as every day live art work within the public arena. Barbara's dream is for her hats to engage and inspire as many people as possible, and as part of her work she is documenting the effect they are having out in the wider world as they form their own unique global community of creatures.ckerning0 "