Linda Heaton-Harris is a sculptor of ceramic animals and birds.

For the majority of her life she has lived in the countryside which has  included the counties of Suffolk, Sussex and Gloucestershire, enhancing her lifelong love of the natural world and animals in general. Linda lived for many years in the Hampshire village of Selborne famous for "The Natural History of Selborne" by the 18th Century naturalist Gilbert White.

She has recently moved to Cornwall to a smallholding/farm on the edge of Bodmin Moor overlooking Rough Tor. It is a fantastic area full of ancient history including, stone huts and standing stone circles and of course wonderful wildlife. The location is also near the North Cornish coast, Port Isaac, Rock and Padstow, yet again offering wonderful scenery, walks and wildlife. Her purpose built studio has magnificent views of the craggy granite rocks of Rough Tor and the Moor with it’s fascinating ever changing scenery.

Linda trained as a teacher studying English Literature and History, becoming interested in ceramics while still at college. At first her work centred on abstract flower and plant forms, often vibrantly coloured, but inevitably, given her interests, she began sculpting animals and birds.

Her work falls into two main categories: hand built, individual pieces demonstrating a more simplified approach, and extremely detailed individual bird sculptures, life size and miniatures. With both styles she endeavours to capture the essence of the animal or bird.

A variety of techniques and clays are used to produce a range of textures with various oxides, slips and stains used to retain the fine detail. The pieces are fired at least twice. The detailed intricate bird studies involve many hours work, being built up "feather by feather". Thus a single sculpture can involve several hundred feathers alone and can take several weeks to complete. Some of the pieces have flowers or foliage, these are also built up one petal, leaf or stamen at a time.

Her range includes all animals and birds from dormice to elephants and wrens to eagles. Linda has exhibited and sold her work at many exhibitions and venues including the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Slimbridge, Society of Wildlife Artists Mall Galleries London , Christie’s Wildlife Art Auctions London, Art in Action Waterperry House Oxford, Holland and Holland Wildlife Gallery London and New York, Fine Art Exhibition Abu Dhabi.

Her sculptures have sold worldwide including in Europe, America, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Scandinavia and the Middle East. A great deal of her work is by private commission.

For over 25 years Linda has been involved with Nature in Art, a wonderful wildlife art museum dedicated to all forms of past and future wildlife art, based at Twigworth ,Gloucestershire. Linda was present for its inaugural exhibition at the Guildhall London and had work in the opening exhibition at the museum, opened by Princess Alexandra. For many years she has been part of their Artist in Residence programme and has had work in many of their exhibitions. The museum has a piece of her work in their collection.

Curriculum Vitae

• LIBERTY’S EXHIBITION 1977
• BIRDS IN ART R.S.P.B. MAJOR EXHIBITION
• ASH BARN GALLERY, STROUD, PETERSFIELD, HANTS
• SOUTHAMPTON ART GALLERY 1977
• WESSEX ARTISTS
• MALCOM INNES GALLERY EXHIBITION – ST. JAMES’S LONDON
• WILDFOWL AND WETLANDS TRUST, SLIMBRIDGE, GLOS. 1978/90/91
• GILBERT WHITE MUSEUM, SELBORNE, HANTS
• GILBERT WHITE BI-CENTENARY EXHIBITION OPENED BY ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
• ALLEN GALLERY, ALTON, HANTS – ONE WOMEN EXHIBITION
• OLD PRIORY GALLERY, ODIHAM, HANTS ( IN ASSOCIATION WITH OLIVER SWANN GALLERY, LONDON)
• SOCIETY OF WILDLIFE ARTISTS MALL GALLERY LONDON 1985/86/87/89/91
• SWAINE AND ADNEY, PICCADILLY EXHIBITION LAUNCHING CAPTAIN MARK PHILLIP’S EQUESTRIAN CENTRE AT GLENEAGLES
• NATURE IN ART - THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR WILDLIFE ART WALLSWORTH HALL , SANDHURST, GLOS - INAUGURAL EXHIBITION AT GUILDHALL, LONDON
• C.L.A. GAME FAIR 1980 TO 1992/98/2012
• ASHGATE GALLERY , FARNHAM,SURREY
• UNITED ARAB EMIRATE FINE ART EXHIBITION , CULTURAL FOUNDATION, ABU DHABI - OPENED BY HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN AL NANYAN - 1993
• CHRISTIES WILDLIFE AUCTION - LONDON 1994
• HOLLAND AND HOLLAND LONDON - VARIOUS EXHIBITIONS 1994 – 1997 AND NEW YORK
• PENSTHORPE WATERFOWL PARK AND NATURE RESERVE CERAMIC EXHIBITION 1996 AND 2000
• GAME CONSERVANCY BI-ANNUAL AND SPORTING EXHIBITION MALCOLM INNES GALLERY , ST JAMES , LONDON 1998
• NATIONAL WILDLIFE EXHIBITION, LIVERPOOL, 1999
• ARTIFEX GALLERY – ONE WOMAN SHOW - 2000
• LANDMARK ART SHOW - TEDDINGTON 2003
• ART IN CLAY - HATFIELD HOUSE 2004/5/6/7/8 (CANCELLED DUE TO ACCIDENT) 2009/10
• IONA GALLERY - WOODSTOCK, OXON. SPRING EXHIBITION 2007/DOG EXHIBITION 2008 - AFRICAN EXHIBITION 2008 - VARIOUS OTHER EXHIBITIONS
• C LA GAME FAIR BLENHEIM PALACE 2011
• COLLYER BRISTOW GALLERY, LINCOLNS INN FIELDS , LONDON SPECIAL EXHIBITION
• ART IN ACTION - 1979 - 2016 ( it's closure )
• NATURE IN ART - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - 1988 - 2019
• COUNTRYLIVE SHOW BLENHEIM PALACE - 2016 / 2017
• CHALFRED FINE ARTS ST. JOHNS WOOD LONDON EXHIBITION - 2017
• CHALFRED FINE ARTS EXHIBITION - ROYAL OPERA GALLERY PALL MALL LONDON - 2019
• NATURE IN ART SOLO EXHIBITION - 2019

Private Commissions

Many private commissions including:

• PHILLIP ASTOR - HEVER CASTLE
• WILLIAM DOUGLAS HUME
• OFFICIAL PRESENTATION PIECE - COUNTRY LANDOWNERS GAME FAIR HOST - LADY ANNE BENTINK
• PRINCE SAT JEM SAHIB OF NANANAGAR
• CLERK OF WORKS ST. PAULS CATHEDRAL

Publications and Media

• THE WOODCOCK - COLIN MCKELVIE
• COUNTRY LIFE
• COUNTRY LIVING
• HOME AND INTERIORS
• SUNDAY OBSERVER – PHOTOGRAPH BY JANE BOWEN
• VARIOUS MAGAZINES
• WILDLIFE ART NEWS – USA PUBLICATION (ARTICLE WRITTEN BY FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF NATURE IN ART MUSEUM - GLOS – DR. DAVID TRAPNELL )
• CRAFT GALLERIES GUIDE
• BBC PEBBLE MILL – FILM OF LIFE AND WORK
• HTV TELEVISION
• VARIOUS TELEVISION APPEARANCES - INCLUDING CINEMA SHORT FILM OF WORKING AT ART IN ACTION
• WHO'S WHO IN ART

Working Trips Abroad

• CENTRAL AMERICA / COSTA RICA / PANAMA / SAN BLAS ISLANDS ( KUNA INDIANS ) CARIBBEAN
• AFRICA - BOTSWANA OKAVANGO DELTA/ NXAI PAN / CHOEBE GAME RESERVE

AFRICAN TRIP - BOTSWANA

Sometime ago I was lucky enough to spend some time on a wildlife safari in Botswana. We camped in a variety of locations, including the famous, beautiful Okavango Delta. It was a fantastic trip, vastly exceeding my high expectations.

We saw many animals, including: elephants, lions, buffalo, hippo, hyena, wildebeest, monkeys, giraffes, zebra, antelope, warthogs, cheetah and leopard. Also a great variety of birds such as ostrich, ground hornbills, storks, marabou, falcons and many, many others. It was a great experience and has given me lots of material and exciting ideas for sculptures. I very much look forward to returning to Africa in the future.

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