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'Sally Arnup' was a English sculptor who developed an international reputation, particularly as a sculptor of animal bronzes.

She was Head of Sculpture at York College of Art 1958 - 72. She exhibited at The Royal Academy, Royal Society of Artists and at the Royal Society of British Artists. She was also made a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. Her work is held in many public and private collections including York City Art Gallery, and The Royal Collection. In 1971 she was commissioned to make and cast a silver leopard presented to Her Majesty The Queen, by The City of York.

Early life
Born in London, Sally initially left school at the age of 13 to train at Kingston Art College, where she was taught by H Wilson Parker (designer of the 'Wren' farthing). She then spent a year at Camberwell College of Art where she was taught by Dr Karel Vogel, before studying at the Royal College of Art where her tutors included Frank Dobson and John Skeaping. From her earliest years, Sally Arnup knew her calling was to sculpture, and sat at the feed of Jacob Epstein. From the start, she was fascinated by the animal world and all her bronzes are studies of recognisable individuals, demonstrating an aspect of the animal's behaviour.

Early Career
(Ref: In conversation with Kerry Fowler for Yorkshire Life magazine, 1992) She was born in 1930 and had the good fortune of having enlightened parents, her father having broken the family tradition of being 'in insurance' to become a passionate collector of antiquarian maps, and encouraged Sally to follow her own chosen path. Arnup first began to experiment with sculpting when she was three years old, modeling an orange in clay at a Montessori school in Surrey. . By the time she reached 13, she was a full time student at Kingston College of Art, London and went on to study at the Royal College of Art. Whilst there, she became acquainted with Sir Jacob Epstein and was invited to his house, studio and foundry.

Trained under John Skeaping - add summary

She moved to Yorkshire aged 24, and remained there for the rest of her life.

Late career
In 1998, Arnup was commissioned to make a replacement of a public sculpture in the form of a bronze eagle sited by the A1, just south of Peterborough. Originally erected in 1914 in memory imprisoned Napoleonic soldiers who died in a camp nearby, it was stolen in 1990. However, her work was hindered through the process of securing funding through public appeal, and the lacks of sufficiently detailed photographs of the original. The complexity of this replacement commission was influential in the subsequent Public Monuments and Sculpture Association decision to undertake a nationwide inventory of sculptures, memorials, fountains and obelisks, a project chaired by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England.

With a well established national and international reputation Sally always worked directly from her subject. She was not concerned just with simple rendering of appearance, but with the very character and nature of the individual creatures. She interpreted her direct study according to the final material, usually modelling for her preferred medium of lost-wax cast bronze, which she handled with understanding. Always making the waxes herself, she gained great control and the best foundry results. (Ref http://108fineart.com/sally-arnup-2/sally-arnup-gallery) Having studied at the Royal College of Art, Sally arrived in York in the 1950s and continued to sculpt at her studios at Holtby until her death in 2015. She set up the first charity shop in York soon after her arrival, for Oxfam, and campaigned for people with learning disabilities after the local authority refused education provision for her daughter Rebecca.

Among her many important commissions are the bronze of the Duke of Edinburgh's Fell Pony, Storm and the magnificent life-size mute swan, commissioned by the Vintner's Company, London (Ref: Dr Jane Crease). She exhibited at the Bowes Museum www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Exhibitions/2010/British-Sporting-Art

Community work
Arnup and her husbandk set up a branch of OXFAM in the city of York in the 1960s, then opened the city's first charity shop. Arnup became the spokeswoman for a 'Save Yearsley Action Group' protesting the closure of York's Yearsley Bridge Day Center in 2007. The group submitted a petition objecting to the closure with over 5,000 signatories to the City of York Council's adult social services panel.

Focus on animal sculpture
Arnup's work focused on animals as subjects. She reported adopting a South American Spider Monkey as a rescue pet in 1969, two fox cubs in the mid 1970s, which inspired several sculptural pieces, and a Turkey.

Exhibitions

 * Whitestone Gallery, York - year unknown, work by artists associated with St Peter's School, such as sculptress Sally Arnup.
 * Abbotsbury sub-tropical gardens, Dorset, 'Sculpture trail', 2002 - 2004 - Bronze Turkey Hen.
 * Sudley Castle, Gloucestershire, Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, and Castle Howard, Yorkshire, July 14 to 28 - national touring exhibition 'Sculpture Under English Skies', July 2002.
 * Studio, York, 'York Open Studios weekend', 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 - Bronzes of birds and animals.
 * Bowes Musuem, County Durham, 'British Sporting Art', 2010 - retrospective exhibition of animal bronzes, including a Bronze swan.
 * Blake Gallery, York, 2011 - display of 25 bronzes, including dogs, otters, deer, a cat and humming birds and featuring a bronze King Charles Spaniel 'Brutus'.
 * Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, Grewelthorpe, near Ripon, 2012 - bronzes and animal sculptures.
 * York Cemetary, York, '175th Anniversary anniversary exhibition', 2013.

Locations

 * Pocklington School grounds, East Riding of Yorkshire, Statue of William Wilberforce as a 15 year-old pupil, 2007.
 * Kings Manor, inner courtyard, York, Statue of a Bronze Calf.
 * Hartrigg Oaks York, Statue of a Hart, 1999 - Commissioned to represent the Hartrigg Oaks Community centre logo (a Hart and an oak leaf).