Teddington Artists

See Avril’s work in the gallery»

Avril Vellacott is known by many appreciative students as a talented teacher of sculpture at Richmond Adult Education College

She trained at the City and Guilds of London School of art taking
the Sculpture Prize for her year Kingston School of Art and Sir John
Cass College.

She has worked as a sculptor for many years mostly in the field of
figurative and portrait sculpture with occasional essays into abstract
forms of painting. The core of her work is a series of terracotta
portraits ranging from new-born babies through maturity to the
experience and serenity of old age. In the absence of an easily
available body of knowledge on the subject of terracotta she has
evolved her own techniques. She also works in plaster, paper and wood.
She has done “special effects” for the film “The Never Ending Story”
for Bavaria Films in Munich, Germany and work for Pinewood Studios.

Before coming to Richmond her teaching experience involved many
years in North Devon Education, The Somerset College of Art and at Sunbury Adult Education. Avril has exhibited at the Royal West of England, Dartington Hall and the Society of Portrait Sculptors at the Mall Galleries.

She has undertaken many private commissions in portrait and sculpture but the most notable of these are:

• The Marquess of Bath
• Noel Coward
• Samuel Beckett
• The Earl Haigh
• Henry Williamson
• Jeremy Thorpe