Artist Talk by Olivia Bax

Join us for a talk with Olivia Bax, a sculptor who brings things together, creating ensembles of found and made objects, held together by metal armatures, chicken wire, cardboard and paper pulp.

Olivia Bax’s handling of these materials runs with and departs from established sculptural processes, simultaneously constructing, welding and modelling, and using the metal armature both as an inner supporting structure and as an active component of the final sculpture itself, pushing through and out of the modelled paper pulp.

As well as construct and model, Bax also paints, but rather than being applied at the end, her paint is mixed into the pulp from the very start. This means that she works with colour both as a painter and as a sculptor might, modelling colour as one might clay.

In this talk, hear about Olivia's recent sculptural work and exhibitions including her current exhibitions at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Leeds Art Gallery.

Biography

Artist Olivia Bax is a fine art lecturer in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. Olivia studied BA Fine Art at Byam Shaw School of Art, London (2007-2010) and MFA Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art, London (2014-2016).

Recent solo exhibitions include: Double Take, Weston Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2026-27); Wind Eyes, East Gallery, Norwich, UK (2026); Thresh and Hold, Ribot Gallery, Milan (2025); Handrailing, New Arts Centre, Roche Court (2024) and Floss, Holtermann Fine Art, London (2024).

Recent group exhibitions include: Dinner Party: Olivia Bax, Jacob Epstein and Matthew Smith, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds (2026-27); Phantom Sculpture, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre (2023-24); Confab Window: Olivia Bax & Veronika Hilger, Hatch, Paris (2023) and Eartheaters, Lustwarande, Platform for Contemporary Sculpture, Tilburg, Netherlands (2023).

In 2024-25, Bax curated a major institutional exhibition called These Mad Hybrids, John Hoyland and Contemporary Sculpture (Royal West of England Academy, Bristol and Millenium Gallery, Sheffield Museums). In 2026, she co-curated an exhibition That Which Appears with painter, James Fisher, which opened at Sid Motion Gallery, London and will tour to Sheffield Museums in 2028.

Prizes and awards include: Open Studio, Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milan (2025); Artist Research Fellow, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (2023); The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award (2019/20) and the Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize (2016). Bax’s work is part of private and public collections including: The Arts Council Collection, The Ingram Collection, Tremenheere Sculpture Park and Lukowa Art Collection.

More information

This event is part of ARTFUL – a new series of public lunchtime talks organised by the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies.

The aim of the series is to bring together students, postgraduate researchers and staff to showcase our culture of vibrant research and creative practice across the school and beyond. Taking place on Mondays during termtime, speakers will include researchers, artists and practitioners.

Whilst primarily aimed at our school community, anyone interested in the series is welcome to join us. There is no need to book – please just turn up.

Full details of the ARTFUL talks series can be found on our events pages.

For more information, please email Mark Thorley at M.Thorley1@leeds.ac.uk.

Directions to the venue

See the campus map for location of the Liberty Building.

Directions (facing away from Parkinson steps): Follow the path to your right then turn right underneath the link building. Go all the way through campus until you reach the Clarendon Road entrance. Cross over at the traffic lights onto Moorland Road. Follow the road down. The Liberty Building is on your left.

Go through the main entrance and go straight ahead though two sets of double doors. Lecture Theatre LG.06 is situated on the lower ground floor. 

Accessibility information for the lecture theatre can be found here.

Feature image

Olivia Bax, Double Take, exhibition install image at the Weston Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2026. Photo: India Hobson. Image courtesy of the artist and YSP.