Feminist Public Sculpture Research Forum Thursday 4 July 3pm Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds Arts University, Leeds, LS2 9AQ Hazel is delighted to be joining Professor Griselda Pollock, Sharon Thomas, and Rachel Reeves for this free…
Fond memories. Just watched ‘Secrets of the McVitie’s Factory’ on Ch5 (7 April 2019). Great to see the retired women biscuit factory workers – the Cracker Packers – Grace, Ann, Susan, and Jean, who helped…
International Women’s Day 8 March 2018 – 11am As you read this, women biscuit factory workers – the so-called Cracker Packers – are unveiling my bronze statue dedicated to their work, lives and friendships. It’s…
Part of the humour of the piece is that the two Cracker Packers are standing atop a 90cm-wide Carr’s Table Water Biscuit. How do I go about sculpting a giant biscuit? That’s a new one…
It’s 5.30am in the morning and Sandra, my model, falls asleep standing up. Okay, it’s time to stop. No one else will appreciate the minor tweaks I am making. Guess I’m a bit of a…
How two figures interact is not something I usually need to think about. But I have set myself a challenge. To capture the spirit of the Cracker Packers, there has to be two figures. And…
The Cracker Packer from the current day – 2017/18 – is ready to be clothed. Sandra has ‘sat’ patiently – and painfully – in the pose for many weeks. At least now she can wear…
Following traditional best practice, I sculpt the Cracker Packer figures unclothed first. Why? If you think about the clothes you are wearing now, where do your clothes touch your body? Our bodies shape the clothing…
First, I need to finalise the Cracker Packers’ figure armatures. My models come in, one at a time, so I can compare them to the armature – many tweaks are required. I also take lots…
In order to breathe life into my Cracker Packer figures I need to work with live models. What I need are two women, one taller than the other, to model for me. Using actual Cracker…
Did I mention the biscuit? The two Cracker Packers, from past and present, are standing atop my favourite – a Carr’s Table Water Biscuit. At 90cm wide, it’s a little larger than the ones I…
The work continues for several weeks on the detail of the armatures. It not only has to be strong, it has to be accurate, exactly reflecting the Cracker Packers maquette yet scaled-up. You can tell…
