By Duncan Bick

Published at 12:06, Monday, 07 January 2013

A SCULPTOR has celebrated her past and present with an exhibition at a building hoping to hold shows regularly in the future.

Some favourites: Kirsty Armstrong with some of the sculptures at the exhibition at the Moot Hall in Brampton, which hopes to hold other exhibitions in the future

Kirsty Armstrong, of Brampton, held the show at the town’s Moot Hall.

It showcased everything from her student work to her most up-to-date items.

“I know that the Moot Hall is hoping to get some sort of grant to get some exhibitions,” she said.

“I thought it would be good, just before Christmas, to have somewhere to just put out what I make.”

Ms Armstrong, who works under her maiden name but has the married moniker of Kirsty Kenny, has worked as a sculptor for more than 20 years.

Her college work primarily focussed on caricatures of animals.

However, she has since worked for companies producing figurines and now focuses more on realistic reproductions of animals. She said these are more sellable in the current market place.

“It is quite hard for me to do caricatures now,” she said.

Ms Armstrong is particularly passionate about red squirrels.

She is a founder member and secretary of Brampton Red Squirrel Group.

Alongside this she has created a special limited number of sculptures of two squirrels, which she has named Charles and Willow.

A percentage of the sale from each piece goes to either the Brampton group or the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST).These have so far raised over £1,000 for the causes.

Ms Armstrong has presented a Charles to the Prince of Wales, which he keeps in the gardens of his Scottish residence at Birkhall.

She was generally pleased with how the exhibition went.

“It was a rainy day and it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would have been but I did make quite a lot of sales.”

Plans to make more use of the Moot Hall, which could see it developed as a venue for exhibitions and weddings, are currently being investigated.

For more information on Ms Armstrong’s work, visit her website www.kirstyarmstronganimalsculpture.co.uk.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk