Profile of Anna by Ffin y Parc Gallery

From childhood, animals have fascinated Anna and fueled her imagination. Animals have always been used in stories, myths and folklore to help us find our place and purpose; even our essence. To map the complexities, contradictions and disappointments of the adult world to children. Used as a comfort and a warning.

Much of her inspiration comes from the formal simplicity of ancient sculpture and folk art from a variety of cultures. This gives her work Universality and immediacy.

She is interested in the special relationship we have with animals and the way the animal form can express emotions, character and illuminate our thinking and our place in the world. We may have dominion over them, but they are mysterious, unknowable, other. The ambiguities abound here. Man is both confident and anxious; there is frivolity and menace. Games will end in tears...

Profile of Anna by Alison Britton, ceramic artist and writer

The animals in Anna Noel's small sculptures tread a delicate line between folk art and modernity; she has a particular sensibility that can include humour and solemnity, and an economy of line and painting. Combining form with painting is one of the special skills of work in clay. Anna has worked consistently for several decades in this exploration of the animal figure, sometimes paired with humans, and the necessary conventions of supporting thin legs in clay sculpture are beautifully resolved. Not the lion leaning against a clunky tree we find in the Staffordshire flat back, but a horse or a fox supported by a small hill, enigmatic and understated. Her avoidance of sentimentality is her great achievement.