Whales

Tessa Campbell Fraser F.R.S.S. (born 1967)

Tessa Campbell Fraser is a British painter and sculptor based in Oxfordshire. Born in Edinburgh, she studied at Chelsea School of Art and afterwards established herself as one of the country’s leading animal artists. She has completed several major life-size, and larger than life, sculptures and paintings for clients including the late Queen Elizabeth II, the King of Bahrain, Knuthenborg Safari Park Denmark, William Grant & Son, the Household Cavalry and Sir Jackie Stewart. She has work in private collections around the world including Australia, South Africa, Monaco, and the USA, and has exhibited widely including at the Royal Academy Summer Shows, Sculpture at Goodwood, the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and the Natural History Museum in London where she had a major solo show in 2004.

In 2001, she was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and became a Fellow of the Society in 2004.

Campbell Fraser’s work is informed by her interaction with nature and travels, notably Greenland and recently Dominica, inspiring a series of paintings and allegorical sculptures exploring the interspecies relationship between man and animal. Initially she Portrayed this in a group of sculptures for her Bishop and Bear series and laterally, her work has involved the interspecies communication with Whales.

She has been concerned with the effects of Climate Change for over twenty years and her sculptures offer a poignant and beautiful reflection on the symbiosis between man and animal, and how precarious this balance is for both as man encroaches more and more into the wild spaces. She is constantly in awe of how much we can learn from the natural world.

Notable Commissions

H.M. THE QUEEN
• Life plus 10% – Bronze of Estimate – Gold Cup Winner – Sandringham
• Two Bronze life-size Dorgis – Buckingham Palace
• Portrait in Landscape with Dogs – Sandringham
• Shirley Heights – Oil Painting of Derby Winner 1978

H.M. KING HAMBAD BIN ISA Al KHAlIFA OF BAHRAIN
• 24 life-size Bronze Sand Gazelles

H.R.H PRINCE FAHD SALMAN
• Generous – Oil Painting of Derby Winner 1991, Irish Derby Winner 1991, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes Winner 1991 and Dewhurst Stakes Winner 1991

WILLIAM GRANT & SON
• Life-size Bronze Stag for Head Office

KNUTHENBORG PUBLIC SAFARI PARK; BRONZE SCULPTURES:
• Three Life-size Hippos
• Seven Life-size Guinea Fowl
• Three Three-Quarter Life-size Elephants

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY
• Sefton. Painting commissioned by the Household Cavalry to honour the Cavalry Black horse so badly injured in the IRA bombing in London Hyde Park in July 1982. 250 limited edition prints made of painting.

SIR JACKIE STEWART
• Three Bronze lifesize Highland Cows
• Two life size stags
• Three life size hippos

NATIONAL SCULPTURE COMPETITION ‘07
• Won major national competition for a commission of eight life-and-a-half size bronze figures

The Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) is a large community of ocean-facing experts from across the University of Southampton and beyond that works to address challenges around the natural ocean environment and human use of the seas. Working in partnership with external stakeholders, we generate new collaborations, knowledge and ideas for businesses, governments, and organisations to develop wide-ranging solutions to ocean challenges. In doing so, we educate the next generation of ocean leaders.
The SMMI is excited to support the Whales at Winchester event. The historic setting of Winchester Cathedral provides a dramatic setting to showcase the majesty of whales as creatures and art-form, but also to highlight the mysteries of the oceans and the challenges confronting our seas and coastlines.