Amelia Crowley Roth studied BA (Hons) Fine Art followed by a PG Diploma in Historic Carving, specialising in woodcarving, both at City & Guilds of London Art School. Since graduating in 2015 she has been working full time as a woodcarver completing high-end commissions including a Crozier for the Pope’s presentation gift to the Archbishop of Canterbury on his visit to the UK. Amelia continues the development of her fine art / craft practice, which she has exhibited at various events including London Craft Week, the V&A, Lincoln Cathedral and Windsor Castle. She was awarded the Art School’s first Decorative Surfaces Fellowship in 2016/17. This new Fellowship, a collaboration with the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers, provides a recent graduate of City & Guilds of London Art School with a studio base and training in a range of decorative surfaces.
Amelia says of her work: “There is one question that continues to echo through the corridors of Art Schools, generation after generation. What is Art? Though every Art School asks this question, none other asks it in quite the same way as City and Guilds of London Art School, as within the ever changing walls of its old buildings there are two very different schools of teaching. Side by side it nurtures forward looking, complex and innovative Fine Art alongside the intricate wisdom of the Heritage Crafts. Having studied under both of these ‘roofs’, I find myself in a curious position somewhere between the two and am constantly revisiting the questions: Do you have to learn a craft to be an artist and: Is craft not Art? The fellowship feeds into this by adding more craft based skills to my collection and giving me the opportunity to ‘indulge’ in the Fine Arts. Alongside the luxury that is craft, the narrative I have been exploring is of the values portrayed to us through propaganda/story telling in the current socio political climate.”
Website: www.londonwoodcarving.com
Instagram: @londonwoodcarving