SOFIE LAYTON
ARTIST/DESIGNER
Feb 2011 - 2012Fountain Flowers– A courtyard fountain installation of petals and flowers in brass, and a series of four new Dandelion sculptures created for a private collector in the USA, using stainless steel and 23.5 carat gold leaf. Commission
Jan – May 2011Ironman – As part of the Cultural Olympiad ‘Without Walls’ programme, an outdoor touring show commissioned by Graeae Theatre and based on Ted Hughes’ Ironman, featuring a five-metre tall Ironman puppet operated by a wheelchair-user. Designer
Jan – June 2010The Garden – An outdoor, site-specific piece in a deconsecrated cemetery for Graeae Theatre/Strange Fruit as part of Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF). Set/ Costume Designer
Jan 2009 – Nov 2010For the Best –Installation performance devised with company of the Unicorn Theatre and directed by Mark Storor. Won the TMA award for Best Children’s Theatre 2009 and was reworked for the Unity Theatre Liverpool, November 2010. Artist/Designer
Apr – Jun 2009Against the Tide – Site-specific show for Graeae Theatre/Strange Fruit as part of GDIF, toured to National Theatre in 2010 .Set/ Costume Designer.
Mar – Jun 2008Run –Site-specific event as part of GDIF directed by Kevin Finnan. Processional copper figures, and a five-metre copper globe sculpture created with Kinetic engineer Mike Patterson.Artist/Designer
Feb 08 + April 2012Olympic Torch Relay London 2008and 2012 –commission by the South Bank Centre for two giant walking puppets for event. Costumes for Torch relay performers 2012. Artist/Designer
Dec 2007 – April 2008LICK – Birmingham Rep devised show, directed by Mark Storor. Designer
Aug – Oct 2007REALITY ESTATE- Friction Arts Birmingham. Site-specific promenade performance. Installation and costume design. (created and performed with community participants)
Dec 2006 – Aug 2007The Field of Flowers – a sculptural commission to mark the tenth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. Over ten weeks a series of ten giant Dandelions were created, which involved over 6,000 people gold-leafing a flower as a tribute to Diana. Installed in front of Kensington Palace. Artist/Designer
Sept 06 – Jan 2008 Within the Wardrobe –- Exhibition and workshop using the Royal Dress collection at Kensington Palace, working with, elders, families and schools groups to explore people’s memories and stories of clothes. Culminating in an exhibition with a team of artists at Kensington Palace with a programme of workshops alongside the exhibition including puppetry and animation. Artistic director/ designer and workshop leader
July 06 – Jan 2007Dragon Sculpture – Educational commission drawing inspiration from “The Field of the Cloth of Gold” painting to create an eight-metre-long sculptural dragon in copper and silk, suspended from the ceiling of the ‘Clore Learning Centre’, a new education and learning centre at Hampton Court. Artist/Designer
Sep 2005 –June 2006Common or Garden – An exploration of Sheds and Village Greens, as a series of five installations created by five different artists around Epping Forest District, working with local people. Artistic Director
Apr 2005 – April 2006The Temple of Imagination – Designed and developed a folly to mark the Year of Heritage and to coincide with the opening of Kew Palace, sited at Kew Gardens. The Temple featured in the BBC series ‘A Year at Kew’, April 2006. The project was developed with community participants and a team of artists. Artistic Director
Jan – June 2005Maritime Mysteries – Designed and created an eight-metre-high Yemanja puppet for performance at Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Artist/Designer
Jan – June 2004What a Dainty Dish – A banquet of people’s life recipes presented as an installation using light, photography sound, video and textiles in the vaults at the Tower of London. Working with Stitches in Time, deaf young people, Sure Start, disabled young people and school children. Artist/Designer
June – Oct 2003Imaginarium –Exhibition/installation at Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, exploring children’s literature. Artist/Designer
Mar – July 2003Kangaroos to Kingcups – Exhibition of metal sculptural creatures installed at Queen Charlottes Cottage, Kew. Created in collaboration with Arc Angel Metal workers and Hounslow schools. Deviser/Designer
Jan 2001– July 2002Charabanc – Epping Forest Arts (EFA) A two-year project leading to a series of instillation/performances in transformed cars in Epping Forest and a disused airfield. Inspired by working with community participants. Deviser/Artistic Director, in collaboration with Mark Storor
Mar – Apr 2001Freemont Arts Council Seattle USA – Programme of master classes in design and making of processional puppets. Artist/Designer
Sept.-Oct. 2000 National Portrait Gallery – Commissioned to design and make interactive elements, including a shell grotto, textile map of Kew Gardens and Gertrude Jekyll light box garden plan of ‘Escape to Eden’ exhibition. Artist/Designer
Jan – June 2000LIFT – ‘The Style of our Lives’ A Journey through Stoke Newington, including a research and development period with young people from local schools. Deviser/Designer
Jan – June 2000Tower of Tales – An installation within the Tower of London, exploring notions of confinement and imprisonment in the form of a seven-metre tower filled with images and stories about people’s old and new towers. Commission by Greenwich and Docklands Festival, Tower Hamlets. Artistic Director/Designer
June – March 2000The Periodic Table – A visual theatre production for EFA exploring scale and perspective. Performers were on stilts and a chorus created their voices. Created in collaboration with writer Anna Reynolds. Artistic Director/Designer
Sept 1998 – Apr 2001Architects of Fantasy – Theatre Museum London exhibition of artists creating large-scale puppetry and carnival work. Exhibitor
Aug – July 1998LWT Talent Challenge – ‘Singing Bridges’ site-specific performance focused around Hammersmith Bridge and local performers. Designer /Deviser
Jan – June 1997London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) – Commissioned to create a sculptural animated figure for a fireworks spectacle ‘Un Peu Plus de Lumiere’, directed by Christophe Berthonneau and performed to 10,000 people. Artist/Designer
Jan – May 1997National Portrait Gallery – Commissioned to design and make masks and body costumes for ‘In the Pursuit of Beauty’, an interactive exhibition. Artist/Designer
Feb – March 1997St Patrick’s Day Dublin – Created costumes and masks for Bacchanal, an Irish-based street theatre company. Artist/Designer
Jul 1995 – Nov 1996Gifts of the Angels – Commissioned by Coral Arts of a site specific performance in Dorchester Abbey, which involved 120 people of all ages in the making and performance. Artistic Director/Designer
Nov 1995 – June 1996Out of LIFT 96 – ‘Factory of Dreams’, a collaboration with Christophe Berthonneau and 150 young people from Stockwell Park School, who worked with on creating large sculptural lanterns for the performance. Artist/Designer
Dec 1995 – June 1996Epping Forest Arts – Devised and designed ‘A Time and a Place’, a community play set at Copped Hall, Essex, where A Midsummer Night's Dream was first performed in 1594. Written by Noel Greig. Designer
May – June 1995LIFT 95 – Created puppets biased on the Ramayana with primary school children for a performance of the Balinese Ketcuk at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Artist/Designer
1982 – 19852.1 BA Honours degree in Art and Performance Studies, Nottingham Trent University