Feeling Fearless

She’s sculpted The late Queen Elizabeth II, His Majesty The King and recently had eight pieces of her abstract work exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London…but Keziah Burt says it all began with Mr Miles.

 

As we settle down to discuss her upcoming residency at LWC, cocooned in comfy sofas at her military house in Camberley, Keziah becomes emotional at the mention of his name.

 

“He was the teacher who taught me how to sculpt,” she states. “He is actually why I went on to train as a teacher, because I wanted to be him. He recently died and I’m totally traumatised by it. He was a ceramic sculptor and he just made me feel fearless. He made everything fun, helped me to access joy and celebrated my successes. I really struggled at school and was in bottom set for everything. The school believed I wasn’t very bright, but I now have a first-class degree and a master’s in art and design.”

 

Inspiring students at LWC to ‘feel fearless’ with their art is something that Keziah is keen to do when she takes up her three-week residency in November. “I love being in the classroom,” she admits. “Kids are complete sponges. I can guide them towards that light-bulb moment and from there, the speed at which they can jump off is startling. It’s the lure of the light-bulb moments that keeps me coming back to the classroom, it’s like nothing else. In fact, I’d say it’s better than creating an amazing piece of sculpture. That moment when a child feels a sense of bravery and they’re sitting in that zone is incomparable.”

 

Interestingly, Keziah, who trained to be a secondary school art teacher after her own school days, is firmly of the belief that her art wouldn’t be what it is now, without the very traits that at one point, threatened to hold her back.

 

She was diagnosed with both dyslexia and ADHD as an adult. “I had no sense of memory at school,” she admits. “But the teachers used to get me to do all of the giant displays of Roald Dahl characters because I could draw. The sense of innate human creativity is in all of us. Before we can start talking, we sing. As soon as we start walking, we dance. Before we can write or communicate, we draw. I think that when you don’t fit into the typical academic sphere, those creative aspects of your humanity become much more obvious.”

 

“It’s a complete honour to be able to do something like this and I think people sometimes question why anyone would want a sculpture of themselves…This is so far removed from vanity and has everything to do with legacy. It’s about giving someone physical space to stay here on the planet, way beyond their lifespan.”

— Keziah Burt

 

When reflecting on how her ADHD (diagnosed last year) has impacted her art, Keziah believes it contributes to the process. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have ADHD,” she reveals. “It’s the hyperfocus. When my husband is away (he’s an officer in the Royal Engineers – currently in Latvia at the time of our conversation), I can sit in my studio and work until 3 in the morning. I have to set alarms to tell me to put the tools down and go to bed. I just love accessing that part of my brain that so few people give themselves time to access. It’s the flow state and it’s pure joy. It’s also standing on the precipice of not knowing if you can do something and being completely comfortable not knowing.”

 

Which brings us back to being fearless.

 

“It gives me that sense of ‘how hard can it be?’ Well, everything’s hard, so let’s do it anyway.”

 

And Keziah has certainly done it.

 

She was commissioned by the National Army Museum in Chelsea to produce a bronze bust of Her Royal Highness, Princess Elizabeth, as an 18-year-old serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She created the piece during a week-long residency. “The director of the museum said that he’d received a message from the Queen’s equerry to say that she was delighted with it,” she reveals.

   

Shortly before the sculpture was due to be officially unveiled, Keziah set about creating a likeness of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, as part of a demonstration at a gallery in Mayfair. “It was then that I got a call from my husband to say that he’d switched on the news and that something had happened to the Queen. By the end of the day, the man I was sculpting had become King. I had somehow become the last person to sculpt the late Queen and the first to sculpt the new King.”

 

Keziah’s bust of King Charles lll went on to be showcased in The Royal Tribute Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023, but Keziah is keen to point out that her art is not solely royal. Her portfolio is large and varied, including more abstract work, which brings with it some other benefits.

   

“When you have ADHD and dyslexia, your brain is really busy. The only place I can find quiet is in art or cold water swimming,” she admits.

 

Keziah describes the process for creating eight mindfulness sculptures, recently exhibited at the capital’s world-renowned Saatchi Gallery, as ‘meditative’. “I sculpted without a plan. They are my emotions, my feelings and my thoughts distilled into form,” she concludes.

 

When it comes to her portrait and figurative work, private commissions sit alongside her depictions of other public names, such as the groundbreaking chemist, Rosalind Franklin and the first female general in British military history, General Susan Ridge.

 

“I’ve just delivered a figurative piece for a gentleman whose wife died last year,” Keziah continues. “There were a lot of tears. It’s a complete honour to be able to do something like this and I think people sometimes question why anyone would want a sculpture of themselves, but we take selfies all the time! This is so far removed from vanity and has everything to do with legacy. It’s about giving someone physical space to stay here on the planet, way beyond their lifespan. When I sculpt someone posthumously, I ask to hear all the stories about them and watch any film of them that I can. I want to know I’ve ‘got them’ and understand their perception of themselves. It’s always led by kindness and an intention to honour their story.”

 

When Keziah arrives in the 1200 for her residency, she will work with Sixth Form artists on critiques and self-portrait sculpture, alongside hybrid portraiture with GCSE artists and creating paper sculptures with the younger years. She’ll also collaborate with a small group of LWC parents as part of a weekend workshop.

 

“I could come and do a whole workshop on the grounds alone at LWC,” she laughs. “I’m most looking forward to seeing the energy and the vibes of the kids. They’re already very talented from what I’ve seen in lessons and I’m excited to help upskill them even more… because I still want to be Mr Miles.”

 

Keziah Burt’s Artist in Residency at LWC runs from Monday, 3^rd to Saturday, 22^nd November. Her Contours of Life Exhibition, together with Miranda Carter, can be viewed in LWC’s Prideaux Gallery throughout the three-week run.

 

LWC parents are invited to register for a small workshop led by Keziah on Saturday 15^th November from 10am until 4pm in the LWC Art School. The session will allow those taking part to produce individual sculptures created from a live model. To sign up for one of the limited places, please email Graham Mobbs.