Artist
My home and studio are in Tuscany just outside Florence. My studio is in the garden, an old wooden stable with an outside trellis in the olive grove. It is small, rather untidy and the walls are covered with my favourite photos and postcards dating back to 2000. While working I am able to look out onto the garden and see the surrounding views and hills.
This is where I create. I have named my work Horse Block Sculpture. Horses which merge from geometric figures.
I was born in Lancashire, UK 1952, but grew up near Cambridge. At the age of four my grandfather gave me my pony Robin creating my life-long bond with horses. My school years were spent away from home where we were able to ride as well as study.
After finishing my studies I worked at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology. A year later, in 1973, I visited Italy where I have lived ever since. The beautiful Renaissance City of Florence with its museums, art and history captured my heart.
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For seven years I worked as a fashion model and from 1981-86 I taught English. From 1986-2000 I worked as a riding instructor. During all these different jobs and bringing up a family I drew and painted when possible, I also began to create my first small sculptures using the local Impruneta clay, watching and learning from the local artisans. In 1999 I held an exhibition at the Tornabuoni Gallery Florence and a year later in Saratoga Springs, NY. The success of both these exhibitions led me to follow my creative side and in 2000 to dedicate my time to sculpture. Since then I have stretched my capabilities, innovated and shared my love of horses and art with many world wide.
Leyland, artist and sculptor is well known for her Horse Block Sculpture. She has held exhibitions in private galleries and museums in many countries and has received prestigious commissions both from private and corporate clients and collectors.
The one and a half life-size War Horse Memorial in Ascot UK, an equestrian monument to the memory of millions of horses, mules and donkeys of WW1 was commissioned in 2014.
Leyland designed, created the maquettes and worked on the five life-size bronze horses for the Golden Fountain installed in 2020 in the Sun World Park Da Nang Vietnam
Leyland’s work can be found in the UK, USA, Canada, Thailand, Cina, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Finland, Asia and Arab countries.
Susan is represented internationally by Alan Kluckow Fine Art, Sunningdale, Berkshire UK.
Her work can also be seen at the Osborne Studio Gallery, London and the Norton Way Gallery, In Germany at the Kunstgalerie Bech, in Italy at Barbara Paci Fine Art, Pietrasanta and Brancacci Art Gallery, Florence.
She has held solo and group exhibitions in London at the Frost and Reed Gallery, the Medici Gallery, the Horsebox Gallery, at London Heathrow Terminal 5 with works designed to celebrate the three Olympic equestrian disciples for the London 2012 Olympic Games. She has shown her sculptures at Fulham Palace, Wandsworth Museum and in galleries in Oxford and Bath. In Italy she has held personal exhibitions at the Marino Marini Museum in Pistoia, in the Town Hall of Pontassieve, in Siena in the Museum della Contrada della Selva, Asti, Naples and Lerici and part of group exhibitions in Vinci and Castelfalfi as well as at Oro Arezzo, and participated in the Venice Biennale.
She has exhibited her sculpture and drawings in the USA, Saratoga Springs, NY and in Santa Monica, CA, in Sweden, in Germany, Belgium and in France, Paris, Toulouse and La Baule. She has participated in contemporary art fairs in Miami, Istanbul, London, Bologna and Genoa.
Her latest solo exhibition took place at The Country House and Stables, Winkfield, Uk in September 2023 and in April 2023 group exhibitions at the Osborne Studio Gallery London and at Alan Kluckow Fine Art. Numerous articles and interviews have been written in contemporary art magazines, newspapers, equestrian magazines and online newspapers and magazines. She was awarded for her sculpture by the American Academy of Equine Art .
Susan’s sculptures are unique and original pieces, modelled in a semi-refractory artistic clay or made in bronze editions or bronze unique pieces. Each sculpture comes with a certificate of authenticity.
