Local mum pursues artistic dream
A Blackpool mum has swapped fire safety training for sculpting as she pursues her dream of becoming an artist.
Former Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service community fire officer Kerry Tenbey has just completed a one-year art foundation degree at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) after she decided to return to education and follow her passion for art.
The 26-year-old mum of one from Thornton Cleveleys who now lives in St Anne’s, worked as a freelance illustrator alongside her community fire officer job and is now turning heads with her hyper realistic hand sculptures.
Kerry said: “I’ve always wanted to work as an artist and now I’ve been given the chance to develop my skills and creativity. The hand sculptures have certainly been conversation starters with a lot of people wanting to touch them.”
Kerry’s Loving Hands exhibition project is of three casts of her own hands made from silicon and painted with alcohol activated paint to bring out the details of her hands. Through her work the former Millfield High School and Sixth Form pupil is exploring how the position of the hand can suggest sexual intimacy and how people interpret this.
"I’ve always wanted to work as an artist and now I’ve been given the chance to develop my skills and creativity. The hand sculptures have certainly been conversation starters with a lot of people wanting to touch them."
Kerry commented: “I’ve never created anything like this before although I’ve always been interested in human anatomy as an art form not just science. This is something I’d like to explore further and maybe create a cast of a torso in the future.”
Kerry now plans to join the three year fine art degree at UCLan to continue her studies with a long-term ambition of becoming a teacher and a freelance artist.
She added: “When I first started this course I thought I’d go onto to the illustration degree but now I have developed a love of sculpting I’d like to take the further and see where it leads to.”
