Polly Cruse
Polly Cruse is a Norwich-based artist working in sculpture and photography.
Cruse sets out to raise the importance and status of the objects, gifts and memorabilia kept in the home, things whose presence is so familiar that they are often overlooked and ignored. Her sculpture takes everyday items as its material: she assembles objects and fragments of household things, re-inventing their existence and worth as abstract sculptural pieces. The interpretation of each piece is left open to the viewer.
Cruse holds an MA in Fine Art from Norwich School of Art and Design. She is a member of the Norwich 20 Group and a Trustee of St Etheldreda Artist Studios (SEAS), and her work is held in public and private collections and has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
Artist Statement
My practice involves sculpture and photography, employing everyday items as materials. Focusing on the everyday, and the relationships between the intangible and the material, I am currently investigating the need for and creation of an interior haven from the outside world, and the importance played by objects, gifts, memorabilia and flowers. I am looking to bring attention to these items by photographing commonplace objects, and often flowers, arranged into 'still life' compositions to create images of beauty, narrative and potential humour.
My influences are 17th-century Dutch flower paintings, the photographer Don McCullin and the ceramicist Edmund de Waal.
