Jane Ackroyd

Ackroyd was born in London and attended St Martin's School of Art from 1979 to 1982.^[3] She then studied for her master's degree at the Royal College of Art between 1982 and 1983.^[4] In 1984 she held an artist-in-residence post in Leicestershire and had her first solo exhibition at the Kingsgate Workshops Gallery.^[4][5] From 1988 she has been a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions in London and has had a series of solo exhibitions at the Anderson O'Day gallery.^[6] Ackroyd participated in the first Royal West of England Academy Open Sculpture Exhibition held in 1993.^[6]

Ackroyd's public commissions often feature birds and animals, for example Cat at the Old Library in Harlow.^[5][3] Other public commissions include Well at the Museum of Harlow, at the site of the former Royal Free Hospital in Islington and the Haymarket in London.^[3][6] The Arts Council England, the Contemporary Arts Society, the Leicestershire Education Authority and the Goodwood Sculpture Park hold works by Ackroyd.^[3][6]

• In 1983 Ackroyd won the Special Melchett Award for work in steel and a travel scholarship to Carrara in Italy.^[6]
• During her time at the Royal College of Art, Ackroyd was awarded the Fulham Pottery Award.^[2]
• Ackroyd was awarded the Europa Nostra Award for the 1993 redevelopment of The Old Royal Free Hospital, Islington, in collaboration with Levitt Bernstein Architects.^[7]
• In 1995 Ackroyd received the Jackson Pollock-Lee Krasner Foundation Award in New York.^[7]