RENOWNED Essex-based artist Billie Bond, whose work has graced the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, returns to Chelmsford Museum’s Gallery for her brand new exhibition, ‘The Clinker Connection - When Humans Change Nature’.

The exhibition opened will run until Sunday March 31.

In 2009, Billie’s sculpture of her sister, who has Down’s Syndrome, took pride of place on the fourth plinth under Anthony Gormley’s curation on the theme ‘One and Other’.

Billie became the artist-in-residence at Chelmsford Museum and her sculpture study of Essex people, ‘A Portrait of Chelmsford’, became part of the museum’s permanent collection in 2011.

Billie won the Pure Art Sculpture Prize in 2013 and her winning work was displayed at the Saatchi Gallery. She was also commissioned by Alan Carr’s Chatty Man TV show to make a bust of one of Alan’s guests - Lionel Ritchie!

‘The Clinker Connection’ uses a material called clinker, which is a stony residue left over from industrial processes, as the basis for inspiration. Clinker is found all over Essex - in old brick walls, for example - and Billie uses it to question ideas of consumerism through industrial ancestry.

Billie said: “This seemingly nondescript material played an important part in the growth of towns and cities, and I see clinker as a gnarly golden nugget of history with connotations that inform my installations, looking at the overlooked and forgotten.

“I hope to challenge people’s perceptions of the clinker material and to look beyond the idea of it being insignificant.”

Of the museum’s gallery, Billie said: “Chelmsford Museum’s exhibition space is a great environment in which to experience visual art and I hope The Clinker Connection will offer an insight into contemporary arts culture for the people of Chelmsford.”

Billie was born in Northumberland in 1965, but grew up in Essex and continues to live in the county.

Billie took up sculpture after a back injury forced her to change career direction: she was previously a designer-maker producing bespoke furniture, interior design and murals.

Studying 3D Design and Craft at the Colchester School of Art, and then gaining a Masters in Sculptural Practice, led to her work being bought for both public and private collections.

Billie last exhibited at Chelmsford Museum in 2017 and has since been selected to be a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

See more on the museum at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/