Andrea La Valleur-Purvis

I work in metal to study how change happens under constraint. The sculptures begin as problems of form and structure, then open into questions about adaptation: what holds, what yields, and what becomes possible when pressure is met with revision. Small shifts matter to me. A change in scale, balance, or direction can reshape the whole experience of a piece. Weight can read as lightness. Space can feel solid. Negative space becomes a material in its own right, defining the work as much as the metal does. My process is a kind of negotiation. I don’t aim to erase evidence of making. I want the work to carry its decisions clearly, so the viewer can sense the movement from rigidity to flexibility. My multicultural upbringing across British, German, and American contexts shaped my understanding of identity as something made and remade. That understanding is embedded in the work. The sculptures don’t illustrate resilience. They practice it, through tension, release, and the ongoing possibility of change.