Born in London 1961, Morag Ballard studied initially at Chelsea School of Art, London 1981-2 where she first experimented with the interrelationships between two dimensional and three dimensional expressions of form.
This led her to study sculpture at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham Court 1982-5 developing individual sculptures of plaster, string and fabric into broadly conceived installations in large interior spaces. Here she studied under Michael Pennie and Ken Hughes and came into contact with some of the leading British sculptors of the time including Richard Deacon and Antony Gormley.
In 1983 she was awarded the Gane Trust Travel Scholarship for sculpture taking her to Carrara, Italy.
"Untitled 1985" Plaster 36 x 40x 50 ins.
On completing her degree, Morag Ballard was awarded a student internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice in 1986. where she found her direction validated by the study of works of the Russian Constructivists, the paintings of Jean Helion and the boxes of Joseph Cornell.
On her return to the U.K. Morag Ballard set up studio in South West Scotland where she began to develop her ideas through paintings, reliefs and boxed constructions, work which led to her first showing at England & Co. London, where she has been represented since 1991.
After five years in Scotland, Morag Ballard moved to Penzance where her work was aesthetically in tune with the line of abstraction that had developed in Cornwall via Naum Gabo , Peter Lanyon and John Wells.
"Acoustic" 2004 Oil on canvas 71 x 75 ins.
Since moving into a large studio overlooking Mounts Bay in 2003, her work has moved away from landscape based influences towards a more formal exploration of implied space and form. Suggestive of architectural forms and classical geometric pattern, her most recent work delivers a definite sculptural impact enhanced by the employment of subtly shaped or curved canvases.
Solo Exhibitions
1991 Morag Ballard : Constructions, Reliefs & Works on Paper, England & Co. London
1993 Morag Ballard : Constructions, Reliefs, Paintings, England & Co. London
1996 Morag Ballard : Recent Works, England & Co. London
2001 Morag Ballard : Recent Work, England & Co. London
2003 Morag Ballard : Recent Work, England & Co. London
2005 Morag Ballard : Recent Work, England & Co. London
2008 Morag Ballard : Recent Paintings, England & Co. London
Group Exhibitions
1985 Group Exhibition, The Edge, Walcot Street, Bath
1991 Art in Boxes, England & Co. London
Group Exhibition, Gordon Hepworth Gallery Exeter
1992 Art in Boxes, England & Co. London
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London ( England & Co. )
1993 Art in Boxes, England & Co. London
Art in Boxes, ( Curated by Jane England ) Castle Museum, Nottingham
Twentieth Century Art Fair , Royal College of Art, London ( England & Co. )
1994 Gallery Artists, England & Co. London
Group Exhibition, White Lane Gallery, Plymouth
1999 Continuation, England & Co. London
1995-2007 Exhibited in annual exhibitions: Gallery Artists, England & Co. London
Exhibited with England & Co. Art 95 to Art 2003, (London Contemporary Art Fair)
London Art Fair, 2004-2007
All at the Business Design Centre, London
2007 20/ 21 Art Fair, Royal College of Art London ( England & Co. )
2008 The London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London ( England & Co. )
Summer Exhibition, England & Co. London
2009 City X, England & Co. London
London Art Fair 2009, Business Design Centre, London ( England & Co.)
2010 Pallant House Gallery, Chichester: alongside John Tunnard, Inner Space to Outer Space and
St, Ives and Beyond
"White City" 2007 Oil on canvas 18 x 28 ins.
Selected Bibliography
Morag Ballard: Constructions, Reliefs and Works on paper, exhibition catalogue
texts by Sister Wendy Beckett and Morag Ballard. England & Co. London 1991
St.Ives Follower Goes Solo, Antique Trade Gazette, 21 September 1991
Morag Ballard, Exhibition review by Sister Wendy Beckett, Arts Review, "20 September 1991
Morag Ballard: Constructions, Reliefs, Paintings, exhibition catalogue
texts by Peter Davies and Morag Ballard. England & Co. London 1993
St. Ives Revisited ; Innovators and Followers, Peter Davies, The Old Bakehouse Publications 1994
Morag Ballard: Recent Works, exhibition catalogue, texts by Morag Ballard and Peter Davies, England & Co.
London 2001
Morag Ballard: Recent Work, exhibition catalogue, introduction by Jane England. England & Co. London 2003
Morag Ballard: Recent Work, exhibition catalogue, introduction by Jane England. England & Co. London 2005
St. Ives 1975-2005 Art Colony in Transition, Peter Davies, St. Ives Printing & Publishing Co. 2007
Morag Ballard: Recent Paintings, exhibition catalogue, introduction by Jane England, England & Co.
London 2008
June Portfolio: Morag Ballard, Artists & Illustrators Magazine, issue 261, June 2008