Bill Prickett

Bill Prickett is a wildlife sculptor who is regarded amongst the most talented carvers in the UK.

Bill has a wide range of interests and life experiences. Born in 1965 in Kent, UK, Bill was always intent on working with animals and at 17 he started his career at Windsor Safari Park.

“My work took me all over the world and encompassed a variety of activities including expeditions in Australia, Congo and Borneo and volunteering with several organisations including Pacific Whale Foundation in Hawaii (to study humpback whales). In Scotland Bill assisted Cambridge and Loughborough Universities with research on echo location in dolphins. Whilst backpacking around Australia Bill glimpsed the possibility of a future career when he carved a great white shark with his penknife, and sold it to a gallery. This funded his onwards travel to Borneo. “10 years later I decided to follow my long held interest in sculpture on a full time basis. My first pieces were produced from wood which has always held a fascination for me.”

When asked about the motivation behind his work Bill said:

“I aim to portray aspects of wildlife in the natural world, sometimes as an accurate depiction of nature, but at other times I concentrate on capturing the essence of a particular animal’s behaviour or character and sculpt a more stylised piece that draws heavily from my own personal experiences.”

“An important part of the process is selecting the material that I feel best describes the specific features I want to accent. This might be through the figuring in the grain within a piece of interesting timber (such as ‘Spanish Dancer’) or the contemporary medium of plywood that has a unique beauty all of its own (for example ‘Manta Ray’). In recent years I have found myself interested in the more abstract shapes I see in the world around me.” - This interest is reflected in the range of sculptures Bill is now showing with us here at Lilford.

Bill’s work has been exhibited at galleries internationally including the Mall Galleries, London; Diehl Gallery, Jackson, US; The Maraee Exhibition, Bahrain, and various galleries around the UK. He is a member of the SWLA (Society of Wild Life Artists) and regularly exhibits at their annual exhibition. Bill also shows work with the Royal Society of Marine Artists and The David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year exhibition, where he has won the David Shepherd Wildlife Sculpture of the Year Award. He also won the Art Prize at the Festival of Falconry held in Abu Dhabi for his sculpture “Preening Peregrine”, and at the Pensthorpe National Wildlife Carving and Sculpture Exhibition he twice won the People’s Choice award. His work has sold at Christies and Sothebys and is held in collections private world wide.

Bill now lives a more sedate life in Kent, UK, with his wife Lesley, who is also an artist.

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