Werxzovart, the pseudonym for artist Sonje Hibbert, was established in 1996, in an olde granite, ex miners cottage studio, in a cliff side hamlet on the wild Atlantic coast of South West Cornwal UK.
The artist herself, was born on the outskirts of Glasgow in 1964, with family roots extending from industrial townships & moorland valleys of the South Pennines UK, to the windswept archipelago of Shetland right up there in the North Atlantic Sea.
A northern ancestry no doubt, however Sonje was brought up and educated in Malawi & Hong Kong. With dirt road dust filled family car trajectories through Southern Africa, epic overland travels across both West & East Asia and tropical climes being the familiar until around her mid twenties in 1990. Its safe to say a lot happened on this road well travelled, buoyed on from a childhood injected with extraordinary adventures to blow the mind. It was after 1990 that a sharper focus developed to pursue her artistic career and nuture the creative expression that was fuelled by these inspiring journeys around the world.
Driven by unapologetic escapism from an increasingly uncompromising world, which in turn is fuelled by an obsession of anything that vaguely resembles a rock, the creative expression is a narrative of her inner world, an adventurous and continually evolving quest for self. By immersing herself in dramatic landscapes, either vast and barren, or geographically obscure, the relationship of place and emotion can only then be felt. Sometimes the artistic expression is an existential impression, sometimes not. The work offered is visceral, with personal & artistic boundaries being stretched: at times, in both, a seemingly fearless perhaps reckless, risk taking mode.
Working as an artist for over thirty years, with a solo showcase from 2013 -2021 in the very successful Werxzovart Studio Gallery in Haworth, W. Yorkshire: artistic production focused on large-scale ceramic vessels, offering exaggerated representations of The Jug or wall mounted unique contemporary designs. Complimenting these very sought after ceramics, the large acrylic painted wall panels feature natural elements taken from the land that inspired them. The work at times combining steel & ceramic: many are then framed with a considered brace of recycled lead.
All of the unique artworks are highly collectable which have been paramount in supporting her enigmatic seemingly nomadic way. After a much needed sabbatical, inspiration is now nurtured between overland journeys on the southern land mass of the African Continent, and explorations within the ancestral roots & home based studio in the northern most islands of the UK, Shetland.
