Sandy Layton

“Before becoming an artist I pursued a career as a teacher of children with learning
difficulties. Their complex emotional needs prompted me to train at the Tavistock clinic as a
child psychotherapist, a career that I then pursued for many years in NHS clinics across
London before widening my qualifications and experience by becoming also an adult
psychotherapist. Towards the end of that career I felt a need to explore my own life
experiences and as I had some experience of working with clay I chose to become a
sculptor. I pursued further studies, doing an MA in fine art at Kingston before undertaking
an MA at the Royal College of Art 2018-2020. My RCA dissertation, ‘Working Through’
explored the effects of trauma in the work of several photographers.

My ceramic sculptural work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including at the
Peckham Asylum Chapel (2017), Creekside Open (2017), the Royal West of England
Academy (2019) and the Royal Cambrian Academy (2021, 2022). I was shortlisted for the
Ingram Prize in 2020.”