The equestrian sculptor Juliet Cursham was born in Leicestershire, the heart of English fox hunting, where she was surrounded by horses and dogs - subjects she has keenly portrayed since her childhood. She combines her love of art with her life-long involvement with hunting, racing and polo. She is the niece of the well know portrait painter, Diccon Swan.
She spent two years in Australia and New Zealand working with polo ponies, cattle and sheep before returning to England to work for the racehorse trainer, Gavin Pritchard-Gordon in Newmarket. It was in Newmarket where she first started sculpting the racehorses that she rode and watched every day. The number of important racehorse sculptures completed to date, reflects her ability to portray a subject in bronze. Her work is detailed but her main theme is always action and movement. She has completed life-size sculptures of horses which can be found in Hong Kong, Beijing, Germany and Leicestershire.
Her bronze, silver and gold sculptures of polo ponies have taken her to many countries including trips to the Argentine Open in Buenos Aires, the Florida Gold Cup, Brunei, Morocco, Polo on Ice in St Moritz and Elephant Polo in Nepal.
She was made a full member of the Society of Equestrian Artists in 1990 and was awarded the British Sporting Art Trust and Sladmore Gallery sculpture prize in 1993 and 1995.
Her recent work includes bronzes inspired by her trip to Africa and the legendary Frankel which has been very popular in the gallery.
