Keziah Burt (Art and Design 2005) is an award-winning Bristol based artist and the National Army Museum’s artist-in-residence. She has exhibited across the UK and Germany and has work in private collections in the UK, USA, and Europe. Her bronze portrait tondo of world-renowned chemist Rosalind Franklin, who identified the double helix structure of DNA, is on public display in Hampstead, London and was exhibited as part of the Society of Portrait Sculptors exhibition 2021.
Most recently, her portrait bust of Major General Susan Ridge CB, the first woman to hold that rank in the British Army, has been purchased for the permanent collection at the National Army Museum.
The bust is based on photographs of her wartime service when she was still Princess Elizabeth. Keziah produced the sculpture live from 24 May to 29 May at the National Army Museum in Chelsea where it will be displayed once the clay bust is cast into bronze. During the sculpting, she led several workshops including one where participants could create their own miniature portrait of Queen Elizabeth to take home at the end of the session.
Image: Keziah Burt's bust of Queen Elizabeth II
Following the completion of the bust, Keziah said:
“This past two weeks have been so full that I don’t think I’ve given myself time to process the enormity of this commission. As an Army wife, a Royalist, an Emerging Sculptor. It has been the privilege of a life time for me to be commissioned to create this bust, commemorating her Majesty’s life of service.”
Photo credits: Keziah Burt