The Story of Flock

The original Flock was created by ceramic artist Julie Nelson following an invitation to exhibit in an elegant Edwardian house on Grand Avenue, Hove, UK. Having recently moved from London, Julie drew inspiration from Brighton’s strong and sometimes uneasy relationship with birds, from the murmurations of the Pier's starlings, to the constant sound of gulls that share the built environment. This hybrid group took four months of dedicated clay sculpting to produce over a 100 avian individuals. When placed on the beautiful parquet floor, facing the curved bay window the group took on a magic of its own, a sum of many parts.

The entire installation was in situ for one weekend in 2017. A fleeting moment.

The seeds were sown, at this time, to expand the project to involve refugees, to reflect on the parallels with the natural world and to teach them to make birds in clay.

It was in 2019 that Flock Project evolved to include workshops in ‘birdcraft’ and the installation grew to include representations of birds made by people who had migrated from around the world.

Following a series of workshops at the Grounding Project and the V & A Museum, over 200 ceramic birds were exhibited together for the first time at Lewisham Arthouse in London.

Inspired by the cabinets of bird specimens on display at the Horniman Museum, London, Julie proposed a response which connected these exhibits with the ceramic birds made during Flock Project. The exhibition was open for visitors to the museum from 27th May until March 2024.