Wakefield Museums and Castles: Aviary in the Atrium, by Andy Singleton

As part of the Nightingale Festival, Wakefield Museums invited artists to create atrium cases at Wakefield One inspired by 150 Nightingales or 150 birds in Waterton's life.

We had some wonderful ideas from a wide range of artists. The chosen proposal was from Andy Singleton. The display will be in place at the end of June.

Andy Singleton is an British paper artist and illustrator based in Wakefield, England. His work is an exploration of the natural and man-made world through intricate paper cuttings, paper sculpture, hand drawn illustrations and large scale installation works.

Dust Clouds in the Eagle Nebula, 2010 Photo: Richard Sweeney

Andy was born in Nottingham in 1983, but moved to Wakefield at the age of 3. With a strong interest in creative subjects throughout his life, Andy decided to pursue a career as a professional artist. He studying foundation level art art Leeds College of Art and then Animation with Illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University, graduating in 2006. It was during his time at University, that he began to focus on paper as his main material for creating art.

Merlion, Harrods, London, 2015

In 2009 he returned to Wakefield and set up his studio to begin to practice as a professional artist, where he began to develop a reputation for very intricate large scale installation works. Andy has now produced work for variety of high profile clients, including the Crafts Council, Liberty, Harrods, Kensington Palace, Manchester Art Gallery, DDB Australia and The Hepworth.

The Hepworth winter sculpture, 2013 Photo: Andy Singleton

Andy has also exhibited his work internationally, including the USA, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain.

Currently Andy works from his studio at Westgate Studios, in the centre of Wakefield.

Andy has shared some images that track the development of the display at Wakefield One

Beginning with a picture of a nightingale...

...to develop initial sketches

A test card nightingale

A finished nightingale perched upon Waterton's books

We are very excited about this display and can't wait to see the finished atrium cases. In the meantime there are lots of other events linked to the Nightingale Festival.