About Jilly

Photo of British artist, Jilly Cunningham.

Jilly Cunningham is a British sculptor whose work has been exhibited in galleries throughout London, Cambridge and Portugal. In 2024, her sculpture of Benjamin Zephaniah was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.

Her high profile clients include Jools Holland, Ken Livingstone, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Jo Brand, Bert Jansch and Benjamin Zephaniah.

Jilly’s work has been featured in the UK and European press, including The Independent. Her Mother & Child Revisited MMX1V sculpture was celebrated by Mike Scialom of the Cambridge News, which had previously reported on the exhibition of the sculpture at Cambridge Airport.

Jilly was born in London of Anglo-Hungarian parents. She studied sculpture at Hammersmith’s College of Art at age 18, before working as an Art Therapist in Tooting Bec Psychiatric Hospital. She became fascinated by the connection between art and psychology, splitting her time between the hospital and taking private commissions.

Jilly began creating sculpture portraits from sittings, using her life casting process to “steal” the magical essence of the personality, and boldly display the man/woman behind the “mask.”

She embarked upon her Cultural Legends series, commissioned to make sculpture portraits of many famous faces, including Jools Holland, Ken Livingstone, Benjamin Zephaniah, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Bernie Grant, to name a few.

Always a restless and inquisitive artist, after completing the Cultural Legends series she flew to Portugal to work in a remote mountain village in the Algarve. She was swiftly commissioned to make a sculpture for an Algarvian library but also spent two years discovering and mastering the new and challenging techniques of Kiln-formed glass. Jilly experimented with glass, producing a strange and unearthly collection of glass heads.

Now based in Cambridgeshire, Jilly continues her artistic journey. In 2016, Jilly was the only sculptor invited to exhibit at the Cambridge International Airport launch exhibition, which featured her Mother & Child Revisited MMX1V mosaic. The sculpture will next be displayed at Hay Castle in Hay-on-Wye once the castle renovation is complete.

Jilly completed a mosaic entitled Nature Fights Back featured on the Mosaics page which explores whether COVID-19 is nature’s response to mankind’s use and abuse of the’ harvest which is given to us daily. She also regularly takes part in the Cambridge Open Studios.

For commissions or to purchase Jilly's art, contact info@jillycunningham.com.