Joanna Allen: Sculpting the Subconscious Playground

Sculptor Joanna Allen has been working on a new series of work for the past four years in her secluded Dorset studio. Where meditation and psychomorphic drawing are an intrinsic part of her practice. Allen’s much anticipated exhibition ‘Subconscious Playground’ will be her inaugural solo show at Bowman Sculpture in London. Where she has previously exhibited in the all women group exhibition ‘The Power of She’ with Guerin Projects in 2023. 

Joanna Allen is known for her innovative approach to material, form, and intrinsic meanings behind her unusual sculptures. With a deep commitment to exploring the intangible aspects of human experience, Allen’s work taps into the subconscious. Creating sculptures that invite introspection and evoke a range of emotional responses. The new sculptures will be accompanied by minimalistic paintings and drawings in her solo exhibition Subconscious Playground. Demonstrating her ability to blend abstraction with symbolism to present a playground of ideas, emotions, and memories.

Allen spoke to me at her Dorset studio and gave me a bit of insight into her working process. Explaining how the tranquillity of the countryside and meditation are central to her practice. “I’m fairly Rural in Dorset, in a village called Woodlands where you can’t hear anything apart from birds. I have a space where I meditate and another space where I create the sculptures. I mostly model in plaster and clay.” 

The Concept of Subconscious Playground

In Subconscious Playground, Allen explores the intricate, often hidden layers of the human psyche. She describes the series as a visual representation of the emotional and mental landscape. Creating a space where the viewer can interact with their own inner world. The “playground” is both literal and metaphorical. A physical space to explore and a mental space where memories, dreams and desires are free to interact and manifest.

This body of work doesn’t merely seek to portray the subconscious; it invites it into the viewer’s consciousness. Allen’s sculptures are not fixed or static; they challenge traditional perceptions of what sculpture can be, offering a fluid and dynamic experience. Her pieces encourage movement, curiosity, and engagement, allowing the subconscious to be explored in new ways.

Allen spends time meditating and creating psychomorphic drawings, sometimes blindfolded. The ideas for her sculptures come to her during these meditations or on daily walks with her dog. When she notes down visualisations that come to her on her phone. Her ability to access her subconscious and visualise it through drawing and sculpture is in the tradition of the Surrealist automatic drawing practice. She explains: “I’ve done quite a lot of automatic drawing. If I do automatic drawing or draw from a meditation, the results are different. I tend to do it blindfolded and I might warm up with a pad. Some of the time I’ll meditate and draw with paint onto a canvas.” 

Sculptural Language: Material, Form, and Movement

Allen’s use of materials is particularly noteworthy. She often works in clay before collaborating virtually and physically with an atelier in Pietrasanta, Italy. Translating her sculptures into marble. Sometimes she works in bronze. For example when creating her enigmatic sculptural portrait of an unknown woman called ‘The Hour’. The first edition of which was exhibited in The Power of She. A second edition of the sculpture will be exhibited in Subconscious Playground. 

Allen’s diverse material palette speaks to the complexity and contrast within the subconscious mind. Where organic thoughts and memories often coexist with synthetic ideas and emotions. The forms she creates are equally intriguing. Each piece within Subconscious Playground is a study in fluidity and transformation. The sculptures may resemble organic shapes, often ambiguous in nature, or they could seem like fragmented parts of something larger. This mirroring of the fragmented self, where emotions and thoughts don’t always follow a linear pattern, is central to the series.

The sculptures have titles such as Words that bend me, I Know Your Edges Are There, The Fear Echoes and Clinging on to Normalcy. Symbolising the deeply personal nature of Allen’s work and her ability to tap into the human psyche. 

The movement of her works, whether through flowing lines or articulated components, allows for a sense of growth or transformation. Just like the human mind, Allen’s sculptures appear to be in a constant state of flux. Blurring the boundaries between past and present, reality and dream.

Psychological and Emotional Depth

The emotional depth of Subconscious Playground lies in its ability to evoke feelings of nostalgia, confusion, wonder, and discovery. Through her sculptures, Allen taps into a universal experience—the complex interplay between the conscious and the subconscious mind. Her works are both personal and collective, drawing on themes of identity, memory, and desire. While leaving enough ambiguity for viewers to interpret their own connections.

In a sense, her work is like a Rorschach test; it offers a mirror to the viewer’s own subconscious. Allowing them to project their personal experiences, fears, or desires onto the piece. The sculptures act as entry points into deeper layers of thought. Pushing the viewer to question how much of their world is shaped by what they are aware of versus what lies beneath the surface.

Joanna Allen Subconscious Playground is at Bowman Sculpture from 1^st to 30^th May, 2025. Monday – Friday 10am – 6pm & on Saturday by appointment only: https://bowmansculpture.com/events/joanna-allen-subconscious-playground/

Words by Lee Sharrock 

Images Courtesy of Bowman Sculpture