Bryan Ellery's first stab at portraiture was at the age of seven, a caricature in mud of his headmaster for which he was given the cane. This negative reception put him off for a few years, until he was in his final year at Exeter University, where he was studying English. At this time he made a portrait in bronze of his professor, Moelwyn Merchant, which, rather like the cash for honours system so popular today, secured him an Honours Lower two!

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After 3 years at Exeter Art College studying sculpture and soaking up the heady atmosphere of the Sixties, he moved to Italy and bought a cottage in the Marche region where he worked in various forms and materials of sculpture which could be loosely described as English Pop, following in the stylistic steps of Paolozzi, Rauschenburg and George Fullard.

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The next twenty years or so were taken up dealing with mortgages, wives, and children, and various activities were pursued for financial gain, but by 1985, with the children more or less grown up, Ellery decided "enough was enough" and began living solely and (at first) frugally on portraiture.

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Nowadays he finds that being a professional portrait sculptor is a good excuse to see as much of our planet as possible whilst still earning a living. He has worked on most of the continents of this world and now has his eye on those remaining, especially Australasia and Africa.

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He has always been fascinated by the human face, and its infinite variety. He particularly enjoys working with creative people, such as the writer Ben Okri and the painter John Napper. Some years ago he made a portrait of the actress Julie Christie and travelled to St Petersburg to portray the Russian conductor Ilia Musin. In Hong Kong he caught up with the entrepreneur and musician David Tang. In England he has just finished a portrait of Sir Alistair Horne, the historian.

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Bronze portraiture has traditionally been popular with the aristocracy and Bryan has often had the good fortune to work in their beautiful stately homes. But though some of his sitters may happen to be well known figures in society, or members of the "glitterati", Bryan prefers to ignore their alter egos and study them as just more examples of the unending beauty of humanity. He is especially known for his likenesses of children, which bring out their intrinsic and unique magic.