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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Catherine Shoard

‘I don’t have a relationship with my face’: Judi Dench models for a live sculpture

Sculptor Frances Segelman sculpts Dame Judi Dench live in front of an invited audience at Claridge's.
‘I’m just in the play’ … Frances Segelman sculpts Dame Judi Dench live in front of an invited audience at Claridge's. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

It began as a blob: a 12kg lump of clay the size of a watermelon. Three hours later, it had become Judi Dench’s head, 50% larger than usual, twinkle-eyed even in terracotta.

At Claridge’s hotel in London on Monday evening, Frances Segelman hosted her latest ticking-clock sculpt: paying guests watch as she kneads a celebrity bust on stage, the subject sitting quietly beside her. In the past, Segelman has done Simon Rattle, Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley, Boris Johnson, Mr Motivator and major-league royals, almost always for charity.

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