Silvia MacRae Brown trained in Florence and The City & Guilds of London Art School. She has taught portrait sculpture for 17 years, including Sculpture in Clay at the University of Sussex, setting up the course and teaching 1997-2011. She runs annual sculpture summer schools in Lewes and regular life drawing days at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex. In her teaching, she welcomes all levels of ability and experience; encouraging individual development and focusing on structure and intuitive expression. Her own portrait busts are often of artists - painters, writers and musicians. Her portrait of the composer Sir John Tavener won the Society of Portrait Sculptors prize in their annual exhibition, 2005.