Gerda Rubinstein was born in Berlin in 1931and moved to Amsterdam in 1933 where after the war she worked in a pottery and then in the studio of Wessel Couzijn. She attended the Rijks Academie, winning a scholarship which enabled her to study in Paris under Ossip Zadkine. Returning to Amsterdam she was awarded her first public sculpture commissions.

In 1958 she came to London where in 1967 Pat Gibberd saw her work on exhibition and recommended it to the Harlow Arts Trust. She was commissioned to make City for Bishopsfield which was sited in April 1971. Other works in Harlow, bought by the Trust, include Screen outside Purford Green Infant School, Baby at William Martin Primary School and Julia at Sewell Harris Close at The Stow. She has also undertaken several commissions for the Gibberd Garden in Harlow including a portrait of Sir Frederick.

Times, materials and techniques change. While many early works were carved and cast in firebrick, she no longer uses this method as the bricks have become expensive and the process too dusty and laborious. Learning to weld bronze made her free to cut and change work but today's safety rules prevent her doing this in her studio. She now concentrates on making works in resin which, when required, can be cast in bronze, the material used for her larger commissions.

Gerda explains: "The sculptures are almost always of people in an urban situation because London, where I live, is my inspiration. I have also made portraits and modelled birds and animals. I hope that the work, which is generally figurative, will be self explanatory without the need for a title. I have come to realise that the sense of freedom and hope that I experienced as a teenager in Holland, after five years of occupation in World War II, has really never left me and that it still colours my work".

Gerda Rubinstein's sculptures are well known and popular, but her drawings are less familiar. Before starting with clay, Gerda makes studies of her subjects, both nude and clothed figures. These have much of the vitality and charm which is so appreciated in her three dimensional work. A series of limited edition prints of five of her drawings are being prepared for this exhibition where they will be offered either framed or unframed.