Emma Donaldson is Making Trouble at the Museum of St Albans from tomorrow (19) until mid November.

The exhibition of that name in the University of Herts Galleries at the Hatfield Road museum introduces a series of new sculptures and drawings by Emma, a graduate of the Royal College of Art who has exhibited extensively across her native Ireland.

This is her first solo exhibition and she has attracted financial support from the Henry Moore Foundation, an accolade which firmly establishes her emerging presence as a sculptor.

The works in the exhibition mark a considerable shift in Emma’s artistic practice, taking a more hands-on approach to create stationary, physical and direct sculptural forms.

She constructs forms which are simultaneously otherworldly and natural, relating to the height and proportion of the body, with spherical shapes occurring frequently.

They are fabricated from what the artist calls ‘the stuff of life’. She deliberately chooses low-key materials including wood, cardboard, worn cloth, watercolour on plaster and gloss-paint over paper-mache, layer upon layer of which are meticulously applied to represent the passing of time.

The sculptures may be fabricated from ‘low-value’ items but they are significant in embodying memories, tension and persistent feeling.

UH Galleries’ artistic director Matthew Shaul said: “Donaldson’s show is the second in a fascinating series of exhibitions with emerging sculptors that we are hosting at UH Galleries.”

The exhibition runs until November 16 and an evening reception is being held from 6pm to 8pm tonight (18).