Yvonne Crossley graduated from Goldsmith’s College School of Art in the 70s after which she was awarded various travel/research scholarships [DAAD Post-Graduate Research Grant, Brazilian Government Scholarship, Italian Government Bursary].

She left her post as Professor and Vice-Principal at Wimbledon School of Art to set up The Drawing Gallery in Duke Street St. James in 2004, the first gallery in the UK to focus entirely upon exhibiting and selling contemporary drawing. It achieved notable success in both its incarnations, firstly in Central London and later in the West Midlands.

She has been invited to join a number of selection panels including; the Jerwood Drawing Prize, Hugh Casson Drawing Prize (RA Summer Exhibition), RE: Drawing – Oriel Davies Gallery, Drawn RWA Bristol and The Derwent Art Prize.

In 2104 she was elected as an Academician to the Royal West of England Acadamy, Bristol.

Solo exhibitions include; The Ikon Gallery (Birmingham), The Laing Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne), Battersea Arts Centre (London) the Stanley Picker Gallery (London), The Drawing Gallery (West Midlands), The Academicians Gallery (RWA Bristol), Chelsea Arts Club (London), Oriel Bleddfa, Bleddfa Centre (Powys, Wales) and Drawing Projects UK (Trowbridge).

She has also exhibited widely in group and open exhibitions throughout the UK including; Drawing Breath 2007-9 (Jerwood Foundation tour of UK, Asia & Australia), Drawn at the RWA 2012 & 2014 (Bristol), Drawn Together – Artist As Selector 2014 (Jerwood Gallery, Hastings), Cheltenham Open 2014, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2016 (Mall Gallery London), Derwent Drawing Prize 2016 (Mall Gallery London), RWA @ The Atkinson Gallery 2016 (Somerset), Welsh Open 2020/21, RWA Open 2014 – 2021, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2021 and Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Working Drawing 2022.

Central to Crossley’s work is the human figure, often female or ambiguously gendered and sometimes incomplete or distorted. This imagery serves as commentary upon those issues that are of increasing concern to an artist of mature years. Her aesthetic is underpinned by complicated, repeated imagery, overlaid by drawing and collage. The resulting work is dense and complex, requiring close examination, and producing multiple readings.