How Artist Kendra Haste Brings Wild Animals to Life with Wire (20 Pics)

British artist Kendra Haste is renowned for creating lifelike animal sculptures made entirely from galvanized wire mesh. Her art is known for its anatomical accuracy and emotional depth, capturing the strength, fragility, and spirit of wild animals—from crouching lions to soaring eagles.

Haste constructs her sculptures layer by layer, building up the wire to mimic muscle, texture, and movement. As she explains, “Wire, like cast iron, holds a tension between strength and fragility,” and this balance is reflected in every piece she creates.

Her latest exhibition, Big Bad Wolf, at the Ornamental Cast Iron Museum in Germany, explores rewilding, conservation, and biodiversity. The show features life-size sculptures of wolves, boars, deer, lynx, and birds, focusing on the reintroduction of species like the wolf to Europe—a topic that remains politically charged. Haste’s aim is to challenge the idea of the “big bad wolf,” asking, “Are they really a threat, or part of restoring balance?”

The mild steel wire she uses connects her work to the museum’s cast iron heritage. Installed alongside 19th-century hunting relics, Haste’s wire animals reclaim the space, prompting reflection on how we view and shape the natural world.

Each sculpture invites us to confront the concept of wildness—not as something to fear or tame, but something to understand, respect, and perhaps even welcome back.

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