The sculptress JOEL (Jo Walker) specialises in detailed sculpture portraits of people and animals, as well as statues designed for the environment. Currently based in Leicestershire, JOEL was brought up on the Welsh borders and later studied zoology and ecology at the University of Exeter.

Research into animal behaviour took her to Scotland and East Anglia, where her love of animals and interest in natural history increased and embedded an awareness of animal form and behaviour, their interaction between form and environment, that influences her work to this day.

With 30 years of experience, JOEL has undertaken private and public commissions as well as public and community-based projects including a commission to design and make the statue of the collie dog Ruswarp, unveiled on the station platform at Garsdale on the Settle to Carlisle Railway Line; developing an exhibition of Sculptures to promote the cause of wildlife conservation for the Peter Smith Trust for Nature Conservation and in turn for the Greensand Trust.; and, the centenary sculptures for the Welsh Pony and Cob Society.