Ian Norbury was born in Sheffield, England in 1948 and educated in Hampshire. After selling his first picture at the age of 15 and being dismissed from the woodwork class he began his career as an artist, selling pictures from local galleries until he went to Cyprus in 1965. He worked in Cyprus for six years painting portraits, landscapes and decorating nightclubs until 1971 when he returned to the United Kingdom to marry Betty. He continued painting, mainly racehorses, until 1975 when he went to St Paul's College, Cheltenham, to study art education. Here he continued to develop his growing interest in three-dimensional art, particularly woodcarving. When he graduated in 1980 he set up a woodcarving studio in an old bakery near the center of Cheltenham.

Ian rose rapidly through the ranks of British woodcarvers, having a solo exhibition every year, regularly contributing to magazines, and writing his first book Techniques of Creative Woodcarving in 1983. This book is still in print in three languages and sold worldwide.

Several more books followed as well as seminars and workshops in Switzerland, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada and America. Ian's two three-month tours of the United States have covered many major cities, and his ability as a teacher has created a huge demand for his services. He was the first woodcarver to produce teaching CDs. These are in his own inimitable style, and as one student put it, "…it is like standing at the great man's shoulder while he works."

Ian's ability as a wood sculptor is based on his skilled draftsmanship and a pragmatic technical approach, which gets the job done as efficiently as p0ossible regardless of method. His innovative techniques are matched by his original and imaginative subjects, which have given him financial success and an enviable reputation among art lovers in Britain.

Much of his work is based on European folklore and mythology combined with cynical tongue-in-cheek sideswipes at the pomposity of contemporary life. This finds an easy rapport with audiences. His great technical expertise in the rendering of detail and his acute observations of expressions and appearances are irresistible to many people. In recent years his innovative use of mixed timbers, inlays of colored woods, metals, stones, shells and gems, have given his work new impetus. Of course he is equally known for his exquisitely made nude figures and portrait busts, which are the usual subjects of his teaching seminars.

Ian now lives with his wife Betty in the Republic of Ireland, but still maintains a house, studio and gallery in England.