Versatile printmaker, watercolourist, teacher, maker of garden sculpture in stoneware and terracotta who was born in Sandgate, Kent. She was at the Central and Camberwells Schools of Art at various times between 1946–51, teachers including Rodrigo Moynihan, Claude Rogers, Richard Eurich and William Roberts. She gained a diploma in printmaking from Leamington Art School in 1990. Irby Crews was engaged in film and theatre work for some years and taught, including King Edward’s School in Handsworth and at Solihull College of Technology. She was interested in “the visible and invisible world … landscapes, and interiors of quiet, sacred and haunted places”. She illustrated Solid Citizens, the study of public sculpture in Birmingham, 1983, and took part in workshops at Hereford and Dudley Museums, Lancaster Polytechnic and Birmingham University.