Contemporary Sculpture, New for 2008

This contemporary sculpture is being cast just in time for the Bergh Apton Sculpture Trail. You can see the bronze of Balance here.

This new work was stimulated by a request from a client in London who loved the bronze sculpture Flying Lessons that I finished last year (and which has been shortlisted for this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - fingers crossed!) - but wanted to site it outdoors.

The original Flying Lessons (you can see it on the right) is really an indoor piece size-wise so I have made a larger version of it. There are many differences from the smaller sculpture but the theme of balance and fun and the general shape are the same.

Hopefully the casting process will continue to go smoothly and the first of the edition will be ready in time for the opening of the Trail.



Multi-Mummy
H: 28, W 18, D 18 cm
Price see price list

Sometimes it's hard to remember how a sculpture began. The piece takes on a few major changes as it is being made and it becomes something new.

Multi-Mummy began simply with a kneeling woman which I then covered with little children clambering all over her. Now this contemporary sculpture seems to have taken on its own new character.

At the recent Cranach exhibition at the Royal Academy in London I was fascinated to see the hordes of tiny child figures he used to populate some of the paintings in the guise of various angels. Perhaps like me he loves their form and will use any excuse to do more of them!

Certainly, now that it's finished and cast I can see the traditional theme of little Cupids in my bronze, as this mass of toddler figures seem to be crawling over each other to get higher.

The name has changed from Multi-Baby. Now it's Multi-Mummy, perhaps because that's what Tom my caster started to call it. I've had interesting reactions to this sculpture. Mostly people find it surprising and funny but there is also some consternation at the number of children this one mother has - there are twelve.

Pick Me Up
H: 21, W 8, D 10 cm
Price see price list

I wanted to do another very simple small hugging sculpture. The hug idea won't go away yet - which means I need to do more of them.

In this diminutive contemporary sculpture both figures are of non-specific gender, though one is child-like and one parent-like. It's a very basic idea to give one figure less contact with the ground which produces a good contrast between the solidly standing parent and the child on tiptoes.

It's very, very simple but I think it's going to be popular. I chose a soft bluey-grey patination that I've used before and which gives an attractive and complex finish.

My wonderful caster has often asked if I'd like to cast into other metals, and iron is the obvious choice. It takes a higher temperature to melt the iron but the metal itself is a little less expensive than bronze, making the overall cost of production about the same.

This small contemporary sculpture has had nothing done to its surface - no patination, wax or lacquer. It has a soft glowing feel to the surface that I really like. I'll wait for feedback before I have any more sculptures cast in iron, but personally, as my first sculpture in iron I think it's rather special.

Triple Embrace
H: 24, W: 18, D: 22 cm
No price - yet to be cast

This contemporary sculpture is yet to be cast. It was made with a client in mind who has a baby and toddler.

I like the way I have tucked the baby in, remembering juggling attention for my two boys when they were smaller. It looks so good in the ceramic form, with its matt off-white surface and dirtier crevices, and if it's cast I might ask the foundry to try to make the bronze look as the ceramic does now.

I have seen matt white patinas on other people's work but not tried it on mine before, although a gallery did once ask for a bronze that looked just like the original ceramic. I achieved that effect by painting the bronze with layers of metal primers, but rather than using paint again this time, I'd prefer the colour to be reproduced in the casting process.

There is so much depth to be had from seeing the effect of chemicals interacting on the surface of the bronze.

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