SCULPTURE
Eagle sculpture made for Eagle Star's City of London offices.
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Art, sculpture in particular, is my passion. I think myself lucky to have made a career in commercial sculpture.
The very best projects for me have been those opportunities where I have been able to give my creativity free-rein, and get paid for making fine art work!
An involvement with Eagle Star insurance for a period provided commissions for a number of different sculptures of eagles, including some for their headquarters in Cheltenham, and a very prestigious one that was mounted over the entrance to their offices in St Mary Axe in the City of London.
The London eagle sculpture, which had a 3m wing span, survived the IRA bombing in 1993 with moderate damage to one of the wings. Eagle Star returned it to my workshop where I repaired the wing and re-gilded the sculpture (it was finished entirely in 23.75ct gold leaf), and then replaced it over the entrance canopy, where it remained for many more years.
PORTRAITURE
Portrait bust of Mr Lawrence Batley, 1.5 times life size. Commissioned by Batleys of Yorkshire Ltd.
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Portraiture I find fascinating. I enjoy the challenge of creating a good likeness without losing the spontaneity of the modelling, something that I think worked particularly well in my portrait bust of Mr Lawrence Batley (see image to the left).
I have been fortunate to have received several portrait commissions for public display over the years.
I think the huge amount of commercial sculpture work that I have done has benefited me greatly in refining my skills in all the technical aspects of sculpture.
Resin casting and GRP (glass fibre reinforced polyester resin) are excellent media for creating sculptural work with great refinement and detail, using GRP or silicone rubber moulds.
This work I do entirely ‘in house’ in my sculpture workshop in Keynsham, so I have absolute control over what is created.
TROPHIES, PLAQUES & AWARDS
The West of England Business of the Year Award trophy.
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Our design and production facilities are very versatile and our work has included trophy designs, presentation awards and commemorative sculpture.
I submitted my first design for the West of England Business of the Year Award trophy as a competition entry in 1992. I won the contract and supplied the trophy made to my design for the next eight years.
Then in 2000, the sponsors, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, The Western Daily Press and HTV West requested a totally new design incorporating their newly-designed graphic for the award.
For the original trophy I had used a stylised map to represent the West of England, so in order to have a completely new image, I used a sculptural interpretation of south-westerly pointing part of a compass. This new style trophy was supplied by my company for presentation for many years.
We have also made safety award trophies for Esso Petroleum, The Queen's Award for Export Achievement plaques, National Lottery Award plaques, Pub of the Year plaques, and a one-off trophy for a Timmy Mallett competion.
CAST METAL
Through my involvement with specialist art metal foundries, I understand the techniques of lost-wax and sand casting, which I have employed to create works in bronze, aluminium alloy, and even iron.