I was born in 1948, in Nottingham, England. I went to a famous (sometimes infamous) progressive co-educational boarding school in South West England (which may have had some influence on my subsequent delight in the sexual aspects of human existence). I trained as an architect in London, and have worked mainly as a sole practitioner for about 25 years, since qualifying in 1975. These days I specialise in making measured surveys of old buildings.
I have never been trained as an artist or a sculptor and I must credit my Jungian analyst for showing me that I could give myself permission to express artistic ideas, because, in the middle of a very instructive and illuminating session with him, I was overcome with the need to create three-dimensional figurative pieces to try to explore and celebrate Tenderness, Eroticism and Sexuality. On the way home from London one day in 1994 I begged half a bag of clay from a potter friend and started making figures.
Most of these first attempts survived being bisque fired and thus acquired a permanence which had seemed unimportant when I began. The concept of permanence took hold and subsequently I taught myself how to carve various types of stone, a skill I have admired in others all my life. So far I have cut Polyphant, Bath Stone, Portland Stone, Portuguese Limestone, Alabaster and various Sandstones. I have a tiny piece of marble waiting for a delicate idea, and I would like one day to try carving granite.
I attended a course at Dartington Hall to learn how to cast a bronze using lost wax and ceramic shell techniques. I have one successful casting to show for the course, and the man who taught me has become a firm friend. I have always been a practical person, used to using tools and materials - I was taught to weld using oxy-acetylene at the age of 6 by my father, and practised welding thin rusty mild steel alot as a young man with crumbling cars to keep going - it was this which gave me the confidence to start making the Running Man, during which I discovered how to use a MiG welder. Because mild steel cannot be left outside without rusting I moved on to Phosphor Bronze sheet (see Father and Baby) in the course of which I have now acquired and mastered the use of a TiG welder.
I have exhibited work at
- Totnes Museum, Totnes
- A Solo Exhibition at The Ariel Centre, Totnes
- The Green Fuse Gallery, Totnes
- Nine Days of Art - Open Studio Event, Devon
- The Lion Gallery, Leominster
Incidentally, I chose the picture at the top of this page in deference to my subjects - I require them all to be naked, so it only seems fair!
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