|
 
The Sculptor, Hamish Mackie in the Bush (above) "It's wonderful to get so close to them - particularly the black rhinos who are difficult to get near to - we underestimate their agility – they are very quick and nimble-footed animals. Sadly one had just been poached when I arrived at Lewa - there are 65 black rhino at Lewa - that's 11% of the national population." http://www.lewa.org
Hamish Mackie (b.1973) has works in public and private collections around the world. His most recent trip to Lewa Downs, Kenya has been an inspiration "Getting so close to these amazing animals in their own habitat has been incredible - the sounds and smells - getting properly in touch with the animals."
 "Elephants come to you more easily. I was sculpting 2 or 3 metres away from some elephants and the longer you spend time with them, the more things you see..... a mother with her twins - a very rare sight – wonderful to watch her help the smallest of the two calves in a very gentle motherly manner."
"Then you see a teenager coming up towards a hole trumpting away the impalas......."
All of the clay sculptures shown in the on-line exhibition are in the process of being cast in bronze (see details below on the skill and effort that goes into casting an original bronze sculpture).
Mackie has been sculpting since he was at school - a passion which started at Radley College followed by Falmouth School of Art and Kingston School of Art. Having grown up on a livestock farm in Cornwall, Mackie is totally at home in the outdoors and is a keen conservationist, sculpting from life wherever possible: “Nothing beats following a heard of elephant in the bush, watching grouse on the moor, or deer in a wood......” What really makes Hamish stand out from the crowd is his natural and instinctive fluid interpretation of the way animals move in the wild - that rare ability to capture their inner essence. "I plan on sculpting two really big bull elephants fighting as my next project .....maybe in silver....."
| Ainscough Contemporary Art |
| Art in Action |
| Art London |
| CLA Game Fair |
| Collier and Dobson |
| Fine Art Commissions, London. |
| Game Conservancy Trust |
| Hunting exhibition organised by the Royal Saint-Hubert Club of Belgium |
| Knight Frank, Hungerford. |
| Rathbones, Edinburgh. |
| Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London |
| Soane Gallery, London |
| Solo Show, The Gallery in Cork Street, London 2004 |
| Solo Show, The Gallery in Cork Street, London 2007 |
| Tryon Gallery, London |
| Wykham Gallery, Stockbridge Hampshire |
Commissions
| Alibaba Group, Hong Kong |
| Andrew Winch Design |
| Archerfield links |
| Bahamas Development Company, Bahamas |
| Barclays Private Bank Ltd |
| Cadogan Estates, Scotland |
| Calcot Manor |
| Chalky, Rick Stein |
| Chapman University, California |
| Charles Saatchi |
| Chippenham Park, Cambridgeshire |
| Clear Water, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Countryside Alliance |
| Dame Vivian Duffield |
| Daylesford Organic, London |
| Gilbane Development Company, Rhode Island |
| Hiscox, London |
| Horse and Hound Blenheim Trophy |
| Jilly Cooper |
| Kifu the Gorilla, Howletts |
| Knowsley Park, Derbyshire |
| Lewa Downs, Kenya |
| Little Haugh Hall, Suffolk |
| Merrill Lynch, London |
| National Trust |
| Radley College |
| Ronnie Wood |
| RSPCA The Marina Arnsbry award |
| Sir Anthony Bamford |
| Sir Dominic Cadbury |
| The Lucas Collection, Los Angeles |
| The National Trust |
| Tregothnan Estates, Cornwall |
| Trewithen Estates, Cornwall |
|
| Bronze Casting
Bronze sculpting involves making an original terracotta, plaster or wax model over an armature. From this a silicon rubber mould is made, forming a negative of the original. From the mould a hollow wax positive is cast. To this a series of wax runners and risers are fitted, these allow the molten bronze to flow in and the gases to come out. Once the wax is 'sprued up' it is coated inside and out with ceramic liquid which is built up in layers to form a strong heat resistant shell around the wax.
This is then baked upside down in an oven allowing the wax to melt out, hence the term 'cirde perdue' or 'lost wax'. Into the space left by the wax, molten bronze is poured at a temperature of 1200'c. Silver, gold, cast iron, stainless steel, lead and aluminium are other metals that can be cast using this method.
When the bronze has cooled the ceramic shell is chipped away and the sprues cut off. To remove the ceramic from the surface detail, the bronze is placed in acid, which eats away the silica in the ceramic.
If the bronze has been cast in several pieces it is now welded together and chased. This is a highly skilled process recreating any surface detail.
The sculpture is now ready to be heated up and applied with various chemicals, which form the finished patina.
| 
