Lisa Sharpe Contemporary Art: Sculptors Biographies

Simon Allen

Simon Allen draws his inspiration from the sea and his local Cornish coastline. Rhythm is a constant theme expressed through his unique ability to capture the fluidity and movement of light on water; carving into wood to make free and fluid sweeps which mirror waves and the timeless beauty of light dancing on water. Allen uses his skill as a master gilder to bring the carved surfaces to life: layer upon layer of gold and silver leaf to create a deep and magical ever changing dialogue between the viewer and the sculpture.

“I like to explore the ever changing, transient light, on moving water, within a swimming pool or on the sea. I am fascinated by the ephemeral, and water embodies this perfectly. Almost always in a state of flux, it moves from wave to wave. The natural state for water is movement and rhythm, the more movement, the more alive the water becomes.”

“Allen is fast achieving that thing that only a select few of his illustrious forebears in the pre- and post-war St. Ives circles achieved: recognition beyond the local. He is doing so by working with commitment and integrity to refine his own sculptural grammar. The fact that his reputation is growing so rapidly and widely testifies to his having found in abstraction what Ben Nicholson described as a “powerful and universal language.” Tom Flynn

Paul Day

A 1metre maquette for The Meeting Place, St. Pancras, also know as the Lovers, St. Pancras.

Paul Day is one of our most talented living figurative sculptors with an unrivalled talent for expressing the human story in a three dimensional art form.

Day has worked internationally for over 20 years, exhibiting in the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe.

He is most famous for creating three iconic statues in London that have received world-wide acclaim:

The“The Lovers, St. Pancras” originally titled "The Meeting Place, St. Pancras" a 9 metre tall statue of an embracing couple that greets continental visitors as they arrive at the Eurostar, London.

The sculpture was installed in St Pancras station in 2007 and unveiled by HM the Queen at the station’s opening.

The “Battle of Britain Monument” is sited on the Embankment, near Big Ben.

Day won an international competition to design and make a national tribute to “The Few”.

The Monument was unveiled by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on Battle of Britain Day, 2005.

The “Memorial to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother” Paul Day’s relief sculptures show scenes from the life of Queen Elizabeth.

The Memorial was unveiled by the Queen and all major members of the Royal Family in 2009.

Zac Greening

Zac Greening's work is inspired by nature. His work aims to depict man's inextricable economic, social and spiritual link with nature. The work is often symbolic of sustainability, biodiversity, ecology and recycling.

Wherever appropriate, Zac uses found or reclaimed materials and fuses them with man-made/off the shelf materials thus trying to symbolise a more sustainable relationship with our natural environment. Zac feels that man has become disconnected from nature as a result of his ever increasing and addictive consumption of our natural resources. Through his work he hopes that the viewer will re-engage with nature and be reminded of its fragility and beauty.

“Polluted Sea was made in response to a statistic I read that all the rubbish in the sea would cover the state of Texas! It is a commentary on the state of our natural environment and man's addictive consumption of it. Coca cola being the ultimate corporate symbol of this consumption.”

In recent years Zac has been commissioned by a host of corporate clients including, BP, Speedo and BMW. In 2006, Zac won The Green Award for his colour changing illumination of Delabole wind farm.

His work can also be found in private collections around the world.

Hamish Mackie

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......."

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....."

Exhibitions

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.

Carl Payne

Carl Payne’s natural gift to sculpt the female form in an anatomically perfect way is immediately obvious, but it is his ability to express the fleeting spirit of the form that is truly captivating. Payne’s work has a feeling as if it has been created in another world – cast in a foundry centuries old - work that is totally timeless and classical that could just as easily at home in the palace of a Roman Emperor as it would be in a contemporary loft conversion today.

At present Payne is working on a portrait of Natasha Oughtred, principal dancer at Birmingham Royal Ballet and he has had numerous private and public monumental commissions including King George V and Queen Mary; Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross; Randolph Turpin, Sir Stanley Matthews and Sir Roger Bannister

Adam Roud

All of Adam Roud's work whether figurative, abstract or wildlife, has a common thread of balance and movement running through them. Roud studied sculpture at Liverpool John Moores University and went on to work under Ken Whitburn former foundry manager at Morris Singer in London at the time of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Whilst at the Morris Singer Foundry, Roud mastered the techniques of finishing and patination – a job that many sculptors pass on to the foundry, but which Roud feels is an essential part of the creative process. In 2000 Roud set up his own studio and workshop and since 2005 has also been teaching life drawing and sculpture at College Farm Arts, Hampshire.

"In my abstract work, the individual pieces live in their own right, but when considered as a group, the individuals become a collective and it is this, that really interests me…..My activity is the art: the drawing and sculpture are the evidence or residue of my thoughts....."

Exhibitions: Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, Kent & Sussex Art Fair, Hampshire Art Fair, Birtley House Art Exhibition, Surrey, The Bronze Gallery, Lacewing Gallery, Bullshot, Moundsmere, LAPADA at the Royal Academy, Alresford Gallery, The Forge Studio & Gallery, Hampshire Art Fair, Hackwood Arts Festival, Bullshot, Moundsmere, Art Legacy, Odiham

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