PROFILE
The impetus for my work lies in design and build, whether that be sculptural, architectural or engineering. This passion evolved from my formative years and developed in a family atmosphere where art and music were encouraged to flourish.
My father’s career started as a colliery fitter, merchant navy engineer and then as an art and craft teacher. He encouraged his children to pursue their talents and encouraged me to believe that I could do anything if I was determined enough. He was a talented sculptor in his own right but was more interested in teaching others how to develop their own talents and so I started sculpting as a child mostly copying what my father was doing, the best way to learn.
As a young boy I would sketch recreationally, perhaps the most pivotal moment for me being the discovery of the drawings of Michelangelo and Leonardo.
My drawing talents were acknowledged during my teens by various art teachers. However, I decided not to pursue a formal art education, choosing a career in design engineering instead. This allowed me to nurture the all round skills of the renaissance artists I so admired and thereafter I furthered my artistic studies largely on a self-taught basis.
In my early adult years I continued to draw and began sculpting again, carving stone. I now was the father of a young boy and started modelling in clay again to help him develop his own skills. The clay modelling became an obsession for me and I very quickly started producing portraits and was soon modelling life-size figures which I also moulded and cast. This resulted in several civic commissions and led to my first solo exhibition.