My Voyage
Born in Plymouth but lived in Cornwall, passing by Plymouth College of Art, and then Manchester Art College before crossing the Pennines to live in Sheffield. After taking a post grad at Bretton Hall, home of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, I pursued teaching in the Sheffield area finishing in Kent and Essex before leaving for France. I now live and work in the Minervois, in the South of France.
My Influences
My influences are varied but my childhood in the southwest of England, notably Looe and Tintagel has clearly left its mark. The hours spent contemplating wind and water sculpted granite and slate.
Etched in my memories are the windswept hawthorns on Bodmin moor and the "scars" from Cornish mining.
Engraved in my heart are the traces of Celtic man.
Later encounters with the Peak District with its gritstone forms on Stanage Edge and limestone landscapes of Yorkshire to the stacks in the Lakes and Scotland. I seem to had led a life dominated by magnificent landscapes.
Fascination with the traces of mans endeavours are ever present in my mind and work, from mining, then agriculture to the industrial revolution in Derbyshire.
Watching the blacksmith near Trelawne and experiencing the steel works of Sheffield before they disappeared are all powerful images in my life.
The Minervois seemed a natural step in terms of dramatic landscape and history. Here would seem to be a culmination of all these forces warmed as well by the Mediterranean sun.
Here & Now
In adapting to this current environment I am at present working with oak reclaimed from the giant barrels (foudre) where wine was stored and iron that laboured the vineyards. Although the ironwork inspires me I feel often obliged to reform it and to adapt it and so I forge the iron using traditional methods. The physical engagement in the creative act I find a fulfilling and necessary labour. It brings me at one with the elements of material, time and space.
JfS 2011