Spring 2020 - Sculpture in the Time of COVID
The year started off extremely encouraging and promising and then….it hit. The only constructive approach I could come up with was to continue creating. That was my salvation – working away in the comfort of my studio was extremely satisfying. The new projects included a Congress of three Raven sculptures mounted on basalt rock columns, a Howling Wolf and a new Jelly Fish sculpture.
Fall 2019 - Wild Aid Gala
For the past four years I have been donating a custom sculpture to WildAid for their annual fundraising event to assist with their incredible international wildlife conservation efforts. I am so impressed with how this organization is run and how effective they have been. The sculptures created for WildAid include the Crouching Octopus, the Hawksbill Sea Turtle and this last year, the Pangolin. Last fall we had the good fortune to attend the WildAid Gala at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles where we witnessed such inspirational speakers from around the world describing the organization’s past efforts and successes as well as the incredible generosity of their patrons. It was all truly amazing and yes, very fun as well.
Pangolin
Fall 2017 - Studio News
The focus this summer has been tables, lots of them – an elegant glass topped dining room table with 6 sea horses mounted on a polished ebony base; the Giant Mussel coffee table installed on a huge yacht as well as the Alaska King Crab coffee table. The Giant Mussel Table was a particular challenge as the tempered glass had to be fitted in such a way that it can withstand the ups and downs of sea life on a large moving boat.
There is also a new Eagle Sculpture and a Raven Sculpture that will be show cased in my next update.
Currently I am working on a new life-sized Wolf Sculpture, a more playful pose, and plan to have this cast in bronze for the spring of 2018.
This fall I hope to have a couple of entries accepted into the Sidney Fine Art Show running from October 13 to 15th and I will be participating in my 10th annual Fall Studio Tour on October 21 and 22.
Seahorse Table
King Crab Table
Giant Mussel Table
Fall 2016 Update
The spring and summer have been busy with three new coffee table commissions. One of a new version of the Giant Octopus Table, a second custom design using a s slap of polished maple burl supported by octopus tentacles and a third featuring a school of three Chinook salmon.
My latest piece is the Crouching Octopus shown below. This piece depicts one of my favourite poses that I have observed during my diving adventures. The sculpture is approximately 16 inches high, and 18 inches in diameter around the base and weighs 65 pounds. I think the piece conveys a very strong sense of movement and it certainly was a very enjoyable piece to create. The sculpture is being done as Limited Edition of 25 and Editions 1 and 2 have been sold. Crouching Octopus is now on display at the Shell Aero Centre at the Victoria International Airport and will also be shown in Sidney Fine Art Show between October 14th and 16th.
Other new works completed this summer include a pair of Sandhill Cranes inspired by last summers’ visit down into Idaho as well as a new Tortoise, a little hedge hog, a racoon and a Raven, a pair of Sawhet Owls and a Chinook salmon mounted on a cobble base, These pieces will be featured in upcoming my winter blog update.
If you are in Victoria this month, please come out to my studio tour on October 22 and 23 Saturday and Sunday 10 to 5 each day. We will a large display of new bronzes and works in progress as well as refreshments. Other events this month include the Sidney Fine Art Show running between October 14, 15 and 16 at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. If you are interested in a free pass to the show please contact me.
Spring 2016 Updates and Notes
A day in the Life..... I love being an artist and it is immensely rewarding to walk down the path from our house, third cup of coffee in hand, settle into my studio each day and start creating a new sculpture. The studio is warm and inviting and full of inspirational images and keepsakes; it is a very peaceful and comfortable place to work. When I am in the midst of creating a new sculpture I will often work for 10 to 12 hours a day taking frequent breaks along the way to walk in the garden and stretch my muscles, as the sculpting requires some very intense focus and concentration and can be quite exhausting. This is all balanced out by the extremely gratifying sense of achievement and satisfaction when that clay shape and texture comes to life and you know that you have created something with lasting appeal.
Of course this doesn’t happen every day as in between the start of each new sculpture there are a lot of technical processes and details and grunt work that need to be tended to. The mold-making process for each sculpture will typically consume one to two weeks time working with a messy array of rubber, metal, plaster and fibreglass, cutting, mixing, trimming and drilling. After the mold is done, we need to make a wax replica of the original sculpture making sure it matches all the detail of the original sculpture and then get the wax replica ready for delivery to the foundry. With the wax replica done and delivered to the foundry, it is inevitably time to regroup, clean and organize the studio and get started on, or back to, the next project.
In between the creative and technical processes out in the studio, there is a lot of business to tend to and this typically takes some dedicated effort each day – lots of planning and strategizing. Client correspondence, upcoming art shows and displays, inventory management, arranging studio supplies, on-line and print media advertising, project quotes, website development, social media work (a recent undertaking), cash flow and financial management and on a really good day, scheduling a studio tour for clients, or building a shipping crate for a sold sculpture!
The technical tasks and many artisan skill-sets required at the foundry are a whole other story which I will describe in a subsequent post.
New Works in Progress: This is an in-progress snapshotof my latest creation, a pair of Sandhill Cranes which I expect to have cast in bronze by May of this year. These pieces were inspired by a longstanding fascination with these incredible migratory birds and more recently by some fortuitous observations made last summer during a road trip through Northern Idaho.
Other new works that will be posted on the Website this spring include a new custom designed coffee table commission that incorporates a heart-shaped piece of maple burl supported by three giant bronze octopus legs with a small feature octopus suspended under glass.
There is a also a new sculpture of a standing Grizzly bear, a sculpture that was inspired by a close encounter last summer while exploring Desolation Sound. Someday I hope to be able to create a life-sized version of this piece.
A Note to Potential Clients: There has never been a better time to consider purchasing a bronze sculpture from a Canadian Artist such as myself. With the discounted Canadian Dollar I am able to price my sculptures at a significant discount for USA purchases. For Corporate Canadian clients, I have some very interesting information on CRA tax treatments for Art work produced by Canadian artists.