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I think the most interesting thing about being an artist
is that you don't know where you're going to go with what you're doing
because you have a starting point, which can be deliberate or less deliberate
and then you don't know where the end point is going to be.
I really hope I'm sculpting in 10 years time, 20 years time
because I really enjoy doing it, it's the ideal activity.
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I did a lot of my growing up as an artist in London
and it was very interesting working in big group studios
so it was exciting because lots of input from different sorts of artists
in fact a lot of them are quite well known
I shared a big group studio in south-east London with Mark Wincher and Trissy Immin
it was great because you had input, freshness
there was more stress, it's a bigger point.
My style has developed over the last 30 years
but not quite as much as I would imagine
in that I can recognize the early work.
I certainly understand what I'm doing more
but it is highly recognizable from the early work as well.
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Sometimes a piece of work can work really fast
if you start the right way and it goes smoothly
it can take maybe a month
but mostly it takes longer because the process of working and reworking
can take 6 months, sometimes with a bigger piece, about a year
I put the music on, I sit down and zone out
and it's the most wonderful activity actually.
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Moving up to Norfolk has been different
I think my work's calmed down and it's more domestic
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing
Quite a lot of the day is spent sculpting
but being self-employed I can take the day off if I want to
which is brilliant, fantastic freedom.
I love listening to Wagner
I've recently got into that
and you're either into Wagner or you're not
so I play that fairly loudly at the moment
so everybody knows when I'm in the studio.
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I think I'm finding my work more therapeutic as I've got older
because I think I'm more confident about what I'm doing
it used to be agonising really and I couldn't bear to have anybody
watch what I was doing and I was always very anxious
when people came to see the work.
I've got older and I just think I can be me,
my work can be me and that's quite comfortable
so I actually really do enjoy working now.
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I think I wanted to be a sculptor pretty early on
I used clay from the beach
and really liked working on something that was real
I didn't ever think I would become an artist or a sculptor actually
but it happened in the end through lots of happy chances really.
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The casting process it goes back thousands of years
it's very highly skilled process
which is really why it costs so much to have done
because every part of the process is fought with danger
of having a failure
so I use a very highly skilled foundry
who produces extremely good work
and has a very low failure rate.
We started today with the investment kiln
we removed the moulds from the kiln
in order to pour bronze into them
the moulds are basically sculptures captured
in a negative space
the client will come to us with an original piece of sculpture
it could be in any form
we then go through a process of mould making
which enables us to transfer their original object into wax
we then go through a system of spurring up the wax
which is basically putting a set of pathways for the bronze to go into the actual object
and remove all the air as the bronze goes in
today all we've done is principally fill them with molten bronze
we then knock the moulds open
and we have the very beginnings of a piece of sculpture
that's a beautiful one
having knocked out the bronzes
the whole different part of the process takes over
so it's metal finishing from then on right until the end
which is a process which takes a very very long time
it's a highly skilled process
so we start by initially trimming up the bronzes
taking off the runners and risers
removing all the investments
we pressure wash them clean
we shop blast them clean
and then start cutting back with power tools
and then it goes over to hand tools all the way to the end
so things like hand files, sharp chisels or modelling chisels
and also chisels to put texture back into the surface
I started out showing in small mixed group shows in London
and I've built up from there really
I'd organised my own shows
I've had one in the Orangery in Hoddon Park
I've shown at the Rod Academy summer exhibition
I've shown lots of art fairs in Europe
but more especially in London
I can't believe that I am one
I didn't ever think it would happen
I'm totally grateful for what the forces have made that possible
because it's lots of forces
it's family, it's finance, it's clients
and it's a lot of chance
so I feel really very very lucky
it's one of the luckiest things in my life that I've been an artist
because I've really enjoyed doing it
and I'd love to keep at it I think
