Tell us about your studio and how you like to work.
My studio is in the Suffolk countryside. Perhaps an extension of that traditional ‘atelier’ way of learning, it’s really a household enterprise – I run and manage the studio with my partner who I met whilst training to cast (and two dogs who are no help at all).
I enjoy the solitude and focus of a solo studio. Being out in nature, in the elements, is also important to me. The physicality of this medium and all its attendant processes was one of the things that really grabbed me and I suppose this is mirrored in the space. When it comes to the seasons, the studio changes with them all: thermals on and frozen clay in January, the manic preservation of waxes in buckets of water during the height of summer. The space itself is a large corrugated farm building, with a room for experimentation and construction nestled between the foundry and the metal-finishing areas.
What’s the inspiration for your pieces, and how does each one develop?
I see both parts of my practice as reactions and considerations of place. My botanical works, a series I refer to as Pomarius, began with the location I’m working in. Sometimes the choice of site is drawn from a wider theme, but for the most part my works are an attempt to communicate value – that of the original organic specimens, and the places they come from.
With my broader sculptural practice, I’ve used Suffolk and the coast as a starting point for many years, transposing landscape sketches into hanging bronze works and linear pieces. I see some of these as maps, and some as sketches, with the brevity of such actions made long by this material.