Giant lizard spotted in Warwickshire.

June 24th, 2010 § 0

Lizards are known for staying still for long periods of time.

I was out and about  a couple of weeks back and passed close by to one of my old sculptures and decided to pop and see it. I am always a little aprehensive when I go and visit old work, I guess I am always a tad worried that someone has taken a dislike to it or that it wont have weathered well over time. Clients are often worried about graffiti on the artwork but I can honestly say that I have only had to remove graffitti on 2 sculptures in almost 15 years of making art in the public realm. Needless to say, I was was very pleased to see the Lizard basking in the long grass near Ansley Common in Warwickshire. The piece was part of the quarryman’s walk project about 5 years ago and the sandstone reptile has weathered well over time.

I am coming towards the end of the carving for All Saints school and will post some finished pictures over the next few days.

Sculptor carves Fabio effigy !

June 16th, 2010 § 0

Fabio lays down the law.

With the hum of the vuvuzela ringing in my ears after a week of World Cup mania, I decided to pledge my support for our National Football team by carving these likenesses of manager Fabio Capello and team captain Steven Gerrard.  Of course this is notstrictly true. These are in fact a couple of carvings based on the designs by pupils of All Saints Primary School in Coalville. Following a pleasant upturn in the weather, I have been outside merrily carving the sculpture  that will eventually sit at the front entrance to the school. By the end of his week I will have been assisted by every student in the school. Each one, from 4 years through to 11, chipping away some stone to help to create the finished artwork towards the end of next week. Whether or not England will still be in the World Cup by the end of next week remains to be seen, hopefully no-one will be throwing eggs at my  Fabio effigy if things go belly up though.

Sculptor marches in to All Saints with a large rock.

June 13th, 2010 § 0

I have been working in All saints Primary School in Coalville, Leicestershire this week. As you can see from the picture I took with me a very large rock. It is 2 tonnes of Bath stone. At the start of the week, the children came up with some ideas for the sculpture and we decided that we would create a sculpture containing some of their own portraits tied in with some objects that relate to Coalville and their school. So, as well as some things that relate to Coalville’s industrial heritage, we have some flowers and wildlife.  Probably the best design amidst this is a wonderful image of a child sitting at the foot of a tree playing a recorder that is emanating music notes.  Every now and again during workshops like this, a child will conjure a wonderful idea which can  be incorporated into their sculpture. It would have made a very fine sculpture on its own. Over the week, kids have been helping me to carve the stone and this will continue until it is done ! I will post pictures of the work as it progresses.

Handsome sculptor carves big rock.

Some sympathy for Srallen apprentices.

June 8th, 2010 § 0

Kilkenny Limestone for the Bevin Boys Memorial

I enjoyed watching the Junior Apprentice last night. It was the episode where Srallen asks the youths to organise and sell paintings in a London Art Gallery. I felt a certain amount of sympathy for the poor kids as they tried their hardest to flog some ropey prints and paintings for hundreds and thousands of pounds. My personal favourite was the artist who had photographed herself in other peoples houses whilst house sitting for them - a bit spooky but definitely stood out from the others. It was a big ask for the teenagers having to spot the paintings that might sell, negotiate with the artist, arrange the pictures in the gallery and then drum up sufficient clients to make a buzzing exhibition – and then sell the pictures. Cant imagine too many of them will end up being a self employed sculptor, if they did, then their tasks would include promotional work, advertising, applying for commissions, accountant, secretary, salesman, designer, IT manager, purchaser,  sculptor, vehicle maintenance manager, sweeper up and tea maker. Get used to it kids – its as good as it gets !

On lighter note, the Kilkenny Limestone arrived for the Bevin Boys memorial which I will start in the next few days. I will put some pics up when I have got my chisels onto it.

Can you tell what it is yet ?

May 31st, 2010 § 0

4 of the 5 sculptors with their work.

Here are latest bunch of graduates from one of my weekend carving courses. 5 people took part with Rob having to leave early with his Brancusiesque sculpture thus missing out on the photo. They all worked extremely hard for the 2 days, especially on the Saturday when enough stone was removed to re surface the drive at Hall Farm. The results were excellent. Rachael made a Randall Page style fruit, Donna a beautiful polished ancaster limestone water feature, Steve a tall twisting piece and Neil made….erm…..lets just say he worked really hard and made some interesting shapes! Well done to everyone it was good fun and you all have something to be proud of even if you are not quite sure what it is meant to be !

Seats look neat in the heat but the sculptor is beat!

May 24th, 2010 § 0

What a great week I had last week at Rawlins College in Quorn. The project quickly picked up pace during the week as more and more kids came out to work on the stone seats. Despite the scorching temperatures,over 100 students worked on the sculptures and many returned time after time to carve, file and polish the stones. The results are 3 sculptures that are situated in the “Hub” area of the college and will be sat on and admired by hundreds of students and teachers for many years to come. Well done to everyone involved and thankyou for accommodating the hot and bothered sculptor !

Adam and Bradley worked tirelessly on their tree sculpture.The 3 finished seats on Friday afternoon.Marcus and Richard work on the seat designed by Lauren.

Marcus and Richard work on their seat with Lauren who designed it.The 3 finished seats on Friday afternoon.

Rawlins seating gathers pace

May 18th, 2010 § 0

The kids make a start on the sculptural seating

The kids at Rawlins College have made a start on the sculptural seating which will stay in their “Hub” when it is finished. They have worked their socks off so far and I will post images of their efforts later this week.

Travelling sculptor update…

May 18th, 2010 § 0

Tom scales the climbing boulder in his socks !

This is a picture of “Tom” trying out the climbing boulder in Handsworth Community Park near Sheffield. I spent a few hours there last week carving some hand and foot holes into the boulders so that they provide a challenging climbing rock for the kids. Guided by Tom, a climbing expert, I carved holes and handles so that there were opportunities for climbers of all abilities to manoeuvre around the rock. Although I still have a few more bits to carve on it, Tom managed to climb all the way around the stone which I have to say was very impressive.

This week I am based in Rawlins Community College in Quorn, Leicestershire where I will be helping the kids to make 3 sculptural seats. I popped along last week to help them to generate some ideas for the sculptures. There were some exciting designs and I have the selected the 3 to be carved this week. I will post some images here during the course of the week to show how they are getting on.

georgem.co.uk for trains and tea!

May 10th, 2010 § 0

Puffing Billy

I am delighted to say that I will be returning to my native north east to make a sculpture over the course of the next few months. I will be creating a sculptural gateway for Harbottle park in Byker, Newcastle.  It is a great location for a sculpture with views over Newcastle and the Bridges of the Tyne. The park is in the process of being completely revamped and a number of sculptural entrance features are being created as part of the makeover. Over the summer, I will be involving local residents in the project with a view to installing the sculpture in the Autumn. Watch this space for progress. I was brought up in Ashington in Northumberland so Byker is only around 20 minutes drive from my parents who still live up that way in Newbiggin by the sea. My Dad is quite a talent, he makes the most amazing intricate model trains entirely from scratch. Above is a picture of “Puffing Billy” which, he tells me, is made to a scale 12mm to the foot. His website is well worth a visit at www.georgem.co.uk  Needless to say, my Dad’s help on all things technical has been invaluable over the years, however, I will be requiring him to help with all things related to cup of tea making if I am to be spending a bit more time in the north east !

Going back to the Ferrers Centre was not at all alien.

May 3rd, 2010 § 0

Martian madness.

Saturday saw the opening of a new exhibition at the Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts at Staunton Harold in Leicestershire. The show is hosting the work of 50 Leicestershire artists including 3 small pieces by yours truly. The exhibition is due to last until the end of June and is certainly well worth a look. As part of the opening of the event, I was invited to run a stone carving demo in the courtyard of the Ferrers Centre on Satutrday. This brought back a few memories as this is where I had my first workshop from 1995 to 2003. Aside from catching up with some old friends,  I thoroughly enjoyed spending a few hours in the sunshine chiseling and chatting. I was ably assisted by my 10 year old son who set about making his own sculpture. His intricate design based on an amalgamation of alien creatures certainly generated more interest than my wavy/fishy sculpture. Despite this, I vowed not be too down heartened and to keep on practicing.

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