The artist:
My sculpture explores the interplay between organic form and structural integrity. A fascination with natural processes like erosion and growth informs both my subtractive carving techniques and additive methods with materials such as clay and plaster. My works often intertwine elements of nature, such as vertebrae, ivy, shells and trees, with human and structural forms, creating pieces which I hope are both evocative and thought-provoking.
Shell II – Hand carved laminated plywood
One of my main reasons for sculpting with plywood has been its stability. Large pieces of timber are very hard to fully dry and often produce cracks and shakes as they continue to dry. This can be a wonderful organic process in itself but can often be undesirable. I’ve found gluing plywood together to produce a block to carve from is the idea solution to this. The “strata” of the ply not only adds a particular visual aesthetic to a finish piece, it also assists in the carving process by acting as “height” or “contour” lines. Carved over a period of six weeks Shell II was carved at a 1 to 2.5 scale. With the use of a hand held laser to measure X, Y and Z co-ordinates, dimensions and heights of the original shell where transferred to the plywood block as carving progressed.