Fen Roots is a sculpture commissioned by Wetherspoons pub chain for a new pub opening in the fen town March. The new pub ‘The Hippodrome’ used to be a cinema and is a lovely building with loads of character.
The sculpture is really a continuation of my Fenland Series. In fact, I lived in the Fenland town March for five years and enjoyed many walks through Gault Wood and Norwood Road nature reserve. And this sculpture is inspired by the overgrown areas, the gnarled trees and old roots. Most of all I enjoyed the new growth of spring.
The sculpture is Created from recycled steel tubing and metal pétanque balls. The bare metal finish is lacquered and waxed.
Metal sculpture, Recycled Art, Sculpture
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Fen Roots, fenland, Gault Wood, Hippodrome, March, March Town, Metal sculpture, Norwood Road, recycled steel, Sculpture, sculpture commission, steel tubing, Wetherspoons
The Ridger is a mythical bird that, as legend would have it, hunted mercilessly for the potato.
The metal sculpture is created from farm implements; the tail is an old potato fork, the wings are skimmer points from a plough and the head is a ridger for earthing up potatoes.
The title Pax Arva Colat means Let Peace Cultivate the Fields and is the motto of the World Ploughing Organization. The sculpture is created from plough shares.
“And everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid,
Everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.”
From the song ‘The Vine and Fig Tree’
Here is a few photos from my Lost and Foundry exhibition at Williams Art Gallery in Cambridge. Where I am exhibiting metal sculpture and sculptural furniture created from recycled and scrap metal and objects.
Hooked is wall hanging sculpture created from scrap collected from a farm barn. The meaning is in the name and I created this soon after an old school friend died from years of drug and achohol abuse.
I am so please with this sculpture as the finished work is exactly what I had in mind when I looked at my pile of scrap metal. And I had so much creating this sculpture – it is very tongue in cheek and is based on the weird and wonderful creatures that can be found in the deep parts of the oceans and that so fascinated me as a child.
For the paint finish, I used a range of car paints and many coats of lacquer.
Finally got round to taking some new photos of a Ashwinstudio lantern / metal candle holder created from found objects – mostly car parts such as gears and cogs. It is a bit of industrial art designed to hold a candle.
For this sculpture, titled Contorta, I wanted the work to have an organic feel to it like branches and tree roots. With this in mind I added new bends to the reclaimed rollcages that I had already cut down to smaller lengths. And although I had spent much time planning it in my mind the sculpture took on life of its own as it developed and grew. Once again, I used French boules sets for the larger balls and also added small mini boules. To me the larger balls are like fruit or tubers and the smaller balls are like new growth in Spring as it spreads…
Lean On Me is made from reclaimed scrap metal including RSJ beams and box section. This metal sculpture has been a labour of love, needing countless coats of car paint and lacquer. Not to mention the rubbing down between coats and masking off each section and the hastle of moving it. However, I am very happy with the end result and am looking forward to seeing it on show.
Below is various images taken outside the workshop and one in progress. I will post more soon…
Here is a few pics of a experimental metal table created from scrap crankshafts, cogs, gears and metal offcuts.
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