black mountain bronze
Bronze is contemporary and yet has strong echoes deep within our evolutionary
past. The casting of bronze is a raw and elemental process that can be achieved
around a campfire with beeswax and clay or in sophisticated foundries using high
tech furnaces and technical materials. At the heart of the process is the
transformative slight of hand, like fossilisation where one object becomes
another under the influence of extreme heat. Organic materials or wax are
replaced by bronze in the casting process, via a combination of intention, earth
and fire. Finishing and colouring bronze is equally transformative, raw metal
through the crude exposure to the weather, seawater or sophisticated of chemical
sequences and heat comes to life with rich, lustrous and intense colours. NEW
WORKS I love the physicality of sculpture both of the process and the materials.
Before setting up my bronze foundry in 2015 I trained and practiced as a ceramic
artist. Working wax, is a visceral process; how I feel in the act of creation
and my responses to the emerging piece dictate the outcome. I suspend conscious
engagement and hold the sense of where something is going for as long as
possible without interpretation. I believe that a work of art can offer a mirror
to the soul for both the maker and the observer. How we respond to a work tells
us something about ourselves. For this reason I am encouraged to explore new
areas of work and challenge the viewer to consider their response to all types
of work, paying attention to what they like as much as well as what they find
uncomfortable.
