Peter Gargas Sculptor

Peter trained in stone sculpture for 5 years in Poland where his training included
the tradition of studying and copying the work of the great classical sculptors.
He was invited to join a company focussed on the restoration of decorative
stone features on historic buildings of Oxfordshire.

Throughout this practical immersion in art, Peter developed the skills to
envisage and recreate heavily eroded and damaged sculptures in the style of the
original artists. Inevitably, his work has been described as ‘cosmetic surgery’ in
stone, but more importantly, these skills have led to the development of Peter’s
own contemporary artistic style.

Frances Warren

Following a degree in ecology and a doctorate in architecture Frances had a varied career in social housing, before deciding to do something totally different and joining the Portfolio Course at Hereford College of Art. This gave her the opportunity to try a wide range of craft disciplines. She has since gone on to explore blacksmithing and welding, bronze casting, stone carving and glass fusing. Frances worked with Caro Burberry who introduced her to a wide range of approaches and techniques to sculpture making. She now currently runs the Llangarron Stone Carving group with sculptor Glenn Morris RSA.

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In 2008 Frances established “Arts in the Marches”, a company focused on organising garden sculpture exhibitions, running craft workshops and showcasing local artists’s work.  

Frances is founder member of Made in Ross, an arts and crafts collective based in the Market House in the centre of Ross-on-Wye. The collective gave Frances the support and encouragement to develop her own work. Living in rural south Herefordshire with an interest in the environment  and architectural spaces, Frances naturally gravitated towards making structurally significant works of art for her large garden. Frances creates garden sculptures  in metal, glass and stone, and also makes smaller interior items which are on display in the Market House, Ross-on-Wye.

In 2023 in addition to exhibiting garden sculptures at Cotswold Sculpture Park, Frances will also have other works in the following venues:-

Canwood Gallery, Checkley, Herefordshire 

Showborough House Garden Sculpture Exhibition, Gloucestershire 

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Ollie Holman Metal Sculptor Bio

From a young age Ollie has been creating metal sculptures after finding the allure of metal through being introduced to welding. He finds the material captivating to work with, as it can be immensely strong yet also delicate. 

His style is all about capturing the organic essence of a given being and feeling. Where he hopes his work invites viewers to explore the power of using negative and positive spaces to describe a being or emotion. Inspired by nature and passionate to emulate the organic textures and forms, from manmade industrial material of steel. 

Based in North Yorkshire where he has been fine tuning his style over the years.

About the Artist

Will Spankie
Will studied sculpture at Sir John Cass and Central St Martins Art schools
in London. Since then he has been working as a self-employed stone carver
and letter cutter. He makes stone sculpture and lettering for public art
commissions, as well as working with garden designers and clients on a more
domestic scale for gardens and interiors.  He also teaches stone carving in
schools, adult education colleges and prisons.
He works predominantly in local Jurassic limestones which can withstand an
English winter. His work is concerned with natural forms, patterns, symmetry
and the unfolding of numbers in space. He tries to capture the ambiguity and
ephemeral nature of life in the permanence of carved stone; he also enjoys
working collaboratively with people to help them realise their own projects
and ideas.