Category: Sculptor

“I make my sculpture by welding many small pieces of stainless steel rod to each other.  By the time I am finished, the entire surface is covered with welded metal and you no longer can see any of the rods.  That overall welding is what gives the sculpture its articulated surface.

You might wonder why, if the sculpture is made of stainless steel, it is not bright and shiny like your refrigerator, or your fork and spoon.  That is because, when the metal is welded, it gets red hot.  As it cools, the oxygen in the air forms metal oxides on the surface of the metal.  These oxides are very hard and they are what makes the surface dark.  I like that surface, so I leave it rather than grinding off these oxides to expose the shiny metal underneath.  Also, I hate grinding.                                            

My sculptures are abstract, organic forms, designed to stand as a figure stands, in a landscape. The larger pieces seem to require the secure, quiet, human scale of a garden, where they can be viewed close up, over time, surrounded by plants and trees with all the attendant wild life of birds and insects.  Looking back, I think every sculpture I ever made was either imagined standing in a garden or was itself a small garden.”                        – Richard Baronio

 

Ian Gill is an award-winning metal artist now living in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Having studied at Hereford College of Art & Design gaining his title AWCB Associate Of The Worshipful Company Of Blacksmiths.

Ian’s work has been held extensively in collections all over the world from Palm Springs, Mumbai, Czech Republic and the South Pacific to name a few. His work has also been commissioned by a selection
of public and corporate clients including Le Manior aux Quat’Saisons Hotel, by Raymond Blanc.

Ian has been commissioned to create work for:

WWT Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Slimblidge, Gloucestershire                  Bushy Park Water Gardens, Hampton Court Palace                                Dorchester Hotel, Coworth Park, Ascot                                                        Beaufort Terrace, Kings Road, London                                                          WWF                                                                                                                Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Weymouth

Ian has also sold through Sotheby’s and is also an award-winning artist showing at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. His work has also been commissioned by celebrities, VIP’s, interior designers and garden landscapers.

Ian has also been a mentor on the BBC Award winning series Make It At Market for 2 consecutive years, helping people who want to turn their craft hobby into a full time business. All 4 mentees have
successfully achieved this with Ian’s help.

Ian will be starting to run a selection of courses in the near future. Under his guidance you will be able to create your own piece for your home or garden.

Melissa is an artist working with both sculpture and photography. Her sculptures are designed to be joyful yet thought-provoking, inviting viewers to experience the joy of looking and to appreciate their colour and scale. Her work is often site-specific. The “Trippy Blooms” series for CSP is inspired by delight in bright colours in nature.

In her photographic work, Melissa explores the boundaries of the medium in the digital age, utilizing both digital and analogue processes, including the cyanotypes. She often creates models of places specifically to photograph, presenting the photograph as the final piece.

With a background in both science and the arts, Melissa has worked as a picture restorer, co-owned a shop selling artist-made toys, and is currently a Creative Mentor at Emerge, Bath Spa University’s studio residency program. Born in Ireland and now based in Bath, her work has been exhibited and has won awards in the UK, Ireland, and Brazil. She has done residencies and workshops using cyanotypes. She recently completed a PhD at Bath Spa University, researching an appropriate definition for the contemporary photograph.

“For some people making and creating is something they have to do. I am one of those people.
From a diverse creative background, today I make large geometric sculptural forms that are designed to be a strong focal point in any garden or interior design.
I work in metal and glass that stand the test of time and travel with you throughout your life.
I am particularly interested in the impact a sculpture has through all of our beautiful seasons. I love to see how the light reflects off of them and how they cast shadows and how they glow with colour.
I cut patterns inspired by the natural world that I see around me to create depth to the pieces.
I run the Wye Valley Sculpture Garden in Tintern which in essence is my studio garden where my sculptures are on permanent display. In the summer, I open the garden up to other artists for the Summer Sculpture Exhibition.” – Gemma Kate Wood

“Growing up on a working farm in rural Dartmoor has been the backbone behind my magnetism towards stone and its permanence within the landscape.

As a sculptor and stonemason back living and working on Dartmoor, the practise of shaping limestone, marble and granite is an important meditative process for me. I predominantly make abstract geometric sculpture.

Looking through stone has always been an aspiration, as the core is rarely seen in a sculpture, and this has become a key subject in my work. Coming from a background in DJing for many years, listening to music is fundamental to allow me to access my imagination and become open to express myself through carving.

Studying geology, music and fine art, with a deep-rooted curiosity in natural wonders, my work has many links to geometry, and the diversity of natural forms. Symmetry, balance and fragility are distinct themes in my work, as I continue to explore and experiment with range of vibrant and varied stone types. While carving, decisions and actions are constantly evolving while exploring and pushing the stones possibilities and limits.

My work is best viewed from all directions and presents diverse qualities from different angles. Allowing the viewer to see how the sculpture appears connected geometrically. The series, “Good Vibrations” is carved from a cube, with three interconnecting sides making up the six sides. The form appears fluid and geometric, with the sculpture changing form as it is walked around and viewed from different angles. It is positioned on an axis to allow the viewer to see how the light shines through the stone, creating an everchanging appearance.”

Andrew Flint’s ceramics exist beyond the boundaries of traditional design, driven by an instinctive, tactile dialogue with clay. His work is not dictated by external aesthetics but is instead a raw and unfiltered exploration of self-expression. Each form embodies a moment of emotional and physical engagement, allowing the material to retain the marks of its making—gestures of touch, pressure, and spontaneity.

Texture is at the heart of Flint’s practice. His surfaces speak in a language of their own, sometimes rhythmic and meditative, other times fractured and intense. The marks he leaves behind are not decorative but deeply intentional, revealing a narrative shaped by intuition rather than calculation. His approach echoes that of abstract painters—glazes applied in an instinctual, fluid manner, capturing energy rather than adhering to rigid design principles.

Flint embraces imperfection as a fundamental part of his process. His work does not seek refinement or control but instead honors the unpredictability of clay, the alchemy of fire, and the artist’s own evolving relationship with the medium. Each piece is a record of a moment, a thought, or a state of being, inviting the viewer to engage not just visually but through touch, reflection, and personal interpretation.

His ceramics are not endpoints but waypoints—markers in an ongoing journey of artistic growth, self-discovery, and connection. In Flint’s work, clay becomes more than material; it becomes a vessel for experience, emotion, and human presence.

Chris Crane was born in 1976 in the South Lake District town of Kendal. 

Misti was born in the UK in 1968. Her career path led her to become a
designer of bespoke interiors and furniture, specialising in the re-creation of carved period detailing and ornament. Her commissioned works can be seen in palaces, penthouses and private residences all over the world.
In 2016, feeling that she had taken her skills as a designer to their furthest extreme, she set up her woodland studio in Shropshire to make
contemporary sculpture and objets d’art. Working mainly in wood and
occasionally in stone, she produces semi abstract organic pieces as a
direct response to her environment. The amount of time she spends
creating each one by hand results in sculptures that are informed as much by touch as they are by design, giving them a sensual tactility. Working wood by hand, shaping it with steel and finishing it with fire and oil is an elemental process that connects Misti deeply to her material. The recurring geometries and rhythms of life resonate throughout her work, reflecting the quiet order of the living world. Her heart, hands, and tools leave their mark on each piece, embodying the timeless and primal relationship between maker, material, and landscape.
In 2021, she starred in and won, Channel 4’s televised woodworking
competition, earning herself the highly dubious title of ‘Britain’s Best
Woodworker’, and introducing a worldwide audience of millions to her
work.

“For most of the year, I work outdoors, carving wood into forms that belong in nature – large enough to hold their place, yet inspired by and harmonizing with their surroundings. On the coldest days, I retreat indoors to create smaller, more intricate pieces, but my heart remains in the open air.
Standing before a raw block of timber, I feel a deep responsibility to honour the tree’s centuries of life. I see the finished form within and carve to reveal it, the rhythmic sound of mallet on chisel dissolving the world around me. I think through my hands, sometimes guiding the material, sometimes letting it guide me – seeking the perfect balance of line, curve, and form.
Working wood by hand, and finishing it with fire and oil is a primal process that connects me to the material and its history. My sculptures will endure for generations, marked by time and the seasons. And if, in all that time, just one person feels compelled to reach out and touch, my work is complete.” – Misti Leitz