current work

Sculpture Commission
Royal Terrace Gardens, Torquay, Devon; July 2009- July 2010

These Victorian civic gardens are built into the side of a steep cliff overlooking Torbay, 'the English Riviera'. Over a century old, they are currently undergoing extensive repairs and regeneration.

I wanted to work with materials which had a particular resonance with the site in both geological and cultural terms. My project will incorporate stone of the same distinctive type as the cliff, sourced from an aggregate quarry five miles inland (shown above) and Carrara marble, imported from northern Italy.

Full details will be posted on my redeveloped website in mid-May 2010.

The garden is due to reopen in July 2010.

In 2006 I became increasingly interested in the possibilities and limitations of style and media. Having had a year back from Italy I was also preoccupied by the idea of nationality- in particular, Englishness- and of its recognisable characteristics. I began to compile a list of English institutions, and taught myself English Roundhand calligraphy as described by George Bickman in his Universal Penman of 1740. This 'quintessentially' English book had far-reaching influence; cursive styles taught in contemporary Australian and American schools, for example, owe more to Bickman than styles taught in English schools today. He himself drew on a broad range of influences, and the style he prescribed as being appropriate for ladies, for example, is self-consciously Italianate.

This has opened up a fruitful way of considering the relationship between 'natural' and 'cultural', writing and drawing, object and image. While my Jerwood Sculpture Prize and Urban Splash commissions have taken up most of my time over the last year, I hope to resolve this enquiry into a new body of work this winter.

For further discussion, please visit the following page.