Florence/Cerne Abbas: Road over the Tops to Bradford

I went to art school in Aberdeen in the early 60s and then won a national scholarship to work in fashion houses in Paris, Milan and Florence. I then worked in various art schools from Falmouth to Salford University. By chance whilst at Shrewsbury School of Art  I acquired a set of old chisels which started me carving.
 
I am a self-taught carver (I am still hopeless at sharpening chisels!), however working in wood feels perfectly natural and allows me to express my ideas in a reasonably unique way.
 
I have exhibited widely in galleries such as Saatchi Gallery, London; Centrespace, Bristol; Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution; Portico Gallery, Manchester; Weston Park, Shropshire; Cartwright Gallery, Bradford; Tricycle Theatre, London; Salford Art Gallery; Bury Art Gallery; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

My relief carvings are stories about my life - the people, places and memories that influence me and mean much to me. Most carvings incorporate a range of these within the one picture - Kintore (near Aberdeen) my small home village, my time in Italy and also my partner's family's home in Mondov?, Italy, my present home in Frome and where I might have been yesterday. I often use, to me, iconic buildings such as Kintore Town Hall (which I lived  opposite for most of my childhood), Palazzo Vecchio bell tower in Florence and its  northern near twin Bradford Town Hall clock tower, the black and white checkerboard marble floor of Aberdeen Art Gallery, and since moving to Somerset, images of the South West such as the giant chalk figures and standing stones.

After I had seen the white giant above Cerne Abbas in Dorset and I felt I wanted to transport him to the north so I included him in a piece about the journey to the studio I used to have in Bradford. The figure and the carpet both refer to the fact, (although not religious I am a great fan of churches some of the most beautiful buildings in this country) that religion was once such a powerful force in the land. The view out the left hand window shows buildings in Florence and Bradford which had much in common.

Lime Wood

44.5x40.5x7.5cm