Sculpture Vulture

Today, Lucy Branch, speaks to Ray Lonsdale, steel fabricator turned sculptor from County Durham. His works come from a desire to create for emotion rather than function. His sculpture touches people with even his first piece in Co. Durham, Eleven-O-One aka Tommy, being adopted by the locals who couldn't live without it and raised money for its purchase.

You can support the podcast by purchasing one of Lucy Branch's Novels

Today, Lucy Branch talks to Philip Jackson, an award winning, prolific sculptor who has created some of our most well-known and well-loved public sculptures particularly in the UK but also elsewhere in the world including The Bomber Command in Green Park, Bobby Moore at Wembley Stadium, The Manchester United ‘Trinity’ sculpture, The Jersey Liberation Sculpture to name only a few. His creativity knows no bounds as he does an extraordinary amount of private work and exhibitions and in that work shows an entirely different side to his creativity. His distinctive Venice-inspired sculptures are brooding and ominous and for me, who loves the dark side of art, endlessly fascinating.

Join us and BE INSPIRED BY SCULPTURE. You can find images of Philip Jackson’s work and a transcription of the interview at Sculpture Vulture Blog - SCULPTURE VULTURE

If you are looking for a new book, the novel mentioned in this interview is currently available free from Sculpture Vulture.

This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze

Snippet from the interview:

Lucy: I began our discussion today by asking him, if he'd always been creative?

Philip: I think I probably have, yes. I mean, I sort of just decided to be a sculptor at the age of eleven. So I suppose you could say that's for a very long time.

Lucy: And so was it someone at home that encouraged that, or school?

Philip: No, I went to boarding school very early. My parents were in West Africa. My father was in the colonial service. And so I used to go out to Africa every summer, but in the Christmas and Easter holidays, I would be farmed out to my grandmother or my great aunt. They were quite elderly so I had to, as it were, find my own amusement. But they did have very good libraries of books. And so I spent quite a lot of time reading. And I discovered Graeco-Roman sculpture and I thought it was the most extraordinary thing that these wonderful things could be made by the hand of man. And then, I think at the age of 11, I bought what I think was probably my first book, which was a secondhand book on sculpture that was being done by people that were actually still alive. So I suppose the penny dropped that, you know, this wonderful thing called sculpture had been done since Graeco-Roman times and before, right up to the present time. And I thought, well, you know, that's what I want to do. So I suppose that's really how it came about.

Lucy: Right. Did you then start to pursue it more?

Philip: Yes. I mean, my school really didn't teach art in the way that schools teach art these days. And so I, sort of, ploughed a fairly lonely furrow to try and find out how you carve things, how you model things, and all that sort of thing. And then at the appropriate age, I was staying with my great aunt and I said to her, "Look, you know, I think I want to go to art school." And so I went for an interview and everything and got in. And, you know, so it's gone from there.

In this solo-show, meet, Lucy Branch, the host of The Sculpture Vulture podcast and find out about the incredible sculptors that will be featuring in the first season. Find out more about the show at www.sculpturevulture.co.uk

Get you free novel from https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/a-rarer-gift-than-gold/ where sculpture is always at the heart of the story.

Today, Lucy Branch talks to Paul Day, about his creative journey and inspiration. Lucy: Paul has long been one of my favourite sculptors and is such a self-deprecating character that he says he isn’t even worthy of such a job title. He produces bronze friezes and sculptural works that have such style and imagination that I have found myself lost in the stories they tell for many hours. He has won several competitions and prizes, many of his works you will know like, The Meeting Place, in St Pancras Station where two lovers tower above the public in a clinch that makes everyone long for such a lover. Other commissions include The Battle of Britain, a magnificent war memorial on London Embankment, The Queen Mother Memorial in London and The Urban Comedy in Brussels.

Join Us And Be Inspired By Sculpture. You can find images of Paul Day's Work and a transcription of the interview at Bronze Friezes with Paul Day - SCULPTURE VULTURE

If you are searching for your next novel and are interested in the dark side of the art world, you can download one of my novels for free at Sculpture Vulture Books where sculpture is always at the heart of the story.

This Podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze (Experts in the Conservation and Restoration of Sculpture and Architectural Features)

Snippet From The Interview:

Today I began our discussion by asking him, my favourite question, have you always been creative?

Lucy: Have you always been creative?

Paul: As far as I can remember, as a child, I enjoyed from the very beginning drawing, colouring in, painting pictures, and cutting things out with scissors, and I had a mother who was, and is still, very encouraging in arty and crafty things. But also, I was number two to an elder brother who, at three years of age when I turned up, already occupied the main stage in all the family gatherings. He was a natural imitator, raconteur, and loved the limelight.

Lucy: Tough act to follow.

Paul: Well, quite. I was the younger brother who, obviously, with three years less in development of language and everything else, could never keep up with or overshadow this strong and powerful figure in my life. And I think that drawing was the one way I discovered quite early on, to draw some of that limelight and attention onto myself, and to be able to make, for example, members of the family laugh and smile with my pictures, whereas I wasn't able to do that with my oratory or my ability to tell jokes, of which I don't really have an ability to tell jokes.

Today, Lucy Branch, talks to Hugh Chapman, on The Sculpture Vulture Podcast. His abstract, dynamic sculpture plays with light and form and elicits profound reactions from his audience. Hugh's work is part of the magnificent sculpture collection at Canary Wharf, London, and is enjoyed by many thousands of visitors each year. Today we discuss his inspiration, creative life and journey as a professional sculptor. Join us and BE INSPIRED BY SCULPTURE. You can find images of Hugh Chapman work and a transcription of the interview at https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/abstract-sculpture-with-hugh-chapman If you are looking for a new book, the novel mentioned in this interview is currently available free from Sculpture Vulture. This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze Snippet from the interview: Lucy: I began our discussion today with asking my favourite question, which is if he'd always been creative. Hugh: Yes, I have been ever since I was a boy. I always was very interested in painting, drawing, and making models, and that sort of thing. I was very fortunate in the sense that my parents always encouraged creative activities as much as academic ones, which gave me a great breadth of experience. Lucy: What did your parents do? Hugh: My mum is a retired specialist in pediatric dentistry, and she's currently a visiting fellow in School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln. And she does a lot of research into dental phobia and occupational stress to do with the treatment of patients on behalf of the dentists, and that sort of thing. So, it's a pretty... Lucy: Interesting. Hugh: ...pretty interesting career for her. And my father, he's just retired. He was a research and development software engineer in the world of heating and control systems, which is a bit more exciting and varied than it might sound. I mean, Mum's quite creative at sewing and that sort of thing, which she was taught by her mum. And my dad has painted watercolours and that sort of thing for a lot of his life, and he was designing mobile aircraft as a boy and a young teenager. And we, in fact, still, to this day, fly them together. Lucy: Sounds cool. Hugh: Yeah, yeah. It's good until you crash them. But it's a useful skill as a young boy to learn that when you do crash your model, it is possible to put it back together again. But, no, they were very good. And, in fact, they sacrificed a great deal for me, because, well, I am severely dyslexic, and at school, I was basically...it was resigned to the fact that I was thick. And they remortgaged the house to send me to private school, where education in the arts and creative subjects was actually more prevalent anyway. So, I was very fortunate to go to schools where it was understood that academia wasn't everything, although I did struggle with the feeling that...you know, my brother, he's very academic as well, and in my early life, I struggled with the feeling of I needed to do something academic. And I would have been much better off had I, at an earlier age, established that being a creative person was a good thing and equally as merited as being highly academic.