After almost two years of dialogue with the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead I am proud to announce that my cast piece ‘Adam and Eve’ is finally housed in their collection.The work was originally part of Dan Klein’s 21st Century Glass Exhibition at The Daniel Katz Gallery in January of 2005.It is a key piece for me being a quirky meditation on the relations between men and women and is loaded with symbolism.
There are three components : a red balloon, slightly deflated and supported in the cleft of a bronze stick which sticks jauntily out from the centre of a large fruit form. This voluptuous fruit resembles an apple but it also contains a pumpkin in the negative hollow inside.
It was reserved by Helen Joseph, the curator of the Shipley after The Daniel Katz show and was in storage for several months. Disaster stuck when I requested the piece back for an exhibition and the main glass component – the ‘Apple’ was smashed in transit. I received compensation from the Shipley for the broken piece but was determined that they should have a replacement version restored to their collection. I recast the ‘Apple’ slightly larger and more voluptuous than before and gave it a softer brush polished finish.
The piece was safely delivered just before Christmas and is now on display in the gallery with a stunning collection of contemporary craft complementing the superb collection of paintings from the Bequest of Joseph Shipley.
The Shipley Gallery is on Prince Consort Rd , Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 4JB
For the ‘Untold Stories’ Solo show at Zest Gallery in May I created a new series of pieces in cast crystal using the female figure as inspiration. Here the sections of the body that were cast from life are rendered almost abstract. Being tightly framed within a block that allows us to see beneath the surface where life is growing. In this way the piece makes a strong connection between man and the landscape or if you like nature in man.
