The Sculpture for Mynydd Mawr, Tumble, is in the early drying stage, wrapped in plastic. Once I’m sure the upper sections are firm enough (including the internal supports) I’ll get my Assistants in and we will cut the sections and lift them onto memory-foam for a long , slow, dry.
This is a lovely stage; the clay is still full of water and it holds the light beautifully. I have been over the whole piece with a fine modelling tools.
Photographs by Stephen Foote.
Almost there- it’s down to finishing touches now. I’ve re-done the head about 90 times and I’m still not happy with it. The Sculpture is wrapped in plastic to rest and settle.I will un-wrap it with fresh eyes and be better able to see what’s needed. In theory. Once the top feels firm I will remove those internal supports- a scary moment ; it could collapse which is why you need to have a ‘sensibly'(pessimistically ) long build time! The supports have to come out because they are restricting the shrinkage and soon they will start causing damage. That broom will never be the same. The outside supports will stay to the end and those sections will get their finishing touches during dismantling.
Andrew Preece of Smart-fix, my expert Installer came over and we plotted the sections. It’s great having his early input. I never compromise on the form but Andrew can advise on structural issues so that the Installation goes smoothly and we get the best result.
That hole in the top left is the last bit to go in. The fired colour will be a stony pale yellow.
A Sculpture will transform any Garden, huge or pocket-sized, elaborate or austere. It will need to be made of beautiful, quality materials that have a radiance complimentary to your gorgeous plants. A piece needs to be frost-proof and easily cleaned. No material is as durable or as low maintenance as high-fired Clay.
I make simple , movable plinths with old bricks and attractive stone paving tiles. Dig a hole and put in some bricks to make a foundation if the Sculpture is tall or very heavy, then build a hollow plinth with a small doorway that can double as a safe, cosy home for wild-life. If security is an issue or the piece is tall and vulnerable to high winds sink a stake into the ground, build the plinth around this and have the stake go into the Sculpture- many of my Sculptures are hollow and you can set them securely with cement if needs be.
My garden is 8 years old and is now really coming into it’s own. 
The River, commission.
Wyvern II, 70cm H x 52cm W. £1100. (sold)
Up is Down XV, £300 (sold)
Harbinger I, £600. (sold)
Up is Down XVI, 26cm H x 56cm L, £300.
Up is Down II, 42cm H x 90cm L, £950.
Half a Century III, 40cm H, £150.(sold)
River Harbinger, at Wyndcliffe Court Sculpture Garden, 125cm H, £950 (sold)
The River III, 80cm H, £500 Sold
The Edge III, 57cm H, £600, (sold).
Callipygous, 41cm H x 73cm L, £600. (sold)
In the winter sculptures give the garden focal points and structure while the plants rest.
Up is Down IV, 44cm H x 58cm L, £2400 (sold)
Up is Down II, 80cm L, £300
Harbinger I, £600. (sold)
Osprey Studios Garden backs right onto the wonderful country-side of the Brecon Beacons National Park
Sculptures will define each area of your garden. This patio at the end of the garden is a calm, reflective place with dappled shade in the summer and warm sun in spring and autumn. In the winter the sculpture stands out and is eye catching from the house.
Up is Down II, 41cm H x 80cm L, £300.
Musings, 21cm H, £150. (sold)
Musings, 20cm H, £150.(sold)
The Edge XI, 77cm L x 49cm H, £300
The Edge I , 52cm H, £730.(sold)
The Edge XII, 71.5cm L x 46.5cm H x 40cm D. £1400 (sold)
The Edge XI, 77cm L x 49cm H x 40cm D. £300
Henry Moore said that a sculpture was not complete until it was in the place it’s owner chose for it. It is wonderful to see my pieces transformed by new settings; it is the best part of delivering work to Exhibitions.
Wyndcliffe Court is a truly lovely place. You follow a narrow winding road past old-fashioned meadows and woodland to reach the beautiful house.
Wyndcliffe Court has extensive, mature Topiary.
Wyndcliffe Court Gardens are Grade II listed and designed in the Arts and Crafts style. Situated along the Wye Valley between Chepstow and Tintern, they are beautiful formal gardens with views to the south and east. Open every weekend, they are showcasing contemporary sculptures by local and well-known British artists. Open from 2nd May – 28th September 2014 three sculpture shows will run consecutively, each collection featuring hundreds of sculptures to suit all tastes in a wide variety of mediums, sizes and styles situated throughout the garden and offering the opportunity to view and purchase beautiful sculpture with an outstanding backdrop.
The Gardens are full of unusual, breath-taking, mature plants.
The couple running this new venture are both Artists themselves. They are wonderfully down to earth and very knowledgable about Contemporary Art. They charge a modest Commission and are very supportive to their Artists so prices there are extremely competitive. There is a wide range of styles and materials on show across the enchanting Gardens. There is a delightful Shop and the most perfect Terrace Tea-shop. Their Website is very helpful.
Standing Form, 110cm H, £650
Standing Form, 110cm H, £650
Callipygous, 41cm H x 73cm L, £600.
Serenity, 53cm H, £625
River Harbinger, 125cm H, £950
River Harbinger, 125cm H, £950
Up Is Down X, 52cm W, £550
Up is Down IX, 57cm W, £550
The shape looks crazy at this point.
The first draft of the details can go on; the most important thing right now is to get good joins for the clay.
When the clay has hardened these can be touched up by carving with a delicate tool. These images were taken from archive pictures of 2 mines and the Railway local to Tumble. Apparently the Train that ran from Great Mountain Colliery was the first ever passenger line.
I’m using smaller coils and each stage is taking longer.It is just approaching the point where the central hole will form and the top edges start to meet- lets hope my measurements were right! If it doesn’t meet properly I’ll cut out large sections and re-do them.
The props are getting more inventive!
Those out-side supports will stay in place until after the upper parts are cut and lifted off. In theory it would be self-supporting….but if it collapsed it would do it fast! The final, fired and installed Sculpture will have cement and steel rods inside so it will be strong enough to climb on.
The Photography Shoot was even better than I had expected; stunning weather, lovely people exchanging ideas, a great lunch and Stephen Foote working with grace and charm, taking time with each person to be sure he got what they hoped for.
The Studio had been scrubbed down and tidied so Steve’s kit didn’t get dusty and the Commission wrapped in plastic to rest and let the water in the clay settle. It was great to have a few days break then un-wrap the piece in a clean room and review the progress with fresh eyes.
The build method is the same as for the Monumental Sculptures but scaled down. The walls are thinner , the coils smaller , but the same sort of supports are used. The final sections will be much bigger so where the cuts will be needs to be pre-planned and internal structure put in to support the sections through the fire.
Because the form shrinks as it dries, internal supports are clay and shrink with the form and external ones need to allow shrinkage or only be used for short periods. Quality memory foam is ideal because it lets the clay shrink yet will hold up surprising amounts of weight.The finger marks also support the walls and are left on the inside and only smoothed away on the outside after the section has gone firm.
The clay is Scarva’s Earthstone Crank Material, ES50, and it is awesome. Their previous Crank had fantastic build quality but it was a minging colour wet and fired unless you put something made in Black Chunky in the kiln with it – then it took on a lovely gold shade. This new Crank is even better to use and will fire to very nice pale gold ideal for the setting.
The lower section will stay wrapped most of the time to slow the drying and allow the water time to drop. I believe this makes the walls stronger but that might be nonsence. Each Clay-person develops their own relationship with their clay and techniques that are a breeze for one might be chaos for another. I started as Coil-builder 34 years ago and over time I’ve added a lot of side-shoots to my method.
It is 3/4 built, 225kgs of clay, 95cm high. I have definatly done the easy bits – from here on up it will be very slow; smaller coils added in small doses. In-between I’ll work on the surface images and the edges. This initial stage is building the basic form. A lot of clay will be added to bring out the curves and images. That will be left to harden and then the whole piece will be re-fined with subtractive methods. 3 steps forward , 2 steps back, slow and steady.
The Scale Model for a lovely commission for a beautiful Care Home in Carmarthenshire got a very warm and positive response and after months of workshops, planning and very careful thought the build has started.
As usual I’ve over -designed for the budget… but that’s my prerogative- I always stick to my quoted fee and how many hours I put in is up to me.I get a buzz out of challenge and this piece has steep leans , a very complex form and very strong themes that must be stuck to.
It has been developed from content gathered from other Artists on the Team working in a range of creative styles and with some extraordinary Primary School pupils.
The children’s ideas were so sophisticated, profound and complex. For example; After spending a series of workshops with the Home’s Residents making tiles for the Plinth, they built the idea that life is a journey full of change and phases so they wanted to see a pathway that traveled around the sculpture. They wanted a warm , welcoming form that harnessed the rain ( that falls very regularly here in Wales!) to create pools and flowing rivers that represented the Love that is all around us and flows through our lives. Wonderful!
Many of the Residents have Dementia and all are very disabled. But they joined in, charmed by these adorable kids, and it was their warmth and sincerity the children picked up on. They talked about many of the harsh realities of their long lives; war, poverty, mining, loss.And the joys; the beautiful landscape of the country they love, pets, family, work.
When your Commissioners pour so much of themselves into the consultation phase you owe them something stunning. That includes Arts Care Gofal Celf who are running this 2 year, multi -Artist project with Gwalia and they are both a joy to work for.
So this piece is full of metaphors and symbols. And, I hope, the grace and integrity of the many people who brought it together.
Near the Studio is the beautiful valley I go to regularly (the River Series came from there) and it is the perfect place to support this Sculpture. And it certainly rained enough this winter.
The Sculpture will be 1metre 40cm high plus the Plinth and 1m 80cm wide.
I always make scale model people too so I have the eye-lines right. They help to illustrate the scale. 
Measuring carefully from the Model the piece is coil-built using a variety of coil methods . The details are roughed in as the lower sections will necessarily get hard to support the weight of the following layers. Timing is everything. I do use fans and supports but if you mess too much with the drying phases you may well get cracks. If you work too fast it will collapse and I hate it when that happens.
There are internal support-walls and buttresses. The piece will be cut in large sections for the firing and these are pre-planned very carefully. The structure has be strong while wet , when dry,when being dismantled and moved to the kiln , through the fire, when being installed and then when it stands for decades, centuries even, in a public place. The site in this instance is a very lovely , sheltered Court-yard Garden with handsome landscaping. There wont be a problem with people climbing on it etc so I could allow some delicacy but non-the-less it is a sturdy design although I am aiming for a light, flowing feeling.
Henry Moore said that a sculpture was not complete until it was in the place it’s owner chose for it. It is wonderful to see my pieces transformed by new settings; it is the best part of delivering work to Exhibitions.
Wyndcliffe Court is a truly lovely place. You follow a narrow winding road past old-fashioned meadows and woodland to reach the beautiful house.
Wyndcliffe Court has extensive, mature Topiary.
Wyndcliffe Court Gardens are Grade II listed and designed in the Arts and Crafts style. Situated along the Wye Valley between Chepstow and Tintern, they are beautiful formal gardens with views to the south and east. Open every weekend, they are showcasing contemporary sculptures by local and well-known British artists. Open from 2nd May – 28th September 2014 three sculpture shows will run consecutively, each collection featuring hundreds of sculptures to suit all tastes in a wide variety of mediums, sizes and styles situated throughout the garden and offering the opportunity to view and purchase beautiful sculpture with an outstanding backdrop.
The Gardens are full of unusual, breath-taking, mature plants.
The couple running this new venture are both Artists themselves. They are wonderfully down to earth and very knowledgable about Contemporary Art. They charge a modest Commission and are very supportive to their Artists so prices there are extremely competitive. There is a wide range of styles and materials on show across the enchanting Gardens. There is a delightful Shop and the most perfect Terrace Tea-shop. Their Website is very helpful.
Standing Form, 110cm H, £650
Standing Form, 110cm H, £650
Callipygous, 41cm H x 73cm L, £600.
Serenity, 53cm H, £625
River Harbinger, 125cm H, £950
River Harbinger, 125cm H, £950
Up Is Down X, 52cm W, £550
Up is Down IX, 57cm W, £550
All over Powys in Mid Wales, UK, Artists and Craftsmen are opening their Studios and putting on special events to share work. It is a great time to find someone whose style appeals to you and go ask them about projects of your own. We all love talking shop and encouraging others with their creativity. It is an excellent event for Bargains as Artists spring-clean their Studios and admit it is time to part with secret favourites.
Osprey Studios is open every weekend in May or phone and book any time that would be more convenient. Evenings are a tranquil, charming time in the Garden.
Everything in this section is under £30.
Osprey Studios. Easy parking and access.
Some of the Sculpture is fresh from the Kiln and new work will be on the go in the Studio.
Beautiful Penpont ,half way between here and Brecon has an Arts Month site too and is a glorious place to visit. The ‘Visit The Studio’ page here on this site has other attractions, directions and details for having a lovely day here in the south-western corner of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
You can show up on the day for my 2 workshops but booking in advance will secure your place.
You can get a feel for my best white clay, Scarva Architectural,on the Join-in Sculpture which will be on the go all month and I’ll put out my Momentum wheel for anyone to try for free too.
A Join In Sculpture at Brecon Jazz with The Big Skill.
The lovely kids visiting Osprey Studios with The Chernobyl Life Line trying out the Momentum Wheel
On the 17th the wonderful Photographer, Stephen Foote (see links) that did my best pictures is coming here for anyone else needing top quality images at an affordable price. Everyone is welcome to visit on that day- it will be busy and very interesting to see Stephen Foote working in the Studio.
I have had a massive clear-out; I’ve got a large Commission to build in the Studio. It will be on the go during Powys Arts Month and your feed-back during the build would be a great help. It is not going to be an easy one! I’ll have a lot of brand-new, never shown, work here. You can handle the range of specialist clays I use to see if they might suit you. And there’s also some fab seconds for sale including my Gwenllians.
Taken as a pair they will be just £500 or £300 each. Some of my other smaller seconds will be £1-£30. They are all frost proof.
Gwenllian was an actual historical Welsh Warrior Princess. Both Sculptures of her are life-sized and fully frost-proof.
Everyone including Schools and Families will be very welcome to Osprey Studios during Powys Arts Month. You can relax in the Garden with a complimentary drink and the kids can play with clay for as long as you like.
These Miniatures are often made on location in wild places. They are set lightly on a base of stone or wood found at the site so that you can easily handle and turn them as I did when I made them. Each one is a page from my journal with influences from the mountain-side, the elements, the news, music, whatever is upper-most in my mind. Made of fine, highly durable clays they will last for centuries. They are within 15 cm long.
White Breve I, 11cm H plus stone base.
Black Breve I, 17cm H plus base stone.
Black Breve I, 17cm H + stone base.
Black Breve III, 13cm H + stone base.
Black Breve II, 11cm L + stone base.
White Breve III, 12cm L + stone base.
The Mobile Studio in one of my favourite, very quiet spots on the old road to Trecastle. The sound of the river fills the air. There are Buzzards, a Red Kite, Ravens, standing stones and the tough, small, mountain ponies that run on these hills. 
The sky is huge here and ever-changing; storms blow in in minutes. I can carry on working inside the van. 
Rebecca Buck 