Sculptures
Old Woman Dreaming of Angels
Carved from Alabaster This was carved after my mother had died and having watched her slip away.
Old Woman Dreaming of Angels
Carved from Alabaster This was carved after my mother had died and having watched her slip away.
Acclaim
A few years ago I was asked to create a drama trophy for ‘The Rex Walford Prize for Drama.’ I created ‘Acclaim!’ which is carved from Opal stone quarried in Zimbabwe and mounted on Carrara Marble. This stone is related to the Springstone and Travertine family of rocks. After Rex Walford died, his wife commissioned me to carve this trophy for aspiring young actors in the Cambridge area.
Verdite from South Africa. These depict in Hebrew letters a spinning game little children play at Chanukah (the Jewish festival of lights) called the Dreidel Game. The Hebrew means that ‘There was a great miracle there’. “It commemorates a historical event in the second century BCE in Jerusalem over the Seleucid Greek Empire which was the ruling power. The Temple was ransacked and defiled by King Antiochus 1V as he outlawed Jewish practice leaving only enough oil to keep the oil lamp alight for one week. Judah sent a messenger to get more oil for the Everlasting Light inside the Temple. Even though it took the Messenger about a week to get fresh olive oil back to the Temple, the oil miraculously didn’t run out. Since then, the Festival of Lights i.e. Chanukah – is celebrated joyfully every year to remember what happened. The Temple was cleansed, fresh oil was poured into the Everlasting Light and every year children spinning tops called ‘Dreidels’ to remember the miracle of the oil not burning out. During Chanukah oil and lights are themes.
The original was carved out of Alabaster which came from the same quarry as the one near St Ives which Barbara Hepworth used for her stone. It was carved to show a rite of passage i.e. a Jewish marriage ceremony. There is music and children running around, the parents are grieving as well as feeling happy because their
daughter is leaving her childhood behind; it’s a happy scene but also sad as revealed by the dense foliage on the tree which lets in no light and the window is firmly shut. The original in Alabaster does show the light if a lamp is put behind it but the light only reveals itself behind the people – not behind the tree and the shut window in the wall. There is no going back. Life is both happy and sad.
Yes!
Carved out of Orange Alabaster from the Mid-West of the USA. I started carving this as soon as I heard that I was going to become a grandmother for the first time. I was truly delighted. With a light behind, it glows with joy
Yes!
Carved out of Orange Alabaster from the Mid-West of the USA. I started carving this as soon as I heard that I was going to become a grandmother for the first time. I was truly delighted. With a light behind, it glows with joy
Voluptua Dancing
Indian red soapstone inspired by a visit to Cuba where women in all kinds of shapes and sizes just danced with abandon to the rhythms of the music in the streets of Havana. They didn’t care whether they were slim, beautiful, acceptable, ugly or fat, they just danced! And how they could dance!
Margot’s Hand
Verdite from South Africa. Margot was in her nineties. She was a holocaust survivor and had been a pianist – hence her expressive fingers.
Margot’s Hand
Verdite from South Africa. Margot was in her nineties. She was a holocaust survivor and had been a pianist – hence her expressive fingers.
Margot’s Hand
Verdite from South Africa. Margot was in her nineties. She was a holocaust survivor and had been a pianist – hence her expressive fingers.
Poet’s Hand
Inspired by a poem called ‘The Blue Butterfly’ by Richard Berengarten about standing in a field in war-torn Yugoslavia with bombs and shells flying all around him when a blue butterfly gently alighted on his finger.
Shin-Sin – ‘Shalom-Salaam’
Verdite from South Africa on Black Slate.’ “Let there be peace between Jews and Arabs.”
Shin-Sin – ‘Shalom-Salaam’
Verdite from South Africa on Black Slate.’ “Let there be peace between Jews and Arabs.”
Out Of Eden
Indian Red Soapstone. “I carved this in a brutalist Soviet-style to show how ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ have been rejected by others if they have behaved badly. In turn it shows how ‘Man’ blames ‘her’ for his misfortune and has rejected ‘Woman’ by giving her the cold shoulder. But she still clings on to him annoyingly and uncomprehendingly.
Out Of Eden
Indian Red Soapstone. “I carved this in a brutalist Soviet-style to show how ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ have been rejected by others if they have behaved badly. In turn it shows how ‘Man’ blames ‘her’ for his misfortune and has rejected ‘Woman’ by giving her the cold shoulder. But she still clings on to him annoyingly and uncomprehendingly.