Sculpture 1995-2004

This old website is like a portal in time. Some of the sculptures are still available, some are lost in the mists. Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss availability on any one of them. It was an immense ten years of learning and work which culminated in 'Autumn' being permanently sited in the Avenue of Maples at Kew Gardens. The first modern sculpture to be permanently sited at Kew for nearly 100 years. Permanent in this case lasted about ten years when, after a gate was left open the bronze was stolen along with a Henry Moore. She was in good company, as she melted. The website has been left as it was. I hope you enjoy it.

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Sculpture 2004 to present day

MONKEY WITH A BOOK.

Summer Reading Challenge 2017 Frome Library.

A leaflet was printed for the Library with the following poem inside. The three stanza's in italics were left out

to protect the young minds from too much information. For artistic integrity I have included it here.

This Summer’s campaign to get kids reading books,

Is filling the library with things hung on hooks.

So Librarian Liz was asking a favour,

‘You’re an artist, make something the children will savour'.

The original brief was it shouldn’t take long.

Keep it simple. No pressure. What could go wrong?

Some boxes, some paper and lashings of glue

To make a small monkey for the children to view.

A few hours of ripping was all that it took

For my friend to regard me with a withering look.

I made a huge mess like a child lost in play

And she left, disillusioned, and went on her way.

My skills as a sculptor had all gone astray,

It had been many years since I’d worked with the clay.

So I felt slightly scared at the challenge ahead

And with each day that passed, that fear turned to dread.

With fresh hope each morning, I would sit down to glue,

But ‘essence of monkey’ was too hard to do.

So daunted, defeated and feeling quite glum

I sent Liz a short message and told her ‘I’m done’.

I couldn’t do simple which was all that was asked,

My monkey was awful and just wouldn’t last.

Paper mache a challenge and nothing like clay.

But the monkey kept calling,

And would not go away.

A week passed, then two and I got more depressed

It just wouldn’t do if it wasn’t my best.

Then one night, the excitement, that bubble of fun

That informs every artist, ‘Something has come’.

The monkey grew quickly, not quite at my bidding,

He was rather ferocious and extremely forbidding.

He looked slightly crazy, his frown seemed a threat,

And the paper inside him was smelly and wet.

Another few weeks as he grew and evolved,

And most of the problems eventually solved.

My Mum sewed his cap, which made him less scary

And I splattered some paint, to make him look hairy.

Finally finished I felt a small flutter of pride,

Then realised another was needed beside.

A youngster I thought, to straddle below,

And before I could stop, I was back in the flow.

One day I was resting when Mother called out,

‘There’s a problem here Kate that you need to sort out.’

I felt she was wrong, that they’d all understand,

It was not an erection, just part of his hand!

With every position I put that damm digit

It made it appear he was having a fidget.

Nothing would alter the mistake I’d created

and whatever I did, it sill looked X rated.

I tried to disguise it but that made it worse,

As it all became mushy I stifled a curse.

In the end I conceded and began once again,

And made it so no-one would need to complain.

I was sure, now its over and felt I was free

But the little girl monkey was calling to me.

I gave her a ribbon and stuck down her feet

And my ‘monument to monkey’ was finally complete.

To see them all leave will be like a bereavement.

But it will feel to me an enormous achievement

If just one child says, ‘Hey Mum, let’s go look,

There’s a monkey in the library that’s holding a book’.

To be able to imagine is a wonderful blessing

Which the human is given many ways of expressing.

A library is a place where inspiration is abundant.

So, go monkey with a book, make boredom redundant.

Material: Paper Mache, Glass Paint

Credits for the photography to Simon R Etcha Sketch

LADY WITH THE BIRD ON HER HEAD

THE TRAVELLER

THE SINGERS

PAIN

DAYBREAK

PARTING GIFT!

FAMILY GROUP