Ian Thomson MRSS

(Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors)

My sculptures are expressions of peace, change and aspiration.  They convey my optimism for the future and acceptance of the present.  In abstract pieces, my objective is to express this in an organic way that is ethereal yet grounded in reality.  In figurative pieces I aim to capture the character of my subjects, whether in portraiture or other work, by attempting to render the beauty that I am able to  find in a manner appropriate to the medium.

Often based on nature, on flowers, shells, clouds and flames, my work is informed by researching the great sculptors and coloured by a personal spirituality.

I spent some years in Africa and Asia on development projects as an architect and took degrees in Architecture and in Human Values and Contemporary Global Ethics before turning to sculpture.  The carving I do today has been influenced by my past travels and study.

Working on raw marble blocks, I am conversant in both traditional and modern techniques and painstakingly plan my vision in clay and with plaster maquettes.  I believe that it is important to properly master all aspects of the production process from drawing and modelling, plaster casting, to every stage of carving: roughing out, forming and finishing.  I do all my own work which allows for, as well as a deep and evolving understanding of the field, the maintenance of a high level of precision.

Nowadays this is often not the case.  Most contemporary marble sculptors will employ a team of artisans to execute their design and then at the end apply the finishing touches.  Alternatively the use of computer controlled CNC machines is becoming ever more prevalent.  The sculptor will supply a model, usually in clay and have it cast in plaster by a mould maker.  This will be scanned, then a raw block will be mounted on the machine and at the touch of a button it will be carved in a matter of days.  The sculptor might then just smooth it down.  Of course good art, perhaps great art, can still be produced in this way, however, it seems to me that a curve or a plane can vary infinitely and can one be sure that something of the sculptor’s intention is not lost if it is not the sculptor’s hand that forms it?

Every piece that I produce has travelled with me along the journey of becoming and I know it almost as an entity with a personality.  I know every centimetre of the block intimately, its strengths and flaws, having turned and inspected, pitched and shattered with hammer, flowed over surface with chisel and swayed from side to side as in a dance polishing, month after month, sometimes year after year.  Then when the finished piece is purchased it is sent it off into the world and the process begins all over again.