Today, Lucy Branch talks to Louisa Forbes about her public sculpture. Louisa blends themes of religion and mythology into her classical figurative sculpture and is inspired by the idea of a connection with people thousands of years ago. She has exhibited extensively and has permanent public works in many places including Churchill and Trinity College in Cambridge, Chelsea Old Church, and St. Thomas' Hospital in London. Louisa discusses her creative  journey in becoming a professional sculptor, her inspiration and love of bronze. 

Join us and BE INSPIRED BY SCULPTURE.  You can find images of Louisa Forbes' work and a transcription of the interview at the Sculpture Vulture Blog - SCULPTURE VULTURE

If you are looking for a new novel and LOVE sculpture, then you can get a free copy of one of my novels about the dark side of the art world from Sculpture Vulture.

This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze

Snippet From The Interview:

Lucy: I began our discussion today by asking her if she’d always been creative?

Martin Jennings statues have been commissioned by the UK's greatest institutions: the National Portrait Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, the University of Oxford, and many others. His statue of John Betjeman, the driving force behind the saving of St. Pancras station in the 1960s, welcomes visitors from all over the world to the capital city. He won the Public Monuments and Statue Associations Marsh Award for Public Sculpture in 2017.

Join us for a new episode and BE INSPIRED BY SCULPTURE.  

You can find images of Martin Jennings work and a transcription of the interview at SCULPTURE VULTURE

If you are looking for a new book, the novel mentioned in this interview is currently available free from Sculpture Vulture.

This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze

Snippet from the interview:

Lucy: Today, I began our chat by asking him if he'd always been creative.

Martin: Well, that's a big, open question. I think we all are from birth, and I have, I suppose, been so in different ways. I went to university, studied English literature, and looked at art literature, as it were, from the outside before I went to art school to start making things myself.

Lucy: And so, it was books and literature, words, that drew you before the form and fine arts?

Martin: Yes, it was. I come from a very artistic family. My mother was a painter, and I have several brothers who are writers and journalists, and also painters and good at drawing and that sort of thing, and calligraphy. In fact, what I first studied at art school was calligraphy and lettering. But I came to it rather late in my 20s. So I'd struggled with playing the piano at school, and, as I said, most of my exposure to the arts was through books and reading. But as a visual artist, well, I didn't really start till I was in my early 20s. But it has gone on continuously since then.

Lucy: Was it somebody that influenced the moving towards sculpture, or did it just feel like a very natural progression?

Martin: there was a moment at school I remember, I went into the art teacher's sculpture studio. And as soon as I saw the working life he had, you know, surrounded with blocks of stone, and with dusty books on the bookshelves, and just, sort of, dust everywhere, I came to the conclusion that this was the life for me.

I'd never have to put a tie on ever again. But I then went to university, and it took me until after I left university before I really approached it seriously.

Lucy: With my own children, we have a studio at home, and there's all sorts of projects all the way around them, but because it's so familiar to them, they kind of go against that. They want to do the opposite of what I'm interested in. But for you, I suppose, the familiarity of having your mum painting, and the materials, and those things at home, just felt much more natural to you?

Martin: It certainly seemed like an occupation that could command respect, insofar as my parents were forever talking about art and artists, mainly painters. So where other people

Join Us And Be Inspired By Sculpture. You can find images of Paul Day's Work and a transcription of the interview at Bronze Friezes with Paul Day - SCULPTURE VULTURE

If you are searching for your next novel and are interested in the dark side of the art world, you can download one of my novels for free at Sculpture Vulture Books where sculpture is always at the heart of the story. 

This Podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze (Experts in the Conservation and Restoration of Sculpture and Architectural Features) 

Snippet From The Interview: 

Today I began our discussion by asking him, my favourite question, have you always been creative?

Lucy: Have you always been creative?

Paul: As far as I can remember, as a child, I enjoyed from the very beginning drawing, colouring in, painting pictures, and cutting things out with scissors, and I had a mother who was, and is still, very encouraging in arty and crafty things. But also, I was number two to an elder brother who, at three years of age when I turned up, already occupied the main stage in all the family gatherings. He was a natural imitator, raconteur, and loved the limelight.

Lucy: Tough act to follow.

Paul: Well, quite. I was the younger brother who, obviously, with three years less in development of language and everything else, could never keep up with or overshadow this strong and powerful figure in my life. And I think that drawing was the one way I discovered quite early on, to draw some of that limelight and attention onto myself, and to be able to make, for example, members of the family laugh and smile with my pictures, whereas I wasn't able to do that with my oratory or my ability to tell jokes, of which I don't really have an ability to tell jokes.

Today, Lucy Branch talks to Michael Speller,  charismatic contemporary sculptor who has many works in public places in the UK including outside the iconic Millbank Tower in London, Greenwich Hospital and Loch Lomond as well as abroad.  His work is all about distinctive figurative forms which play with ideas around balance and rhythm in our lives.  Michael discusses his creative journey in becoming a professional sculptor, his inspiration and his love of bronze.

Join us and BE INSPIRED BY SCULPTURE.  You can find images of Michael Speller's work and a transcription of the interview at https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/figurative-sculpture-with-michael-speller/

If you are looking for a new book, the novel mentioned in this interview is currently available free from Sculpture Vulture. 

This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze

Snippet from the interview: 

Lucy: I began our discussion today by asking him, if he'd always been creative?

Michael: Yes. I've been creative all my life in different guises, really. I suppose the first thing was I created my own mobile beach cocktail bar and ended up taking it to Corfu and doing a summer in Corfu. So, there was a commercial element to it, but also the most important thing to me was just creating something that had never been created before. And this was like a big ball wheelbarrow but built up with a wooden stretcher and a trap door underneath a parasol with a parrot called, Harriet, hanging off the side of it and crushed ice underneath and cocktails. Now, the funny thing with it, the whole idea was it was supposed to move but basically it never moved because everyone ran to me and were so enthusiastic about this mad thing on the beach that I always had queues and I was handing in brochures the next summer to all of the core marketing people.

Lucy: That's fantastic. really entrepreneurial as well.

Michael: Exactly. And then progressing from that my catering element was where I started…that's what I did at college. I did a catering management course at Oxford Poly as it was then. Then I went on to start my own catering business which, again, was a little bit unusual. We're talking a hell of a long time ago now but it was the first, sort of, delivery service. This is before even pizzas were delivered or they were just starting to be. This was an up-market delivery service with monkfish and prawn sort of pies and loads of exotic ingredients. And I was racing around in a dinner jacket serving these in Blackheath and Greenwich.

Lucy: I bet they loved that.

In today's interview, Lucy Branch, speaks with Rodney Munday, whose work can be found up and down the UK including The Minster Church of St Andrew, Plymouth, Oxford and Cambridge University and Chichester and Worthing Hospitals to name only a few. 

Rodney's work is figurative though his range is wide. He has created many Christian themed sculptures, but also animals and commemorative works in bronze.  Today Rodney shares his thoughts on his creative journey, his inspiration and his love of bronze.

Join us and be inspired by sculpture.  You can find images of Rodney's work and the transcription of the interview at https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/bronze-sculpture-with-rodney-munday/

If you are looking for a new book, you can get the novel mentioned in this interview for free from Sculpture Vulture.

This podcast was brought to you by Antique Bronze  

Snippet from The Interview: 

Lucy: I began our conversation today by asking if he'd always been creative?

Rodney Munday: Well, my creative journey really goes back as long as I can remember. I've always drawn and as a child, I used to make little plasticine figures. And when I first went to school, I was given some little plaster molds for pushing plasticine into for taking...demolding little bits of sculpture really and that memory has always stuck with me and I think when I started making molds for my own work, that all came back. So yes, it's been a long journey. 

Lucy Branch: Was it always going to be your profession or did life take you in another direction first?

Rodney Munday: I suppose life's taken me in a lot of different directions. When I was up to the age of about 11, I thought I'd be a writer and from then on, I wanted to be an artist. But I only really thought about painting because I went to a very good school, art wise. While I was doing A level, I was doing life drawing with professional models every week, but I hadn't done any three-dimensional work though the teacher there told me that I drew like a sculptor. I went to art school but I gave up after a week for all sorts of reasons, really, but one I think was perhaps that it came as a bit of a disappointment after the education that I had at school. Then I thought that I needed to make up my mind quickly because for one thing, at that age, three years is a long time ahead of you. I felt that I needed to make a decision as to what I was going to do and I went back to school and it was just in time to take the Oxford entrance exam. I then read English for three years and one of my main tutors was a sculptor which was interesting. 

Lucy Branch: Well, that sounds to me like it was meant to be. There's no way around it. Rodney Munday: I continued to draw and paint and started sculpting after I left Oxford really. Most of my time was taking up farming because I was born on a farm and that was my profession for a long time. The sculpture just crept in

Hazel Reeves is a brilliantly talented sculptress who tells stories in bronze. 

In recent years she has secured several prestigious commissions among them the Sir Nigel Gresley sculpture in Kings Cross, London commemorating the engineer and innovator of steam trains, and the Cracker Packer statue dedicated to the women who have worked in the Carrs biscuit factory, now McVitie’s in Carlisle, for over a hundred years.

I’ve been keen to talk to Hazel ever since I was involved in doing some preventive conservation work on her incredible sculpture of Emmeline Pankhurst, Our Emmeline, in the centre of Manchester.  Today we discuss her creative journey and why she loves telling stories in bronze. Join us for this lively chat and to look at examples of Hazel's work and read the transcription of the interview, go to www.sculpturevulture.co.uk/hazelreeves/ 

Sample of Interview (Transcription)

Lucy: Today, I thought I’d kick off our chat by asking when she first felt drawn to creating sculpture?

Hazel: Well, I think you have to go back to when I was younger and I was desperate to go to art school and my parents said, ‘No!’ And so, I sort of forgot about that artistic career for many years. Then I was in the Dominican Republic working with the UN on women's rights and I suddenly got back in touch with all the things I was passionate about: music, drumming, dancing, arts. When I came home, it just came to me that I was going to be a portrait sculptor, which was quite bizarre because I'd never actually done any sculpting nor any portraits, but it's the only time in my life I've actually suddenly realized I had a calling.

Lucy: Did your parents have nothing to do with the arts? Was it very alien to them? Is that why they discouraged it or was it that it wasn't a proper job?

Hazel: Oh, all of the above. According to my mum, art is a luxury and you only did arts if you couldn't do anything else. My eldest sister was already at art school and I think they were also worried about having two penniless artists in the family. So it was like, "No, you're more academic. You could go off and go to college." And so it was many years later that actually I rediscovered that this is what I should always have been doing. This is my journey and I wouldn't be the sculptor I am now if I hadn't been on that journey.

Lucy: So it definitely was something that came to...you'd had to sort of squash it down for quite a long time. I wonder what it was about the Dominican Republic that brought it all to the forefront of your mind. Is it the environment there? Is it a creative place?

Hazel: It's a very creative place. I really got into the Afro-Dominican folkloric scene there. That's very much about their music and the dance but it was also a very vibrant place, a very creative place, a very musical place. Also, you're completely out of your normal environment. Making that transition from the UK to that sort of country, where there is deep poverty in some places, but also working with the UN was a tremendous experience. It was particularly the nightlife and the nights out dancing that just really sort of shook my whole system up. It was like, ah, yeah, I'm actually not somebody to be sitting at a desk.

Get your free novel from https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/a-rarer-gift-than-gold/ where sculpture is always at the heart of the story.

The Stables in Camden is home to the Amy Winehouse statue by Scott Eaton. I talk about the recent conservation work I carried out on this beautiful bronze and recommend two other sculptures to visit if you want to be inspired by sculpture. Images of the statues and transcript can be found at https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/sculpture-to-visit-in-camden-mini-episode/

Get your free novel from https://sculpturevulture.co.uk/a-rarer-gift-than-gold/ where sculpture is always at the heart of the story.