These works are in response to figurative work found in The Bowes Museum collection. Painting and sculpture have alternated in emphasis throughout my career. I have found this to be a suitable arrangement and balance in relation to my creative needs. I have been a teacher for the past thirty-four years. This aspect of my experience is integral to the development of my work and it's underlying philosophy. Over the course of my career I have explored the themes that interested me at the time, and this eclecticism has allowed me to re-discover paths I had forgotten. More recently mythology and politics have come to the fore as recurring influences in my work. Both the formal and poetic developments are of the highest importance to me. Though I may be aware of the motivation underpinning theme and content, I hope and expect to find things out during the process of production.

Swan Dancer

Material: Marble

The thought process that led to this piece followed the experience of the automaton swan in the collection. That recalled the Swan Princess in the ballet 'Swan Lake', and the metamorphosis of the dancer into swan/swan into dancer.

Dylan Head

Material: Marble

Common to my pieces is a strong empathy that I feel between my work and the medium-length Swedish, grey marble column that stands beside the lift on the ground floor of the Museum. The absence of a work mounted upon it inspires me to imagine sculptures that would complete it as a work of art. This particular piece I call 'Dylan Head' as it has an implied mouth-organ incorporated within it.