Ian Middleton
Casting is central to the way I make sculpture and I have been using the studio method of ceramic shell bronze casting for about 25 years. I begin by making moulds from 'found objects' or things I've made in clay or wood. I often cast multiple elements which I bolt on to larger pieces, or I construct the sculpture in wax by welding the different cast elements together. There is usually a repetitive element in my work. I might see the sculpture quickly through association or juxtaposition, but this realisation also happens gradually over a period of time in the studio as part of an ongoing process of chance and assimilation. I may try things out in the wax, and different elements come and go as the dialogue evolves; it's a process I find interesting because it invariably surprises me. A media image, news clip or sometimes a 'found object', which has a particular 'presence' or resonance, might trigger a starting point. The context is often events and forces which shape our lives: politics, religion, commerce, the environment, etc. The work is not constrained by these forces but is free to evolve independently while maintaining the intensity of its origins.
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: ianmiddleton-sculpture.com