Boom and there goes another course, two more left for this year then we’ll take a break while it’s chilly in the mill and start again next March when it’s hopefully a bit warmer. It goes without saying – a big thank you to my good friend and fellow host Billy aka David Mayne who I run the courses with and if you want next year’s dates before they get generally released just drop me and email. So, back to course number 58 and Billy had Greg and Ali in his room across the corridor. Greg had previously bought work from Billy and so had decided to have a go himself, after mastering the welding he was on a roll and made six pieces of work, admittedly some of them were quite small but it might just be a course record. Ali was bought a place on the course as a Christmas present and brought a collection of victorian bottles with her. She made a flower inspired display stand for them to go on in her garden. In my room were good friends Jane and Hilary who’d travelled up from near Banbury. I’d mentioned the courses to Hilary when I met her at Staithes last year so she decided to see wether it was actually possible to make a piece in a weekend. Jane got to grips with the welding and made a balancing bird for her garden from old fire extinguishers and threaded bar. Hilary made a dog for her garden once she’d got to grips with not being able to see much through the welding masks. It’s always great to see our students surprise themselves with their capabilities (and a bit of help from us) so if you fancy having a go next year just drop me an email.

They’re occurring thick and fast at the moment are these metal sculpture courses and we can’t call this a weekend one because it’s our first ever weekday one. We’ve slotted this extra one because we had three friends wanting a weekday one so it wasn’t too tricky to find a fourth student to complete the course. John had never welded before and came armed with loads of cutlery his wife gave him from the charity shop she works at and after making a giant bee which we all kept mistaking for a dragonfly went on to make an angler fish, finishing just in time to let it cool down and then pop in his car for the journey home. Steve came with no preconceived ideas and just wanted to see what happened and after finding a pair of cobblers lasts that resembled two legs and feet he went on to make a minion and a strange dog like creature as it’s companion. Mark started making a dog which looked very much like a dog, so much so in fact that he discarded the proposed beak and added a nose and some big ears. He then went on to make a bird which started off as a robin but ended up as a huge penguin – I don’t think we’ve anyone smile so much throughout one of our courses. Finally we had Ole (coming along for the second time) who wanted to make an owl that not only moved a bit in the wind but also had a rotating head. He methodically worked through the whole weekend then produced the finished owl at the last minute like some sort of magician. Thanks as ever to fellow professor Billy aka David Mayne who I run the courses with, our last three for this year are all booked up but if you want to go on our waiting list and get next years dates before they’re released to the general public, just drop me an email.

We’ve just run our 56th course and four happy students surprised themselves with their abilities creating some great pieces of sculpture. It’s an introduction to metal sculpture course so once we’ve covered the basics and shown you how to weld, you’re off and we keep an eye on you until you’ve made at least one piece to take home with you. David Mayne and I run the course with only four students at a time so you get as much guidance and input from us as you need. So this time round we had three new students and one who’d come back for her third time. In my room were the girls, Helen and Laura. Helen just needed a refresher as it was her third time then she was off making giant flowers for her garden from twisted cutlery and rebar. Laura borrowed one of my face moulds and made two heads, one from nuts and the other from ball bearings, definitely a change from her usual root canal work as a dentist. In Billy’s room across the corridor were Chris and Stu. Chris had ideas about making a cat and so it was just a question of deciding which were the right components and fitting them all together. The cat became quite elaborate so now it’ll be an outdoor cat after it’s been galvanised. Stu was bought a place on the course as a Christmas present so had had time to come up with the idea of some brushes and a dragonfly. Being a structural engineer, he did have to compromise on structural integrity a bit in favour of aesthetics but it was a lovely piece of sculpture in the end. We’re full up on course places this year despite slotting and extra two courses in so if you want next year’s dates before they’re released just drop me an email.

That’s it, Holmfirth Artweek all packed away for another year. It’s been really good fun and the weather has really helped with bringing people out to look at the main exhibition and the 41 fringe venues. I was in Coopers Yard in Holmfirth centre, the Sculpture Lounge and at a house called High View on Binns Lane. The Coopers Yard pieces were big because the space was fairly huge and they let me make some pieces from old beer barrels, namely a massive giraffe and a pig head. At High View I had sculptures in the garden and smaller pieces in the house whilst at Sculpture Lounge it was my usual Open Studio event along with most of the mill where you could meet the artists and see them working in their studios. It’s still too early to come up with final sales figures but it’ll be comparable to last year when we raised £45,000 to split between Macmillan and The Kirkwood.

We’ve just finished our 55th course with three new students and one returning student who last came on the course in 2017. It was a really warm weekend so the temperature in the workshop got up to 20 degrees which makes for tiring work but everyone still enjoyed themselves. Helen was last on the course eight years ago when she made a huge abstract garden sculpture, this time she was a little more restrained and did a quite loose drawing of a mother and child then proceeded to scale it up in 10mm bar and then also made a seahorse. Joe was bought a place on the course by his daughter and set about making animal presents to take home with him, namely a calf and a dinosaur. Bobbie and Simon came up from Norfolk to do the course. Bobbie had done lots of ceramic courses previously but wanted to try another medium, one with more immediacy. She made a drunk looking chicken and then some seaweed which she will later add some small ceramic fish to. Finally Simon started off by making a steam engine after spotting some circular washers in our junk pile then made a wire framed pig for their garden. As usual all four students were surprised by what they were capable of making over two days, I run the courses with Billy ( David Mayne) at the Sculpture Lounge near Holmfirth. If you want to try your hand at making something drop me an email to go on next years waiting list.

We’ve just had the Arts Festival in Holmfirth and this year part of it was the ‘River of Art’ whereby various artists worked with schools and community groups to create artwork that would either be sited in or next to the river. As mentioned in a previous post I’d worked with Hepworth Juniors to create a frog on a lily pad. I’d initially intended it to go below the bridge on Hollowgate on top of one of the unsightly sewer inspection hatches but it was decided the pieces would be best nearer the centre so ‘Flo the Frog’ ended up below the footbridge from the bus station over to the Old Bridge Hotel. The river was really low so siting the piece was relatively easy despite forgetting to bring any ladders and discovering a rotting fox corpse. After three days the pieces were all removed and I found a few coins had been thrown onto the lily pad and one even in the frog’s mouth, quite a feat from the high footbridge.

Billy and I have just completed another course and this one was very easy going with four new, novice students learning to weld then creating their own unique pieces of art to take away with them on the Sunday evening. Mick came with his own pile of junk metal he’d collected from his walks around his hometown of Leeds. He assembled steel and aluminium bits into a mythical creature which will take pride of place in his garden. Neil came all the way from Norfolk with no idea what to make and was just happy to play it by ear. Settling on making something for his garden, once we’d got him to slow down and not rush the welding he went on to make a great owl from a fire extinguisher with golf club wings. Beverley found it hard to make a start at first as she kept getting lost in collecting just the right pieces for her flower and bird but then got right into it and made two great pieces of work. Lastly Rachel brought her old sketchbook with her and chose a seahorse from it to make from a mix of old and new bits of steel. The scaled up finished piece, complete with it’s base to make it stand up was a lovely piece of sculpture for someone who’d never welded before. All our dates for this year are fully booked, good for us but not for you if you fancied having a go yourself so if you want to go on our waiting list for next year’s dates just email me.

Last week I worked at Hepworth Junior and Infant School as part of a project for the upcoming Holmfirth Arts Festival. It’s always lovely to work at the school, it’s the school my kids went to so it’s all very familiar and although I only knew about 2 kids, some of the staff are still there, plus it’s only just down the hill from my house. I’d already made a frog on a lily pad because the theme for this years festival project is ‘flow’ and the pieces are going along the river in Holmfirth. It was the kids job to bring the frog to life and they certainly did that. I had lots of small groups of painters come outside and slowly we covered the frog in different coloured green dots. There was a bit of time spare in the afternoon so we made some bugs they could take home from plastic and tape.

We’ve just run our 53rd course and it was a great one. It might have been somewhat easier for us because we had two returning students who were both doing their fourth course with us and we had two students who were familiar with the building and quite creative because we’d poached them from on of the clay courses run by Sculpture Lounge. So firstly we had Jackie who’d brought along lots of her Fathers old tools and wanted to make a piece from them to go in her garden. Once she’d mastered the welding bit, (which did take a bit longer than usual but bless her she had a word with herself) became really confident and went on to make a pelican / stork type bird. Bob, like Jackie was from the clay course and brought a small warthog made from sheet metal he’d bought on holiday in Africa as a starting point. He got the welding part pretty quickly because of his engineering background and went on to make a big warthog from old tools and bits of scrap metal. I think it’s fair to say the only bit he struggled with was finding exactly the right bits for his piece but he managed ok in the end. Robert came along for the fourth time with a picture of a lobster and went home with a big steel version of the picture. Strangely he used no cogs this time, something he’d done on the previous three occasions. Lastly we had Debbie coming along for the fourth time armed with her usual boxes of eBay purchased metal components. She brought even more this time because she wasn’t on public transport and went home with a lovely big bird made from agricultural plough parts. Thanks as ever go to my fellow professor Billy (David Mayne) who I co-runs the courses with me. All this years places are taken but if you drop me an email I can add you to the waiting list for next years dates or a possible cancellation.

I was asked by Calderdale Library Service to run a sculpture workshop in Mixenden so kids could have a go at making sculpture and take them away with them as part of the fun day. I didn’t realise it would be outdoors and I’d be up against rugby players, skateboarders, face painters and an ice cream man for the kids attention but it still went really well. I had one lad who brought his cousin along recognise me from when I worked with him about15 years ago in a local school so he was really helpful in showing his cousin how to work with the materials. We had the usual ladybirds and dogs but also a huge bee, a unicorn and a great moose head.

This was our 52nd course and a bonus one we laid on because all the other dates had sold out. Sandra and Michelle, both friends from Holmbridge came to our open studios event for Holmfirth Artweek last July and asked if we could do and extra course, so with Arthur and Nigel joining later we had our full cohort of students. Sandra and Michelle were both in my room and had never welded before but they didn’t let that curb their enthusiasm, full of ideas they launched into making garden sculptures once I’d shown them how to weld. Sandra made a dragonfly, mole head, cat face and a flower made from spoons whereas Michelle made a series of flowers, some Rudbeckia like, others a bit more like poppies. Arthur started out making a hare from steel plate then another version of a hare using steel rod whereas Nigel made a couple of pieces inspired by his love of cycling and then a dished bowl from a piece of steel plate. The weather was lovely all weekend so we sat outside on the picnic benches at dinnertimes and enjoyed a break from all the activity. As I said earlier all this years dates are sold out but we sometimes get cancellations so if you want to go on our waiting list just drop me an email.

I recently worked at Moldgreen Primary School running a junk sculpture workshop with two classes. The plan was to tie it in with the Traction Man books they’d been reading but as usual it went a bit off piste. There were some good sculptures of characters from the book like the scrubbing brush but we also had dragons, snakes, centipedes and bees etc. One girl made a great unicorn with practically no input from me at all and a boy made a huge peanut man because well, he really likes peanuts. In the background of that picture you can see Buster the dog which one girl made for her cousin who’d just lot their pet dog, which was really sweet. It was a really fun day and everyone made at least one piece of work even though I seemed to take away as much material as I arrived with ?

. . . and we’re back for another run of courses, this being our first one of the year and we got off to a flying start. The weather was kind to us so it wasn’t quite as chilly in the mill as it usually is this time of year and we welcomed four new students onto the course who’d never welded before. I’d met Alison and Nicola in Staithes last year and talked to them about the course so they signed up and along they came with some ideas about what they wanted to make. Alison made a really impressive dragon from lots of pieces of junk metal which will stand in her fireplace at home whereas Nicola wanted to make an owl for her garden and even managed to make a bird table too. Jim was bought his place on the course as a Christmas gift and after initially making a series of garden bugs and flowers went on to make a memorial to place at one of the crashed aeroplane sites that are dotted around the hills here. Frances is well accustomed to making pieces from brass and copper so quite fancied scaling up with the immediacy of working in steel and made a moth, flower, bird and a huge plant support cum weather vane. It was great to be back on with the courses which I couldn’t run without the help and support of fellow sculptor Billy (David Mayne) and everyone was pleased with their efforts as they filled their car boots on the Sunday evening. We’ve got 2 places left for this year – April 5th/6th and June 21st/22nd if you fancy having a go yourself.

I was asked recently if I could make a ten foot tall woman out of nuts. Probably was my answer then I had to really think about how I’d actually do it. I made the figure out of old packaging and loads of gaffer tape then made a fibreglass mould of it with Martin’s help again. Next up it was the task of welding all 2500 nuts in place and hoping the piece wouldn’t actually collapse once I stood it up. Thankfully it didn’t and I managed to deliver the piece on a specially made frame which stuck out the back of my van a bit. Anyway, I know it’s not exactly the normal kind of piece I’d make but they’re good customers who were very pleased with it and I learnt quite a lot from making the piece too.

It doesn’t seem that long ago we started running these courses but somehow we’ve just completed our 50th one. I have to admit I’ve enjoyed them all and it’s partly because I get to run them with my good friend and fellow sculptor Billy (David Mayne) but it’s also seeing the sense of achievement shown by our students, most of whom have never even welded before. So, to celebrate our 50th course, Bill and I both baked a cake which we all scoffed at dinnertime and then carried on working in the afternoon. In my room were Fiona from Cheshire and David who’d driven up from Norfolk. Fiona brought some garden tools with her to make a cartoon style bird for her garden and a tree wall piece based on the yin & yang symbol for her 90 year old Tai Chi teacher. David had some firm ideas based around abstract garden sculpture and even brought a stone base to fix one of them to that he’d made himself. Debbie came for her third course on public transport and brought loads of pieces of metal with her including a motor bike petrol tank which she made a penguin from and then managed to get it home too. Finally Tom came to see us on his second visit and had asked his family what he should make so he had a wish list of various animals and insects which he steadily worked through. As ever it was lovely to see people really proud of what they’d made as they made their way home with their unique pieces of work. We’ll sort out next years dates soon but if you want to go on the waiting list just drop me and email.