Recently i had Shea Kerry working with me doing his placement with Greenhead College. After a quick introduction to the workshop we got straight on with making the remaining pieces for a commission i’ve been asked to do. It was quite relentless work bending all the bar to the right shapes for the 48 individual wall pieces but Shea was great to work with and never moaned once. After 3 1/2 days solid work we’d finished the last one and Shea did some of his own work, making various pieces of sculpture for different members of his family. Shea was a really valuable person to have around for the week and made my job much easier.

Art in the woods is here again. In the past i’ve sited a ready-made piece, collaborated with another artist, and worked on my own in response to the landscape, this time i worked with a group of schoolchildren to make the work. I did a two day sculpture workshop at Hepworth Junior School and we decided to make birds out of wire and plastic which were sited along a stretch of footpath for visitors to try and spot.

I’ve just come back from a month away working in New Zealand. Much as i love metal sculpture, it was great to do some different work. I helped Chris Booth, the international New Zealand artist, source and assemble a new piece for his upcoming exhibition in Wellington in and amongst doing some collagraph printing and making a couple of pieces for a sculpture trail from plastic plant pots at Art at Wharepuke in Kerikeri.

Mick can you make a big robot ? Yes, how big ? 4.4m, oh and i need it in six days ! That was the conversation that sparked my latest project. Its an eye catching entrance feature for Vermilion gallery in Knutsford. Working quickly on that scale was certainly a steep learning curve but i managed it, just.

I recently took part in the fourth Staithes Arts Festival and it was a pleasure as always to be part of it. Hundreds of people came round to look at my sculptures in Sandra and Stuarts garden and my metal birds were certainly the most popular item this time. Thank you to you if you came for a look and a chat despite the mixed weather and thank you again to Roraima House Bed and Breakfast.

Last week Bethany Clay a student from Greenhead College worked with me to see what life is like as a sculptor. Coming from a drawing and painting background she’d never thought of doing sculpture before. We were based in the workshop all week apart from a trip to the galvanisers and to pick up various materials. She’d never tried sculpture before but quickly learnt to use my mig welder and made some name plates, a rat, an alien and a horse sculpture. She also did some plasma cutting and used it to draw with, making a portrait which she later welded some extra pieces to. She was great to work with, always helpful around the workshop and certainly not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Well, its finally all sited, not quite as originally intended but they are a colourful addition to the park. The sculptures were loosely based around ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and the drawings produced by local school kids.

I’ve been working for a while on making various sculptures for the re-vamping of Barrowcliff play area in Scarborough. I’m making a group of sculptures and four sculptural railing panels for the entrance and various pieces to go in the park. I worked with Briercliffe Junior School across the road to get some ideas about what they’d like to see in the park and this is some of the work in progress.

It’s great to have been part of Staithes Arts Festival from the start and watch it grow in confidence and stature every year. The festival this year runs from 12th to 14th September. As usual i’m exhibiting my sculptures in the garden of ‘Roraima’. Sandra is such a good gardener that my work never fails to have the best possible environment to show it off. In fact some visitors fail to notice my work at all and just notice Sandra’s amazing plants.

Last week Lucy Hollingdrake from Greenhead College worked with me to see what life is like as an artist. We were mainly based in the workshop all week apart from siting a bench and some wall pieces at  a school one afternoon. She was great to work with and was really helpful around the workshop. Having already done a bit of welding before she quickly learnt to use my mig welder and made some trophy antlers and a cat sculpture. She also did some plasma cutting, varnishing, painting, stand making and strangely – helped make some expanding foam ties and hair for the Art Market this sunday.

It’s the last weekend for the trail and its well worth a visit with 18 artists’ work to see, mine included. I decided to use the woods as the source material. What i found was litter and I don’t like litter, it’s one of my pet hates. I can’t understand why people drop it in the first place, let alone go somewhere that’s really quite beautiful and then drop it. The piece was my response to all the litter i found whilst walking the paths around the reservoir and the nearby lanes, to make something positive from it and hopefully make people think twice about dropping litter in future.

I’m just back from siting the railings now and i’m pleased with how they look. People seem to like them which is always pleasing, favourite so far is the frog. Its odd how the work always seem a lot smaller when i site it.

I’m working on some entrance feature railings for an open public space in Scarborough at the moment and having fun making them.

This week i had Rosie Drummond working alongside me as part of Holmfirth High Schools work experience programme.  We worked mostly in my workshop but also had a morning in a school  and had a site visit to Scarborough.  She worked really well and was great to have around for the week. I showed her how to use a MIG welder and a plasma cutter, here she is doing her first ever bit of welding.

Well its here, my re-vamped website and thanks must go to Owen Phillips (owenphillips.co.uk) for setting the actual thing up and his patience as i try to comprehend how it works and to Jean Bashford (jeanbashford.com) for the photos in my workshop, hope you like it – mick