Sculpture
By Director, David Holland
When David retired, he moved to France and began to carving in the limestone which was plentiful in the area that he lived.
“While in France, I had the good fortune to be able to study modelling and moulding with Mira Pillebout, (http://lignesetmatiere.canalblog.com) working in clay and plaster. After this, I took lessons in stone carving from Alain Bruneau ( http://alain-bruneau.blogspot.com)
11 years later I moved back to the UK, to Axminster, where I enjoy creating things. It’s satisfying to use the skills that I have acquired in my life and know that the stone and bronze I work with will last for a long time.
Please watch this youtube video of me at work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfgzPUIA7L0”
This gallery shows his work and advertises any that are for sale.
They are available directly from him, simply phone Bigbury Mint on 01548830717 and we will give you his contact details.
After Vermeer Marble
Originally modelled in clay at about life size, this reconstituted marble version is after the much admired “Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Vermeer.
Looks and feels like real stone and just as heavy.
£1900
Abstract Stone
This was carved from a piece of limestone pulled from a hedge while I was living in France.
It was very windy at the time and I think that influenced the shape that developed.
About 60cms high
Sold
After Vermeer Bronze
Originally modelled in clay at about life size, this reconstituted marble version is after the much admired “Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Vermeer.
Looks and feels like real bronze and just as heavy.
£1900
Akhenaten
Nefertiti’s husband Akhenaton.
Very much after the original Egyptian carvings – so strong and individual. I just had to have a version of my own
A little larger than life. Modelled in clay and cast in plaster.
Could be cast in bronze POA
Bad Boys 24
This is a six foot high sculpture in plaster, drain pipes and concrete
Heavily influenced by the paintings of Jack Vettriano
Private collection
Bad Day at the Office
Just a little whimsy created after staring at my desk for half an hour looking for inspiration.
Limestone about 35cms high.
Laugh if you like, I don’t care!
Private collection
Coq
Sitting quietly in a small room I noticed a small piece of scrunched up tissue paper lying on the floor.
After staring at it for several minutes I could see it take the form of a young chicken, a coq because I was in France at the time. It seemed appropriate and of course it had to be blue.
And so I made a model of it in plaster over CHICKEN wire.
He stands about 40cms high.
Not for sale
Crabclaw
About 50cms long in Portland Stone. The original claw has been on my bathroom windowsill for years among a collection of shells. Nothing deep and meaningful about this, I just loved the shape of it.
Sold
Flora
Now I have to admit that this is a sort of copy of an image I saw while trawling for sculptures on the web.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find it again so I had to work from memory and just guess what it looked like round at the back.
Still, I had better apologise to the artist who carved the original.
I carved it from a wonderfully golden piece of Perigordine limestone. About 35cms high.
Private collection
Gatekeeper 1
The Gatekeeper I
This chap is a sort of missing link; half way between Neanderthal and Ape. An evolutionary teenager probably with the same angst over identity as modern teenagers, neither man nor boy.
However, he’s happy enough and would enjoy a position just to the right of an entrance door so that he can give all visitors the once over.
Bath stone about half a metre high
Private collection
Howler Monkey
Carved in the form of a corbel from white Perigordine limestone.
Private collection
Jade Girl
My first go at modelling in wax. Nude with Attitude seemed like a good subject but I wasn’t happy with it – it looked dated in style. Aaah! But then I added the boots and bingo!
About 23cms high Cast in Jade resin
£106
Jurassic Angel
This very optimistic Icarus wannabee is about 25cms high and sculpted in white marble. I love it to bits.
Not for sale
Life in the Old Log Yet
This was originally a log I rescued from the woodpile while I was living in France.
The new sprouting shoots were modelled in clay and the whole thing cast in bronze about 40 cms high.
I really, really like this. It has a very strong masculine presence
£1660
Nefertiti
This lifesize plaster bust is a distillation of many images of seductive female blues singers.
Originally modelled in clay, she was cast in a plaster waste mould.
Bronze castings could be made from this. POA
Pigdogduck
I got the idea for this from a piece of fossil I found on the beach at Lyme Regis. The rest was just fancy.
Ham stone 150cms high
Not for sale
Menace
These bookends were my first effort at sculpting marble.
I wanted to make them dramatic so I referenced the eyes of a tiger and made the opportunity to try marble. These are about 6″ square originally carved in limestone but also cast in reconstituted marble
£128 pair
Moons
Got this from what was burnt in my eyes after staring at a lit light bulb (don’t try this at home)
Modelled in Plaster about 60cms high.
NFS
Spikey Monster
Couldn’t throw away this piece of tree pruning so I modified it into this charming chap to use as a paperweight.
About 15cms from spike to chin and cast in resin with glass marbles for eyes.
Ivory resin
£180
Sylvie
This young lady grew out of a 1964 painting by Picasso.
I named her after the wife of my mate who was apprenticed with me some sixty years ago. I chose her because I wanted someone who had the same quiet quality of character that I could see in the painting.
Purely coincidentally, one of Picasso’s muses was named Sylvette.
Portland Stone 93 cms high
Private collection
Rasta Dreaming
The head was developed over about 4 years and started out as a full size figure. Modelled in plaster over a wire mesh support it stands on a separate plaster base and might make a good container for loudspeakers,
I think this would be a good subject to cast in bronze.
Price £1800 (£5400 in bronze)
Reflections on Mortality
Pensive portrait of a Queen wondering how much longer she has to reign at the time of her Diamond Jubilee
Bronze 36cms high
£2400
The Miller of Lyme
This is carved in the local Ham stone and was exhibited at Town Mill Arts Centre, Lyme Regis.
Please view my VIDEO
Private collection
The Thin Grey Line
This is a reference to “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L.James..
There are contrasting rough and smooth areas either side of the thin grey line which snakes sensually around the abstractly represented figure.
1.4m high in Portland Stone
Pictured on exhibition outside the reception area at Cricket St.Thomas Leisure Complex near Chard
Private collection
The Gatekeeper Two
Pictured here on exhibition at Pecorama railway theme park, Beer
This character was based on a painting by Dutch artist Quinten Massys called “The Ugly Duchess”
Bath Stone about 3ft high
Private collection
The Hound of Grace
I imagined Grace as Goddess of everything that has artistic worth (whatever that is!) and to help her in her search for it I invented this hound who can be sent off with his high performance hooter to seek out works of art.
Modelled in plaster on a wooden base. About 50cms high
NFS
Universal Pilgrim
The brief I gave myself was to create a figure to represent all those on a journey towards humanity, peace and tolerance in the face of all the horror and bloodshed taking place in the world today.
It had to be a truly universal figure; nothing that could identify it with any particular ethnicity, faith, colour, gender or political persuasion.
The figure was to be weighed down by a bag full of prejudices
This brief made the modelling particularly challenging – it was barely a figure at all..
At 1.4 metres high in Bath Stone, I am very pleased with it.
The sculpture is now installed in Exeter City Centre
Torso
Everybody does a Torso right? So this is mine
Modelled in plaster and subsequently cast in reconstituted marble
65cms high
£913
Tranquillity
Something to radiate calm over a courtyard space
Bath stone 20cms high
Matter and Consequence Learning
This is the sister piece to “Thinking”. I started out with the same initial ideas but took it in a different direction.
Portland stone again and about the same height.
I think this would work on a monumental scale?
£1800
Matter and Consequence Thinking
This is a recently finished 60cm high figure in Portland stone based on a six inch high clay model made at a life class in France.
£2450
