Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Introductions - Virginia and Samuel, sculptors


This double introduction would have been a triple one, had i not accidentally and stupidly deleted pictures of Samson, the philosopher of the trio. I will have to do a separate entry on him when he is around next.

What can I tell you about these people... remember the metal chickens and all the bead sculptures I have been raving about? Well, these guys make them. It's a family business, with all 3 of them doing their part.

I met them because of Colleen who has a disorder. She can't walk past a bead sculpture without getting excited and wanting to buy it. I was apprehensive at first, scared of them forcing their marketing strategies on me, but they are not the type. They are very reserved, respectable and dare I say physically beautiful people, always hard at work on another beautiful design. Their preferred mediums are wire + bead, or metal. Favorite subject matter is wildlife, but you can take them any idea or design and they will make it for you. Colleen commissioned them a pink Pegasus for Anwyn - her daughter. It came out beautiful.

The police have previously taken away their things, which is heart breaking if you think of how much time and effort goes into every sculpture. Nowdays, at the first sight of police, they are fully packed up in record time. Before you even blink all the sculptures are hidden, and all that remains on the ground are a couple of conspicuous bits of wire.

It's always sad for me, as an artist, to see such talent struggling to make money on the street corner, like so many others, while the expensive shops and galleries down the road are selling tasteless junk someone threw together in 2 seconds.

Anyway, I can talk for days about these guys or I can show you some of their work. Here is my latest purchase. It's a gift for my dad, a lamp fitting, complete with the wiring. Here is a picture of lit and unlit. I have spoken to them about making wall lights for my restaurant, also in the flower motif... It looks magical at night


Here are some more of the little bead wonders:


And here is a beginning of our very own Norwood Owl House:



And there is much, much more where that came from :-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I live in London, and sculptures like these sell for hundreds (thousands for the metal ones) of pounds, why do people more people not recognize the artistry, is it simply because they are not presented in a sterile uptown gallery. Van Gogh never sold one painting whilst alive, id he were alive today would he be relegated to street-side crafts and paid pennies?