For several years I’ve been searching for a way to make Biblical ceramic sculptures that convey a feeling of ancientness, while also having a certain quality of liveliness and honesty in them. Sometimes they need to be serious and contemplative, sometimes powerful and with gravitas, and sometimes humorous and lighthearted, but they must always be meaningful.
Like many artists today, I find a connection with the simplicity of form that characterises much of ancient, pre-classical sculpture. I love the lifelike figurines of ancient Egypt, and find the severity of primitive Cycladean sculpture (from the Aegean, around 3000BCE) absolutely riveting. In my ceramic sculptures, I have found the rigour and angular severity of these ancient Mediterranean artworks to be fundamental when working on subjects of majesty, such as Moses, King David and Melchizedek King of Salem.
For lighter subjects, I have found the ceramic medium to be a natural continuation of my series of Biblical illustrations. Both in terms of their naive form, and use of bright colours, these ceramic figures and relief sculptures bring my Biblical artwork to life in a three dimensional way.
Ceramic Biblical Art I really enjoyed making this piece of ceramic Biblical art; a whimsical depiction of a prophet with his cat! For the discerning collector of high-performance Biblical prophets and cats, this must be the sculpture for you! I made it in terracotta clay, firing it with an engobe (matt-finish) glaze. Later I added […]
This Biblical relief sculpture, Noah and the Dove, is made of a light-coloured clay (called Yellow Terrazzo), with an inlay of smoked glass. Many of the elements are finished with acrylic paint. (See my post from September, showing how it was made).The design is simple, primitive, direct and, I hope, powerful. The motif of the […]
Showing stages in the creation of a new ceramic wall sculpture, 28cm x 25cm. It’ll be finished with coloured glazes. Looking forward to showing you the finished product soon….
This small ceramic wall sculpture (13.5 x 18cm) shows a Biblical patriarch and a palm tree. It has been fired once, and is coloured with acrylic, giving a matt, non-shiny finish. The man’s staff is picked out in applied gold leaf. There are more of my ceramic works on my dedicated Ceramic Sculpture page. If you’re […]
I’m currently working on these two small relief sculptures in clay. Shown here before firing and before colouring, they will eventually be terracotta red clay, with colour and gold leaf applied. Approximately 15cm wide, they are intended to be wall-hung.
I’ve just completed a new ancient Biblical sculpture. My New Black Moses stands 31.5cm high and is made of black fired clay with touches of a dark metallic underglaze. The inspiration for this type of formal, standing figure comes from the ancient sculpture of Mesopotamia. The (linked) article from the Metropolitan Museum’s website describes this […]
