As a sculptor, I am always pleased when my pieces are made available as public art. Sometimes a collector puts one of my pieces on display to a wider audience or I receive a commission for a sculpture for a specific public place. I really enjoy knowing that my work will be appreciated by visitors and passers-by.
Most of my sculpture is sold to private collections worldwide and I enjoy working to commission with corporate and private clients. Collectors often return and we forge lasting relationships. There are always exciting projects in the pipeline! A percentage of my work is also sold through galleries where I don’t have the joy of knowing the client.
Goodman’s Fields Horses was a commission for a major work of public art in a public space. I was thrilled it won the PMSA’s annual Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture and Fountains in 2017. It was quite a feat of engineering! Not to mention a huge collaborative effort with input from developers, architects, garden designers, lighting technicians, fountain engineers and of course, the foundry.
The horses are at the centre of a development in the heart of London at Aldgate, surrounded by shops, cafes, restaurants and apartments. I love that people go about their business around my sculptures every day. I felt the same about the sculptures that were on public display during the London Olympics 2012. My Life Size Stag stood outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square and my Leopard Climbing Tree was on Oxford Street.
My Andalusian Stallion, one of the Goodman’s Fields Horses, has been on a grand tour over the past few years. It was on display at Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, National Trust Gardens at Stowe, The Mall and British Polo Day. At Royal Ascot, it was joined by my Otters. Now it has gone to Dubai to be exhibited outside the Dubai International Financial Centre gallery space as a year-long installation in collaboration with Sotheby’s.
I particularly like seeing my pieces placed in a natural landscape. They add visual interest, dimension and movement, contrast and colour to an external space. Sometimes, with considered placement, they can bring an element of surprise. At the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park in North Yorkshire, several of my pieces are on view. You can see Owl, Tawny Owl, Roe Buck and Roe Doe, Swift and Leopard. They look great in that beautiful outdoor setting.
In Scotland, Floors Castle in Roxburghshire also has my Roe Deer in the gardens. Attadale Gardens in Wester Ross has another Roe Doe and a Cheetah. And in Cornwall, Trewithen Gardens has an early sculpture of Otters and Tregothnan Gardens has a Buzzard. Chippenham Park Gardens has a Hereford Head. Further afield, the Southern Highlands Reserve is a native plant arboretum and botanical gardens in North Carolina. They have also got my Roe Deer, who are proving to be one of my most well-travelled sculptures!
Hotel lobbies, reception rooms and of course, hotel gardens, are all good places to see interesting sculptures. There are more Roe Deer at Archerfield House in East Lothian, with Roe Buck, Roe Doe and Roe Fawn in front of the house. Calcot Manor in the Cotswolds has Otters and the Four Seasons on Hyde Park Corner has a Leopard. There’s another Leopard at a ski chalet in Aspen, Colorado.
Schools and Universities are great places for public art and always liven up a campus. A sculpture of St Peter throwing a fishing net was my first major commission for Radley College when I was twenty years old. I also have a sculpture at Chapman University in California called Fossil Hybrid.
Retail outlets can also be places to enjoy public art. I enjoyed making a Pheasant to stand outside the visitor’s centre at Cotswold Distillery, a sculpture replica of their distinctive logo. There’s a farm shop in Hertfordshire that has a Bull Head. And the Master Butcher, Philip Warren, who supplies many Michelin-starred restaurants across the country including The Ivy, bought my bronze Side of Beef sculpture to hang in his shop which was pleasingly appropriate!
Hiscox has a Turtle sculpture in the lobby of their London offices and Merril Lynch has a Bull Head. I have also made corporate gifts for Knight Frank, The Moorland Association and Triton – a great way to share art with their clients.
I was delighted to be commissioned to make a Household Cavalry Charger to commemorate the Queen’s Standard.
My Churchill sculpture has also ended up in some interesting places. As well as being on permanent display at Blenheim Palace, it also has a home on the luxury yacht ‘Christina O’, which used to belong to the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis. And visitors to the White House might also see it. It was a gift to the President of the United States by the Duke of Marlborough.
So although my next solo exhibition isn’t until 2020, there are lots of opportunities to view my sculptures all over the country – and abroad – as public art.
If you would like to discuss a commission with Hamish for a public art sculpture or any other limited edition bronze or silver sculpture, check out the Commissions Page for more information or ring 01608 737859.
