Stainless Steel, Signed Hamish Mackie
Numbered Edition of 12
Dated 2023
78cm high x 53cm long x 30cm wide [including 10cm high removable steel base] (30.5″ x 21″ x 12″)
Sculptures can be shipped world wide at cost, no VAT payable on exports outside the EU.
£25,000 inc VATCombing the foreshore has been a source of creative inspiration for many artists. This sculpture was inspired by a Quahog clam shell that Hamish found while walking on the shore close to a client’s house in Maine, looking for ideas for a sculpture influenced by the local flora and fauna.
The name Quahog derives from the language spoken by the Narragansett people, an Algonquian American Indian tribe. The Quahog clam, also known as the hard or round clam, is native to the eastern shores of North and Central America. It is the central ingredient in clam chowder, for which Maine is particularly renowned.
Hamish’s found clam shell also reminded him of the huge shell middens he had seen on a research trip to Canada. Middens are essentially old mounds of domestic waste, a tell-tale sign of past human occupation that can yield anthropological clues to the way our ancestors lived. Shell middens consist mainly of mollusc shells, often bleached white in the sun.
Hamish wanted to recreate the natural sculptural form of the shell. This Quahog Clam sculpture is a digitally enlarged version of the found clam, milled into a rough blank which Hamish has then re-worked and cast into marine grade stainless steel.
It is suitable for both indoor and outdoor display. The steel base is removable so it can be attached directly to a plinth or natural boulder. The sculpture mirrors itself very well and makes a striking statement when viewed as a pair.
