Marine Grade Stainless Steel
Signed Hamish Mackie
Numbered Edition of 9
Dated 2020
175cm high x 170cm long x 85cm wide (69″ x 67″ x 33.5″) including stainless steel base
Weight including stainless steel base: 225kg
Sculptures can be shipped worldwide at cost, no VAT payable on exports outside the EU.
£112,000 inc VATSea turtles can be found in all of the world’s oceans except the polar regions. Migratory creatures, they spend most of their lives in the sea, only coming ashore from time to time to nest or bask. Turtles have long been hunted for their shells, eggs, meat and skin, and sadly, numbers are in decline. Habitat destruction and climate change have also had an impact on nesting sites.
There are seven remaining species of sea turtle. The Hawksbill, Kemp’s Ridley and Green are classed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The Leatherback, Loggerhead and Olive Ridley are in the vulnerable category. The conservation status of the Flatback is unclear due to a lack of available data.
Originally commissioned by a client in Barbados, Hamish has created a sculpture of three life-size sea turtles cast into stainless steel. There is a fluid energy to this sculpture, a sense of movement and lightness that evokes these nimble creatures who are so at home in the ocean.
This sculpture works equally well as an internal or external piece. It is particularly suited to placement near water where it can cast wonderful reflections. It is also available in bronze – Turtles 2020
At the beginning of lockdown, I was commissioned to sculpt a turtle sculpture to fit besides a swimming pool in the Caribbean. Sadly, because of Covid I had to cancel that research trip. Instead I worked from a green sea turtle at the Cotswold Wildlife Park. Although the sculpture was site specific, the client gave me a free rein to come up with the exciting concept of not just one turtle, but three swimming amongst underwater foliage which acts as their support. To get the feeling of being underwater I sculpted the foliage upside down! To cast and finish a sculpture of this complexity in stainless steel, which melts at 1600 degrees, is an amazing achievement by Lockbund Foundry. To sculpt the original, make a mould, build the new casting system and finish the sculpture took a year!
