PROFILE

Will has lived in Salisbury for over 40 years.  A medical doctor for most of his working life, he is an intuitive sculptor with no formal training in art or sculpture. He only took up stone carving in 2003, after a one-week course at Tout Quarry, Portland.  He went on further weekend classes, and for about a year took space in the studio of Henry Gray, the local stone carver.

He has always been aware of the beauty of nature and organic form, but in the modern world we are surrounded by so many man-made structures, with their straight lines and right-angles, and we have become acclimatised to this lack of organic form.  Yet we appreciate the beauty of living things, in their shapes and movements, and have a deep-seated, sub-conscious need for this form of aesthetic nourishment.

MY ART

My work is mainly figurative.  However, even my non-representational works tend to emphasise organic shapes.

I have been strongly influenced by the economy of Eastern arts, and it's underlying inspiration is to stimulate the imagination.  Hence, much of my work that is clearly figurative, leave unrevealed elements for the viewer to imagine. 

I deliberately avoid suggesting any literary or allegorical association in my work as this imposes a viewpoint on the observer.  Similarly, I avoid faces as these provide a character in the mind of the observer.

Much of my work is in alabaster, since this stone, with its sensuous translucency, allows the light within it to modify the character of the sculptures and to bring an essential, additional dimension to the sculpted image.  In addition, alabaster is inherently tactile, adding yet a further dimension to my works.