Music
Where Melody Meets Form
Music and sculpture are now the twin pillars of my creative life and here they meet in one.
'Were you at the Rock', is a traditional slow air which i play on an tuned-down old fiddle. This tune is from our album blackmailed & bereft which you can find here.
Girl with Fiddle
Where the cloth of her clothes becomes skin, I have blurred.
Flecks of armature show through beneath her exterior.
This is an original, made from polymer clay, signed and dated.
Dimensions: 7" H x 5" W
Price: €1,500 + P&P
Material: Painted Polymer Clay
"I love the tranquil simplicity of this. The musician is in repose, and there is sadness in her. She is cradling her fiddle very gently — as if it were a living creature."
Anne | UK
Traditional Irish Musicians: Limited Edition Bronze
Not traditional Irish musicians per se, but Traditional Irish muses - these three cast bronzes represent a personification of the state of Flow. The figures have no need to hear, they are instead what glows at the centre of the core of the focused, when ego free and present, the musician plays.
To experience Flow is to experience an extraordinary feeling, unusual because we are, in the west, so often caught up in a state of stress, multi-tasking and chasing goals. When our minds silence the internal chatter and we focus as we might do on a walk in nature or even just doing the washing up, a moment of Bliss can come, unexpectedly and briefly. When that happens and you're playing, it can feel as though the instrument starts to play itself, with an ease and skill far beyond one's perception of one's ability. You feel set in a state of crystal clarity and it's beautiful.
To get there requires focus, presence in the moment and a complete absence of ego, so as soon as the ego notices, annoyingly, it's gone again.
It is this Bliss in this state of Flow that I have also been privileged enough to experience with a horse, creating a connection never to be forgotten. I also honour that moment in my sculpture Cordoba.
Height: 4" approx.
Price: €POA + P&P
Material: Cast Bronze
Cathy's violin
Noreen's fiddle
A Tiny Golden Violin:
Hand-Painted Original
This miniature violin, hand-sculpted in polymer clay and finished in gold acrylic and black paint, captures the iconic violin in fine-scale detail.
A lovely gift or collector’s piece.
Dimensions: 3" L approx.
Price: €200 + P&P
Material: Painted Polymer Clay
"I received this exquisite miniature golden violin as a gift after my real violin was accidentally run over by a car. The piece arrived in an elegant box and is crafted with remarkable attention to detail.
Beyond its beauty, it feels as though it was created with genuine love-radiating what I can only describe as the golden frequency of love. It holds a perfect, eternal pitch that resonates with the heart.
I deeply cherish this meaningful and symbolic gift."
Cathy | Centreville, VA, USA
"Brilliant work Gill. I absolutely love the fiddle you made for me."
Noreen | Kenmare, Ireland
The Studio Preview
Here are some more musicians and an accordion I'm making at the moment. Some need loads of work still and some are nearly finished, I shall update their progress here. If anything grabs you, drop me a line to see if it's still available.
The Classical Violinist: A Study in Grace
(Work in Progress)
There is a distinct, formal elegance to the posture of a classical violinist—a balance of poise and intense focus. And there's trance-like feeling called 'Flow' that can come from ego-free and focused playing. This piece is a study of both.
Currently in its early stages, I’m inviting a collector to secure the piece before it's finished. If you'd like it, get in touch.
Bodhrán Player
(Work in Progress)
The bodhran is an Irish drum and the heartbeat of a traditional Irish session. Made of goat skin, it's played with a light wooden stick called a 'tipper'. For a softer sound, a jazz drummer's brush is sometimes used, or as shown here, just the hand. (For drummers who join a session before they can play, a Stanley knife's widely considered the best, as I think Seamus Ennis once suggested.)
Dimensions: 6.5" H
Price: €POA + P&P
Material: Polymer clay, work in progress
The Guitarist: A Study in Motion
(Work in Progress)
I had to do a guitarist, I've so much respect for these guys. He's not finished yet - I plan to have him making one of those impossible stretches with his left fingers and looking really cool about it. At his moment the fingers are just blobs. I'm pleased with how his Taylor guitar's turned out, I just have to find an electrical cable to extract his strings, there's creases to add and a hint of shoes.
Girl with Accordion: Rhythm in Motion
(Work in Progress)
A lot of work still to do here. I sculpted her before I made the accordion and having united them, I find her lower arm is too high and she's having to lift the box off her leg - I've yet to see that done. So I'll break the arm humanely at the elbow and re-sculpt it. The fingers too need resculpting, they're too static and those buttons don't play themselves.
There's wire armature at the core of all these body parts and new clay bonds perfectly well with cured, so it's really just a matter of biting the bullet. Always worth the effort.
A Teeny Tiny B/C Accordion
(Work in Progress)
I'm making this tiny 'box' because I've still never found a good miniature of an accordion.
The b/c box a sweet sounding instrument most famously played by those 3 great trad box players: Paddy O'Brien, Joe Burke and Finbarr Dwyer.
Being hand made and absolutely tiny, those buttons - correct in number and position, are just over a hair's breath away from each other, so don't bear up under close zoom-in scrutiny... so after you've zoomed-in, which doubtless you're going to want to do now, remember this is to be kept on a desk, in a handbag or amongst treasured items in a display cabinet, where the feel, accuracy and weenyness will be it's glory.
A lovely gift for a player or aspiring player.
Material: Cast Bronze
Price: €POA
Explore More
Horses have featured in my life since I was a small child, I never owned one but I've drawn them, worked with them and now I sculpt them. Donkeys I have huge respect for, musicians and good people too, I honour them all in clay. Explore the wider collection of hand-cast and original sculptures.
