SCULPTORS -SUE PEARL AND MARTIN THOMPSON
Cheek to Cheek by Sue Pearl
Sculpture is a rather rarer form of art – harder to display, trickier to transport and heftier to show.
Sue Pearl has an almost casual approach to what is impossible for many. Possibly her nomadic early life plus work as a teacher with minority children in Cambridgeshire led to her present vocation as a sculptor
‘I began stone-carving after being fired up by a visit to Zimbabwe in 1996, where I encountered Shona stone-carvers creating beautiful and moving three dimensional images.Since that time stone-carving has become an integral and absorbing part of my life.’
Endearment
Her pieces’ appeal comes partly from the different stone she deploys, orange alabaster from the American mid west , green soapstone from India and travertine from Zimbabwe. Little wonder they appear to be selling like hot cakes given her combination of materials and skill. These sculptures are emotional. Hecuba has the tragic Queen of Troy in regal despair whilst the more assertive Kicked out of Eden shows the original troubled twosome Adam and Eve on their way out of Paradise. It focuses on my own favourite lines in John Milton’s immense poem. ‘They hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way’ -
Sue Pearl’s concupiscent couplelook disappointed yet determined - venal yes but human and vulnerable, they are well equipped to launch the new era. Whether from Biblical themes or classical mythology (Icarus Drowning – in Tuscan Alabaster from Volterra is amazing ) Sue is fearless in her presentation of the human condition. I most liked her domestic work and her bold themes of emotional expression. She explains
Sue
‘What I love about carving is the vital surge of energy I feel when my ideas find expression within the stone. Expressing my feelings is what motivates me to continue with a piece of carving.”
Embrace
Martin Thompson is a well- known man of the Arts in Cambridge, a polymath whose almost hidden skill is his sculpture monumental and modernistic as it is. Martin’s work is fluid and simple along the lines of Henry Moore and t it all sits well in an outdoor setting - the pieces almost part of the garden that displays theme.
Martin Thompson’s Fandango
He had a classical training at the famous Dartington College of Arts and is an accomplished photographer with a large body of multi media art to his credit.He followed his training by a spell at Corsham (Bath Academy of Art) where he took up sculpture only twenty years ago: it is often a mature activity it appears. And it was a move to Cambridge which inspired both these sculptors to take their different roads in that world.
New Shoots
“I enjoy the sheer physicality of shaping stone and coaxing out the different textures. I tend to let the stone itself suggest the form he explains. And he uses a range of store to ‘coax ‘ out the form. His favourite is British limestone – and not just any old limestone, some of Martin’s most successful pieces have emerged from stone with their own history – a rejected piece from the Binham Abbey in Norfolk, tragically destroyed in the Reformation, is the basis for a lovely study and many of his work emerges from a singular stone’s special origin.
Both these accomplished artists exhibit regularly on a national basis but have their homes in Cambridge where their work is readily available for exhibitions and acquisition. What inspires this cluster of sculpture here is hard to say.;there seems to be some mystic link between artists in this genre and the city. Long may they flourish in the confidence of their exceptional talent.
