About the Artist

He utilises the concept of fossilisation with the idea of splitting a rock and discovering an impression, not the fish itself but the memory of a fish from an age before.

The ecology of the sea and all water-life is of great concern to Sam, as is the question of what will be left to become fossilised from the age we live in. Many of his works, such as "Sandeels", echo his concerns.
Sam often minimilises the marks to give mere clues to the fish's former shape. He enjoys working in lead as it is an ugly and poisonous metal, so he says there is a feeling of alchemy when crafting something of value from a supposedly dead material.

In some pieces the fish appear between large sheets of metal as if viewed through the remains of a sunken superstructure. A strange aspect of this experience is how the mind's eye invents the hidden and disappearing parts of the group, assimilating a more rounded sense of the unique shape of each species than one might do studying a single specimen. Gold leaf is used to accentuate the flash of a synchronised turn of many separate creatures becoming a larger unified entity.

He enjoys the decorative aspect of the metal and seeks to balance shapes and colours, being influenced by simplicity to invoke a sombre contemplative feeling. Developing concepts on composition, he creates pieces with larger areas of plain sheet metal and patination in blocks so the viewer can respond emotionally to the base metal.

Artist’s qoute
“ I use the old traditional  metal work techniques to produce contemporary and unique pieces .My artistic endeavour is to observe and capture fleeting moments of nature, trying to express the emotional response to something very private, a moment shared between man and nature, suggesting a balance and a suspension with the brooding colours of the background saturating the work with a contemplative stillness".

Actual pieces
 “Large tryptych shoal piece “- the glimpse of a shoal  turning through  part of a sunken wreck, inspired by recent diving in WW2 block ships in Scapa Flow.
 
“Seabass “ -piece reflecting my delight in catching my first seabass (an unusual occurence so far north) on a beautuifully atmospheric,  moon-lit night beside the neolithic site of Skara Brae. Although seeking the represented shoal, only one was caught, the others known to be there but disappearing into the dark,  like ghostly figures.  They are represented by the etched dark silhouettes.  It  is a development of  a theme  I am constantly  drawn to but now have  grown in confidence to tackle it on a  large scale.  “