stephen charlton
Mediums Used
Stephen Charlton is an award-winning sculptor who creates witty, unique bronze animal sculptures that are perfect for garden landscapes. Limited to an edition of only nine, these magnificent works stand proud in bronze and purposefully adorns any garden and delights the heart.
Stephen’s work has been showcased at the Chelsea Flower Show, National Trust, English Heritage and Rococo Gardens in the UK.
The debut appearance of a six foot high bronze sculpted mouse in the award winning garden of Diarmuid Gavin at Chelsea Flower show has set rising sculptor Stephen Charlton on the road to success.
The Warwickshire artist has walked away with a £9,000 private commission for two mad hares that will sit in a private garden in the county, an invitation to send new designs to Diarmuid, dubbed the rock n roll gardener, together with a number of corporate enquiries that are currently under negotiation.
Stephen Charlton commented: “This prestigious Royal show attracted more than 175, 00 visitors this year. What an audience and what an opportunity! The garden was co-designed by Sir Terence Conran and to be associated with two such leading names in the garden and design world was almost unbelievable, especially as I have only recently become professional in this career.”
Diarmuid is credited with changing traditional views of gardening and garden design and I am delighted to be part of this approach in garden culture.
I posted him a copy of my new brochure a year ago and it obviously captured his imagination as he featured my work across three pages in his new magazine Garden Designs! The subsequent invitation to be part of what is probably the most famous garden show extravaganza in the world was incredible!
A leisure sculptor for more than ten years, Stephen Charlton launched his professional practice 18 months ago. He creates unique animal sculptured forms in bronze for both indoor and outdoor settings from his studio in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire.
Working in both clay and resin he uses the traditional loss wax process casting his limited editions in bronze that are becoming a collectable items. Each sculpture is finished in a patination a colour that suits each individual piece.
He completed and unveiled his first corporate commission in the West Midlands earlier in the year when he installed two bronze boxing hares in the grounds of Jackson Calvert Accountants in Sutton Coldfield.
Stephen added: “Sculpture has given me a feeling of purpose, something that can be enjoyed by so many who will see and feel something for themselves. I love what I do and will continue to create with purpose and passion!”
Since the age of six I have always been good with my hands.
Playing with plasticine or clay, I have always been able to produce something special in a very short space of time. My confidence was built through praise and encouragement from those around me in childhood and providing the opportunity to explore my talents through college. Although I did not study fine art or sculpture, I made a successful career in graphic design. After many years working in the design business, I have always had an aptitude for spatial awareness and three dimensions came easy to me. I could look at an object from one view and visualise what was on the other side.
It was when I was forty, I began to play in my garage with sculpture and creating animals in clay and resin. Again I was praised, but this time by my peers and that had a big impact on me, giving me more confidence I suppose. It led me to be more adventurous in the materials I was using and in the scale also. I created pieces for my own pleasure rather than to sell or be commissioned, I think this is important to any artist that if one is not happy with the piece it is difficult to let others see or experience it. Maybe this is perfectionism, but having one?s own standards and values actually drives you on to do better.
This brings me on to why I love and have a passion for sculpture.
I believe that as human beings we are here to do two things, create and share.
We all create in many different ways every day on a global scale. To share the result of that creativity is a need that holds us all together. Creating a baby, an opportunity, a special thought or deed can all be shared, and as it is shared it is enjoyed.
My ultimate goal as a sculptor is to create a ?smile inside?. I want my audiences, young and old, rich or poor, British or African, when they experience my work that they all smile to themselves. It is this emotion I wish to release in a world of normality and sometimes, despondency.
Animals are a great subject to connect with people?s emotions as they themselves have memories from childhood of animal characters in stories or have had a pets.
A five foot mouse balancing on a ball is not an everyday occurrence and that is what we least expect to see. My work is perfect for the public spaces within our communities as they bring a little light and wonderment to what can be a bland environment.
My sculpture I have noticed has got bigger and bigger and is suitable for the public domain and this can impact on more people for them to enjoy and experience.So this is my dream, to produce sculpture that captures the essence of an animal and the hearts of my audiences.
Sculptures by stephen charlton
Credentials
Qualifications
SIAD Graphic Design,SIAD Graphic Design
Exhibitions
yes
Awards
Wildlife Artist of the year 2004
Wildlife MagazinePublications
Warwickshire Life
Diarmuid Gavin`s Garden Magazine
Four Shires Magazine
Birmingham Post,Warwickshire Life
Diarmuid Gavin`s Garden Magazine
Four Shires Magazine
Birmingham Post
Animals play a central part of Stephen’s sculpture to date. His personality and wit are in evidence in each piece he creates and this themes are central to his purpose.
A smile inside is what drives him to visualise and form these animal characters and the response is mirrored by his audiences and collectors of his work.
Showing outdoors, Stephen has exhibited at Chelsea Flower Show and created sculpture trails within the grounds of National Trust Properties in England. His future work involves large scale casting in bronze with the support of global business within a sustainability theme.
Stephen Charlton was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England in 1958. Stephen works predominately in the medium of sculpture with subject matter of animal bronzes. He attended York College of Art and attained a degree in Graphic Design followed by a long and successful career as a design consultant, when later Stephen turned to sculpture at the age of forty.
Having had various solo shows within the National Trust and Chelsea Flower Show, Stephen now focuses on private clients and installations around the world.
His interest in sustainability has enabled him to create opportunities for his art to address the present and future attitudes toward the environment and to consciously make
behavioural change happen.
Stephen Charlton`s Influences are many and varied. Being open to everything around us is enough to stimulate creativity.
Charitable Donations
Helen Ley Centre
Hardman Trust
Dilemma cat sculpture in the waters of Chesham Buckinghamshire
Miss Daisy hare sculpture in the waters of Chesham Buckinghamshire
Miss Daisy hare sculpture in the Enid Blyton Garden
