Simon Kent (born in Worksop on 14 March 1970) is a British sculptor, based in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire.
Kent is known for his large, expressive and abstract figures [1] in green wood. His large wooden sculptures are carved using a chainsaw with very little use of a chisel or sanding. He occasionally uses a blowtorch to char the wood and produce blackening, or sandblasting to emphasise texture and woodgrain.
In the 1980s, clay was Kent's first choice sculpture material. By the 1990s, he had developed a passion for stone carving before beginning his obsession for carving wood with a chainsaw in 2000.
Since 2004, Simon has exhibited his work across South Yorkshire and the Midlands [2] including an exhibition at Magna in 2005, and Burghley House Sculpture Park in 2006.
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving and modelling, in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.
Veit Stoss was a leading German sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque". He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland.
Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the First and Second World Wars.
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.
The history of sculpture in the United States begins in the 1600s "with the modest efforts of craftsmen who adorned gravestones, Bible boxes, and various utilitarian objects with simple low-relief decorations." American sculpture in its many forms, genres and guises has continuously contributed to the cultural landscape of world art into the 21st century.
Donald Steele Potter was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher.
The art of chainsaw carving is a fast-growing form of art that combines the modern technology of the chainsaw with the ancient art of woodcarving.
Henry Spencer Moore was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.
David John Nash, OBE RA is a British sculptor based in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Nash has worked worldwide with wood, trees and the natural environment.
Nicholas Mukomberanwa was a Zimbabwean sculptor and art teacher. He was among the most famous products of the Workshop School at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and an art mentor and teacher to the Mukomberanwa Family of sculptors. His work has been exhibited in galleries around the world and he remains one of Zimbabwe's most famous artists.
Bernard Matemera was a Zimbabwean sculptor. The sculptural movement of which he was part is usually referred to as "Shona sculpture", although some of its recognised members are not ethnically Shona. His whole professional career was spent at the Tengenenge Sculpture Community, 150 km north of Harare near Guruve.
A pointing machine is a measuring tool used by stone sculptors and woodcarvers to accurately copy plaster, clay or wax sculpture models into wood or stone. In essence the device is a pointing needle that can be set to any position and then fixed. It further consists of brass or stainless steel rods and joints which can be placed into any position and then tightened. It is not actually a machine; its name is derived from the Italian macchinetta di punta. The invention of the tool has been ascribed to both the French sculptor and medallist Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux (1751–1832) and to the British sculptor John Bacon (1740–1799). It was later perfected by Canova. However, similar devices were used in ancient times, when the copying of Greek sculptures for the Roman market was a large industry.
Peter Randall-Page RA is a British artist and sculptor, known for his stone sculpture work, inspired by geometric patterns from nature. In his words "geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental mathematical principle become a kind of pattern book from which nature constructs the most complex and sophisticated structures".
Gilbert William Bayes was an English sculptor. Bayes art works varied in scale from medals to large architectural clocks, monuments and equestrian statues and he was also a designer of some note, creating chess pieces, mirrors and cabinets.
Robert Koenig is an English sculptor, who specialises in wood sculpture and is a prominent exponent of the art of woodcarving using the traditional tools of mallet and chisel. He is known for his carved and polychromed figurative wood sculptures, which he has been creating since the early 1980s. One of the earliest polychromed figures was shown in the 'Temple' exhibition at the Shaw Theatre, London in 1988.
Matthew Crabb is an English chainsaw carving artist.
Stacy Poitras is an American chainsaw carving sculptor who is featured in Country Music Television's reality television show Chainsaw Gang. He is owner of a company called Deadwood Tree Sculptures in California. He principally creates large wooden sculptures using chainsaws.
Chainsaw Gang is a reality TV show that features Stacy Poitras – one of the country's top chainsaw carving artists – and his crew as they create works of art from logs and other large blocks of wood. The trials and tribulations of the crew portrays everyday dangers and irritations of the trade, including blades breaking and chainsaws bursting into flame, near-finished sculptures splitting open from an unseen issue in the wood, and customers who change their mind about what they want after the work is done.
Griffon E. Ramsey is an American chainsaw carving artist known for her pop-culture wood sculptures which have appeared at the Australian Chainsaw Carving Championships and the Butler Chainsaw Carving Invitational. Chip Chats magazine described her as a "world-famous" artist with an, "edgy and bold style" while VICE and Uproxx called her a "rock star of the art world" and noted her status as a female in a largely male-dominated field.