Based in the north of England, Andrew Kay is an award winning sculptor whose work can be seen throughout the world.
From his studio set in the wild hills of his native county of Cumbria, Andrew creates sculpture that attracts widespread acclaim; his work being commissioned by both public bodies and private collectors. Drawing from the natural world for inspiration, the life size sculptures capture the powerful anatomy and essence of wild beasts using deceptively simple form and structure.
Andrew graduated from Leeds with a BA Hons in design in 1992. He then toured Scandinavia extensively on a travel scholarship. From this experience he acquired a respect of the pure, clean design ethos that is so apparent in Scandinavian design. Following a period as a set designer for The Franz Kafka Theatre in Prague he returned to England and established a sculpture studio near Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria in 1994.
English Heritage
Lord and Lady Brookeborough
Richard Curtis and Emma Freud London
Sir Tom Stoppard and Lady Sabrina Guinness
The National Trust Lake District
Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire
The Rt Hon. Claire Russell
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Scottish Widows Plc
John Bishop Cheshire
Daniel Thwaites plc
Vivat Trust London
Sir Colin Armstrong Ecuador and Peru
Mme A. Dreyfuss Loire
Herr Marc Schauenburg Ruhr and Spain
Mr C.Austin Buck Bernardsville New Jersey
Mme M.Maingard Riviere Noire Mauritius
Ms S.Pearson Italy, Highlands and Australia
S Kwek Singapore
Hong Kong Golf Club
Just wanted to say that we both absolutely adore him - he is so beautiful and graceful and characterful… very very grateful indeed for this great piece of art.
Our stallion really is wonderful!
John and Melanie Bishop, Cheshire He has arrived. He is wonderful. A thing of beauty . Thank you. Best wishes
Dear Andy, Oh, que bella!!!!! Fabulous! I can hardly tear my eyes away from the sculptures!!! It is incredible what you can do with metal!
Hi Andy, Just wanted to let you know that your Alert Hind was the centrepiece at my husband’s birthday celebrations and he was absolutely thrilled!
Our lake is now resplendent with your Stag; so pleased!
Love the work Andrew; a rare talent.
All arrived safely to your schedule and are now grazing in the paddock.
They look stunning Andy, well done.
So pleased; Simon will be delighted. Many thanks.
Your Hind is watching us as we speak, so alert!
I cannot recommend Andrew or his work highly enough. We are very proud of our trio of Sika. I must say they are also appreciated by their cousins who visit them from time to time; a very interesting site.
Andy, my wife absolutely loves him. I am so pleased and he is fabulous. All worked wonderfully and he is now commanding a fine position on the lawn. Thank you so much, he is a fantastic sculpture. He is so industrial yet full of lovely elegant detail. We are very impressed. Thank you to you and your wife for helping Clare’s day have such a super surprise....she has declared he is the best thing she has!
Ever since Hamlet instructed his players to “hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature”, artists have tried to achieve this ideal. Cumbria wildlife sculptor Andrew Kay goes a step further, making nature itself the mirror for his work. His canvas is the sky, a hillside or even a full moon, against which he sketches with steel.
Though his sculptures are permanent and three-dimensional, their impact is of something fleeting or glimpsed, often ephemeral, as with his two hares boxing in front of the full moon. It would be easy to obsess over the question of whether the landscape defines the sculpture or whether the sculpture provides a punctuation on the landscape, but Andrew insists “I am spontaneous about the work. They do want to be seen in the context of the landscape. I want you to see the silhouette of the form of the sculpture. And so the backdrop of the landscape delineates the work itself. I try to be immediate when it comes to the making of the sculptures- just to suggest the feeling of a flexed hock or the bend of the neck. I am focusing on getting life in the sculpture. When I am making an alert hind I try to capture that she is looking up and she’s watching you. I want to catch the essence of that moment of her watchfulness.
“I like the spontaneity of working in metal. It is very quick. You can sketch with it in a way – the way you bend the metal is like making a charcoal sketch on paper. The material is pretty forgiving and it is great fun to work with. I use mild steel mainly; it is quite soft and yet it has permanence.”