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
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.”