Builder throws in the trowel to pursue artistic career
A TALENTED local builder has thrown in the trowel in favour of a welder in order to pursue a career as a professional metal artist.
Iain Johnston, who recently set up Artizan Studio in Reginald Mews, Bexhill, uses at lease 50% recycled materials in each of his original hand-made pieces, and has already seen his work exhibited at the Hastings Arts Forum.
To celebrate the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death Iain designed a piece aptly called 'Mr Jackson'.
Constructed out of fabricated steel 'Mr Jackson' attracted a lot of interest at the Arts Forum's recent membership exhibition.
Iain said: "It was an experiment really and took me around fifteen hours to make. It's like a classic Michael Jackson pose and is a tribute to his music."
Iain hopes that his work will soon be seen in and around the local area:
"I really want to progress my artwork to be seen in public places, and hope that the council will agree to a few ideas for temporary installations for bigger pieces that the public can enjoy. If it happens it will be a massive achievement for myself and a dream come true."
A self-taught artist, Iain did not attend university and received no formal training. A drunken idea twenty years ago lead to a visit to a local store where he bought his first welder for 50:
" I taught myself how to weld and made my first piece of art, by a process of elimination, from bits I took off an old push-bike, and it all sort of evolved from there."
Iain thanked the Arts Forum for their help in setting him on his new career path:
"The Arts Forum has really helped me. They have got their finger on the pulse of new artists in the area. It's such a good venue – I owe them big time."
Iain wants others to benefit from his artwork and said his "ultimate goal" is to donate at least 10% of his profits to Cancer Research, as his brother Martin tragically died from the disease in 2008 aged just 46.
Iain, who claims his work is "indestructible", has already received a number of orders for his artwork and his latest commissioned piece, set to grace a club in Brighton, is 'Medusa'.
He said he's open to consider any commissioned ideas from garden ornaments to something bigger adding:
"The challenge of the build is my fun."
For further information visit the website at: www.artizanstudio.co.uk or call 07795180300.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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