Category: Latest News

Michael Turner Studios Spring 2018 Blog

 

Crikey its cold in my workshop!! Trying to keep warm in this freezing cold weather has its challenges whilst trying to create ‘amazing garden sculptures’!…. Even poppy my Labrador is looking at me pleadingly.  As if the several blankets and electric heater is not enough for her!…

The winter months can sometimes be a little quieter than the rest, which is actually great for me, especially after my last year being my most successful to date, it’s nice to actually get some time to create something for me.

Its times like these I have the freedom to be inspired by something different, be open to ideas, and see what happens……. On these occasions I feel I usually end up making some of my best garden sculptures.

My most recent ‘winter project’ is the Leopard Head.  I’m really pleased with this one,  and liked the idea of the eyes being lit up.  Its had a great impact, and so far my Facebook friends, far and wide, agree with me. He definitely has a presence, and I think he belongs in someone’s cool pad, or even in on display in a bar somewhere.  Who knows?….Watch this space……

The next exciting creations will be additions to the interior collection. Going on the success of last year, I have decided to make a few more smaller pieces which I hope will enhance the current collection.  They’re not quite completed, but it wont be long before I start selling a few more of the smaller things, which should be around spring time….

So roll on the spring, the snow is great fun for me and my kids, but cold for Poppy my Labrador, and the workshop is freezing! Try as I might, welding with my mitts on isn’t working!…….

If you like my website, and what I do, you can follow me on Twitter, facebook and Instagram. On occasion I like to make small sculptures and hide them, posting images on social media with clues, all good fun, but you need to like my page to be in with a chance of finding one!…..

 

 

20^th Anniversary of Michael Turner Studios Blog

20 years! I cant believe it! Just over 20 years ago, I left college, moved back home with my parents (don’t we all!…) and had few different jobs from a postman and then to working for Woolworths (I’m sure most of you remember them don’t you?!?…..) Like most, I came to a crossroads in my life and was offered a very respectable job as a manager with Woolworths, and at the time I was still tinkering away in my parents garage, selling the odd ‘nuts and bolts’ pieces I’d made. I asked that loaded question to my parents, ‘what should I do’? Take the security of a well-paid managers job, probably pay off my student loan and know where the next pay cheque was coming from, or take the riskier option of following my dream of becoming a fully fledged artist. To my parent’s credit, they said to go for the latter, and I’m so glad I did. I’m one of the fortunate ones, that get’s to do what I love everyday and I have never once regretted the decision I made.

I wanted to look back at some of my very first pieces that helped me along the way, giving me the confidence to plough on and experiment more and more with stainless Steel.

These bugs were some of my first pieces, and then I had a lucky break with Harvey nicks, who wanted them as a window display in London!….. I still think they look great!

 

My obsession with bugs didn’t stop there, insects, and creepy crawlies seemed such an interesting subject that I just kept on going.

 

 

 

Finally I got my lucky break with my first large commission of a Mermaid. She was an absolute delight to make, and I’m still proud of the piece, although I obviously still look at old sculptures and think today I’d just tweak this and that a little, that’s the perfectionist in me in afraid.

 

 

 

I’m not sure where she lives now, it would be nice to know!

So, fast forward 20 years, not necessarily older and wiser but definitely a little greyer around the hair line. I’m still enjoying my job, and still wanting to push myself down avenues I never even dared to dream about at the beginning of my career. I think that’s the key, stepping out of my comfort zone has been really good for me, and it let me dream bigger and bigger. However more recently I’ve discovered that keeping to my roots is still just as important, and my most recent ‘interiors collection’ has taught me that. As much as it’s nice to go for the big stuff, the smaller stuff still matters just as much, and keeps me in touch with the reality of it all.

If you have any of my original pieces, it would be great to see them. Post a picture on my Facebook page (like my page if you haven’t already…) and tell me when and where you got them. Thanks.

Life down on Setters Farm, over the summer has whizzed by.  We’ve had weddings (my talented friend Will Rochfort married his lovely wife Fi), pumpkin growing was popular and various other activities. The team of artists seems to be multiplying, Jo Vane, a local jewellery artists has recently joined us in the workshops and there just seems to be more artistic flare in situe than you can shake a stick at!

I’ve had a productive and challenging year so far, keeping myself busy with creating stainless steel sculptures of lions, pelicans, cheetahs, sharks and oh yeh, space ships……

Growing up as a boy, Star Wars was always one of my favorite movies.  When the opportunity arose to create something from that movie, all guys from Setters Farm jumped at the chance.  I decided I wanted to make something similar to the  ‘X Wing’. To those of you who are not familiar with Star Wars,  ‘Luke Skywalker’ is famous for destroying the ‘Death Star’ behind the controls of an ‘X-wing’.  I know, exciting stuff – so far, its seems to be a winner! If you want to know what the other guys created, you’ll need to come down to Setters farm and see for yourselves.

 

 

 

Another very cool project I’ve been involved in this year, is FREE ART FRIDAY.  Inspired by a gent I saw on the One Show. I decided I wanted to get involved too, so, on the last Friday of every month, I’ve been hiding a small piece of my work around various locations in Lymington. I post information on my Facebook page and hope  everyone enjoys the search ….!!  It’s been great to see so many people getting involved and going on the hunt for my work.  Not only is it fun, it’s really flattering that people would actually want to physically go out and about searching for it!  I am so lucky to have a job I love so much.

Photography by the very talented Carrie Bugg Photography

You Tube of Stainless Steel Leaping Horse

This is footage of my second attempt at the Stainless Steel Leaping Horse. This was slightly trickier in that I needed to make the horse Cantilevered, so it appeared that it was leaping into the air.

 

 

Stainless Steel Arabian Horse is being made by www.michaelturnerstudios.co.uk through YouTube.

This YouTube footage was taken to show how the Stainless Steel Arabian Horse was created from start to finish.  It’s not something I usually like showing, as I am a bit of a perfectionist and always prefer showing the end product.  I took images throughout the design and build in an attempt to show how I work. This was Michael’s very first Horse sculpture, which was sold to an overseas buyer.

Michael Turner has recently been interviewed for the very stylish country ‘Hampshire Life’ magazine heres a snippet of the the Hampshire life article below.

‘Hampshire is a county rich in deep rural countryside with the glittering Solent fringing the southern coastline of the region. The intricate network of small towns and villages is joined together by winding lanes. It is off one of these lanes, between Lymington and Sway that you will find a dusty gravel track leading to Setters Farm.

Here you will find a group of outbuildings occupied by various craftsmen and women and a small bakery that pumps out the most glorious smell of warm dough and jam each morning. Michael Turners’ small studio is positioned on the corner and in the cooler months an old oil drum can be found with a fire burning in it where people go to warm up and discuss their various projects and latest commissions.

It is here that Michael Turner is able to unleash his creative streak and mastermind his next piece of extraordinary sculpture. From his laid back demeanor it is hard to imagine Mike wrestling with intense mathematical equations, reviewing his designs with an overwhelming intensity and ploughing through extensive and exhaustive research material, all the attributes of a talented stainless steel sculptor with an expanding reputation for his significant level of technical ability and craftsmanship, and the ambitious nature of his stunning works’.

Want to read on? Just click on the link below

Michael Turner Studios interview