style | art
Changing Direction
Yarmouth Gallery will be featuring work by acclaimed sculptor Dennis Fairweather this autumn. He talks to Roz Whistance about his move from creating large bronzes to fashioning ceramic animals and arty lighting
Inside out: Ceramic table lamps are sculptural yet frivolous
“I wanted to do a design for inside rather than out,” says Dennis Fairweather. We have just come in from his beautiful garden where some of the sculptures that have earned him a keen following over the years nestle among foliage or under trees.
Now, though, he has turned his attention from character statues and abstract garden pieces to smaller ceramics and, in particular, lighting.
Table lamps are Dennis’s latest project. They are slim, sinuously curvaceous, and with the matching shade they have the air of a dancer twirling a cape. “The first ones were straight, less interesting, then I decided to try a more arty shape.” He has experimented with different glazes; his current favourite is a cream with free black splashes like ink from a pen. As for the shades, they defy expectation by being of clay and not a
‘The first ones were straight, less interesting, then I decided to try a more arty shape’
matching fabric. “The challenge has been getting the shades fine enough,” says Dennis.
Dennis clearly thrives on challenge. He and his wife Sue began married life running a salmon farm in Scotland, and it was during these 10 years that, completely self-taught, he first began ‘mucking around’ with clay. “I made figurines of sporting figures, and when we left Scotland we did some exhibitions. It developed from there.”
It was the detail that attracted people, says Sue. “They’d say ‘My father was a pig farmer’, or ‘Could you make a beekeeper?’ Then at one show we met a chap selling antique golfing memorabilia who asked Dennis if he could make The Great Triumvirate [the three greatest men in golf]” This was the start of a thriving international business in sports trophies.
After 15 years Dennis wanted to move away from such detailed work, towards shapes and forms more suitable for garden sculptures. He applied for a stand in the marquee at the inaugural RHS Hampton Court Flower Show to display the new pieces. “We sent a photo of the work,” says Sue, “and were delighted when we were offered an individual stand in a more prominent area.”
September/October 2015 93
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