Earth Boy

I haven’t said much about the Earth Boy sculpture but it is actually a piece close to my heart. It was based on a portrait of my nephew Jesse when he was 7 years old. He didn’t wan to pose for me so all I managed to get out of him was a few profile photographs to work from. I was visiting my brother Eric, who lives in a small town in the Eastern Cape, we decided to go to the local dam and dig out some clay. We ended up with a wheelbarrow full of wonderful black clay full of grit and texture and it was from this that I made Earth Boy. I made a simple waste mold to preserve it on my journey home and then made a cement casting. It was only years later that I was able to make a proper mold and finally cast him in bronze. The sculpture has a sort of hunting beauty to it which stirs all kinds of emotions.