Hamish Mackie was born in 1973 and grew up on a
He began sculpting at an early age and continued at Radley College, before going on to Falmouth School of Art, and Kingston University where he studied furniture and product design. Hamish is largely selftaught and has been sculpting as a career since 1996. He is steadily establishing himself as one of the top wildlife sculptors in UK.
Since his last, almost sell out, solo show in 2004, Hamish has been working mainly around the UK, concentrating on commissions and putting together a collection of work for this 2007 solo exhibition.
Sculpting is Hamish’s passion, his inspiration stems from the natural world around us. Hamish keeps an ever-increasing list of ideas often in the form of 5-second scribbles. “I mull over ideas in my head for weeks before starting. I always try to work from life or death, observing the subject from every angle to help capture ‘what makes it’. I have always tried to study animals in their natural environment, nothing beats following a heard of elephant in the bush, watching grouse on the moor, or deer in a wood.” He is an outdoors person hence the inspiration.
In May 2007 Hamish went on a research trip to Spain and Portugal where he was inspired by the fighting bull and the Andalucian horse. At the time of writing these sculptures are still being worked on but hopefully will capture some of the emotions Hamish felt towards these magnificent animals.
In his work Hamish experiments with texture.
He works in clay, plastercine, wax or plaster of Paris. He has always been intrigued that it is possible to cast a fingerprint into bronze. Hamish likes to leave a history in the sculpture surface as to how the anatomy was built up. How he achieves this depends on his perception of the subject and it’s character, the forceful push of his palm running down a cheetah’s leg generates energy into the sculpture.
It takes years of practice to be loose and at the same time correct with anatomical form and proportion. Other sculptures portray an almost obsessive tightness capturing his subject to the nearest feather.
Roe Doe shows Hamish’s empathy with his subject, her nose is twitching but her ears are alert. Is she going to graze or dart away? The vigour and energy Hamish creates in his work contrasts with the solidity of bronze and the outcomes are dramatic, powerful and full of movement.
Hamish’s sculptures are further enhanced by his own patinations. He uses bronze as a material and is not necessarily tied to the ‘traditional brown’ patination when there are so many alternatives. No two patinas are identical – almost impossible when flicking, dribbling and brushing chemicals onto a canvas of hot bronze!
All types of commissions are considered.
All content copyright of Hamish Mackie Sculptor. Hamish Mackie 2006 - Oxfordshire.
Bronze Casting - Animal Sculpture - African Sculpture - Wildlife Sculptor - Commission - Life Casting - limited Edition - Exhibition
Bronze Casting - Animal Sculpture - African Sculpture - Wildlife Sculptor - Commission - Life Casting - limited Edition - Exhibition