Artists represented at Jessica's House
Melanie Deegan
The ability to capture movement in any form of art has always interested me and this has been a strong influence in many of the sculptures I create. The challenge is not just to suggest the action of an animal or figure in motion but also to give them a sense of purpose, to try and understand how it feels to be there.
In 2006 I returned to sculpting having originally trained and worked as a woodcarver in the 1980's before taking up a career as an analyst in the IT industry. My woodcarving experience covered a wide range of projects involving anything from building restoration and furniture to carving wooden items for the National Trust. When I came back to sculpture again this medium was not dynamic enough for the subjects that I aspired to capture.
The desire for a more flexible approach to sculpture that allowed ideas to flow more easily encouraged me to try other materials and techniques. Over the last few years I have been experimenting with a range of sculpting materials and this gradually led to the combination of materials that I now use.
Each piece is unique, usually starting as an idea that is then drawn in wire to develop the design and create an armature. The final sculpture is then produced by building up layers of resin over the metal framework.