Jason Sweeney
-
Jason SweeneyWILY TROUTStainless Steel13 x 19 x 10 in£ 7,500.00
33 x 48.3 x 25.4 cm -
Jason SweeneyDIPPERStainless Steel10 1/2 x 8 x 5 in£ 3,950.00
26.7 x 20.3 x 12.7 cm -
Jason SweeneyKINGFISHER 'Gone Fishing'Stainless Steel25 x 12 x 8 in£ 5,200.00
63.5 x 30.5 x 20.3 cm -
Jason SweeneyOVUM KINGFISHERStainless Steel26 x 10 x 6 in£ 4,950.00
66 x 25.4 x 15.2 cm -
Jason SweeneySNIPE IN GRASSESStainless Steel69 x 15 x 13 in£ 9,750.00
175.3 x 38.1 x 33 cm -
Jason SweeneyKINGFISHER 'POST PRANDIAL!'Stainless Steel£ 3,950.00
Jason Sweeney lives in the Scottish Borders where his time is spent creating sculptures of wildlife from stainless steel. He draws inspiration both from above and below water at the marine reserve at nearby St Abbs. The delight in seeing shoaling mackerel along with diving puffins hunting for sand eels influenced a whole series of marine sculpture: puffins, gannets, entire kelp forests, gurnards and lobsters.
To create his sculptures, Jason first mentally outlines the piece before exploring the idea with a series of drawings. When satisfied he uses a wealth of metal working techniques, cutting intricate pieces from flat sheet which are then beaten into shape with hammers and welded together. Some of the work is heavy and its execution often brutal in order to get the right shape and curve. It is, however, this marriage of his wildlife sculptures to these aesthetically pleasing shapes that makes Jason Sweeney Sculptures unique. Be it the hypnotic curve of a kingfisher piece or a beautifully balanced wall mounted mackerel shoal the results are the same - modern wildlife sculptures that are unmistakably unique and the cumulative result of many years of artistic struggle. Born in Salford, Jason’s skills were not accrued in the class room. "If I'd opted for art at school I'd probably have been stabbed” he would jest.
More recently Jason Sweeney has created a limited edition of sculptures from the original casts. There are only a small number of foundries in the country that can cast in stainless steel due to the extreme melting point and the necessity to cast within a partial vacuum. Once returned by the foundry, Jason will finish the piece by hand with air tools, grinders and buffers.
Jason Sweeney art is regularly filmed underwater both in the sea and local rivers “to capture wild salmon or trout in their natural habitat is priceless”. He is a keen fisherman, conservationist and countryman, a lover of all outdoors. Whether fishing for trout on Highland lochs, rivers and streams or for salmon with his rod on Tweed at Ladykirk, the riverbank provides inspiration - "all wildlife is beautiful".