Wild Boar

The preview of my exhibition at the Hield Gallery, Bishop Monkton was held on Friday evening - it was balmy warm and the gallery and courtyard looked magical.  A big thankyou to everyone involved with the preparations - it made me very proud to be there.

This was a joint exhibition with David Winfield, whose paintings are inspired by the North Yorkshire landscape - perfect environments for my Wild Boar, two carvings in Yorkstone, which were part of the show.

Wild Boar are the subject of such wonderful mythological tales, achieved cult status for the Celts and there was even a Roman tribe in Northern Britain called Orci - 'people of the boar'.  There was an Irish hermit who kept a pet white boar, they are represented on coins, helmets and adornments and became the symbol of hospitality and feasting and represented skills in hunting and war.  Of course this is not surprising as they were running wild in Britain at the time, and it seems they are becoming part of our countryside again as there are re-introduction programmes running.

For me they hold a great fascination, they seem very ancient and very wild and I am working on realising a life-size Wild Boar sculpture - just at the sketching stage at the moment.