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Shawn Williamson has been sculpting stone in the Lake District for many years. Originally he was taught by another Lake District sculptor Josefina De Vasconcellos, who had been the pupil of Bourdelle who had been Rodin’s assistant sculptor. “I like the great variety of stones available in the Lake District to sculpt”. But it’s not just the material of stone that inspires Williamson to create his significant work. He thinks there is a spiritual connection with stone and the universe that helps make his work almost create itself. And as the breathtaking beauty of the Lake District has a spiritual dimension so he is ideally placed, like an artificer, to channel the unseen into reality and permanence. “As long as I am here I am connected to the past and the great work that has happened here through the Romantic Movement. I am also interested in the history of Cumbria. There’s nothing more atmospheric than walking down the back road of Thirlmere reservoir to inspire both sculpture and writing”.
Dealing with great lumps of rock and shaping them into sculpture has made Williamson contemplate the weight of the Lake District. His life long friend, the painter Anthony Birchwood, has been doing the same thing, but through the medium of paint. So their joint show and the prelaunch of an exhibition did not come as a surprise. The exhibition is to be staged at Rydal Hall in 2012 and through the integrity of their work, flies in the face of modernism by releasing a new found quality and continuation of Romanticism in the place that was frequented by Wordsworth, Constable, Colridge, Turner, Shelley, Byron and many more.
Visit the sites below for more details and pictures www.lakestay.co.uk/shawnwilliamson |
