Mackie, Hamish
Hamish Mackie was born in 1973 and grew up on a livestock farm in Cornwall. He began sculpting as a career in 1996 after travelling around Africa. He has established himself as one of the leading wildlife sculptors with works in public and private collections around the world. Over the years he has turned a passion into a career. Hamish is largely self taught in his discipline. The elements were embedded at an early age at Mount House and Radley College, followed by Falmouth school of Art and Kingston University where he studied furniture and product design.
Hamish takes his inspiration from life and is interested in exploring the characteristics of a species as well as the traits of the individual animal.
His sculptures are created on a foundation of anatomy and form. This generates a surface that exudes energy, spirit and character. He does not aim to render a photographic representation of the subject, but instead his own perception of the soul of the animal. His works explore a spectrum of emotions ranging from power through grace to intelligence. Hamish's manipulation of his materials is critical to achieving this, often leaving dramatic visible traces of the sculpting activity, the bronze then keeps this surface liveliness when it is cast.
Hamish works closely with the Lockbund Sculpture Foundry and occasionally Atelier Fine Art, pushing the boundaries of casting metals such as bronze, silver and stainless steel.
His bronze castings are made by pouring molten bronze into a ceramic investment - known as the Cire Perdue or 'Lost wax' Method. This remains essentially the same technique as it was in 2,000 BC. The skill of transforming one material into another is to lose none of the original detail.