Sculpture with passion

Royston based sculptor Mark Humphrey tells Caroline Foster about his works of stone

IN 1996 Mark Humphrey made a decision that would change his life dramatically. Having been one of the leading forces behind the PR and marketing campaign for the launch of  mobile phone company Orange, Mark gave up his high powered, stressful job and headed off to the Maltese Island of Gozo.
During his time on Gozo, Mark met up with world renowned stone sculptor Joseph Xuereb, who taught him his skills and on return to England took an evening class at the University of Hertfordshire, where he developed his stone carving skills, as well as how to model clay and develop figurative work and life-sized heads. ‘This gave me time to think about what I wanted to do in the future,’ says Mark. ‘I fell in love with the craft of stone sculpting and particularly liked to carve figurative shapes.’
Mark began to exhibit and quickly become known for his abstract figurative sculptures affectionately called ‘hugging couples’, ranging from six inches high to over nine feet tall. ‘My hugging couples were sought by private collectors who wanted something unique,’ Mark says, ‘and are particularly popular as garden pieces, since unusual and bold statues and ornamental features became the focus on television garden makeover programmes.’

‘I love that people are drawn to my scupltures and want to touch and caress them’

Mark was elected an Associate Member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, following a judging process and annual exhibition at the Atrium Gallery, London as well as being selected by the Royal Society of British Artists to exhibit at the Mall Galleries in London. He is also a member of the Hertfordshire Visual Arts Forum.
A particularly special honour for Mark was being chosen to create a sculpture for the SANDS Group (the Stillborn and Neonatal Death Society). ‘SANDS were looking for something that reflected the mood at the time and I believe my hugging couples demonstrated this well,’ he says. The sculpture was placed in a memorial garden in Gadebridge Park, Hemel Hempstead, called ‘Forget Me Knot’.
Although Mark’s ‘hugging couples’ have helped him become a household name, over the past few years he has refined his pieces but insists that human shapes, forms and emotions are still his central focus. ‘I love that people are drawn to them and want to touch and caress them,’ he says.
Most of Mark’s work is created in his studio at Burloes Farm in Royston. He is now exhibiting at the Agora Gallery in New York, a new step in Mark’s career. He is no stranger to international galleries or commissions as he has sold pieces in Germany, Malta, Switzerland, France, Italy and other parts of the USA but, he says, New York, is a whole different ball game.

2008 exhibitions

Encounters Hatfield House, Hatfield, until September 30
Art in Chelsea Agora Art Gallery, Chelsea, New York, June onwards
Mother Earth Parndon Mill Gallery, Harlow, until September 21
Herts Open Studios Burloes Studios, Royston, September 13-14 & October 4-5
Burloes Group Show Air Gallery, 32 Dover Street, Mayfair, London, September 22-27
Xmas Open Burloes Studios, Royston, November 29-30 & December 6-7

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