Interview with Terence McGinity.

Terence McGinity Sculptor

My love of stone started on a course at Tout Quarry, Portland Bill, Dorset in 1995. I loved scrambling the local quarries for lumps of rock and I have loved visiting quarries ever since. It’s like beachcombing for beautifully coloured pebbles.

My acting career lasted 45 years. Like acting I try to imbue my work with inner life.  But I also trained in parent/child therapy where I learnt about Attachment Theory; separation, loss and attachment. All of which reflects the wider world with its propensity for war and suffering as well as sheer joy at the beauty our world has to offer.

Can you share with us what initially drew you to the world of sculpture, especially after having such a successful career in acting?

It was in fact during my career as an actor that I started exploring sculpture. I started Clay Life classes at the Working Men’s and Women’s college in Camden Town, London after a long stint in Hamlet on Broadway, NY in 1995. I was drawn to sculpture in order to take more control of my creativity. Acting was very much a fine craft but I always felt that I was interpreting rather that directly expressing something from start to finish. Sculpture seemed to offer an extension of all that work I had done exploring characters in plays. I was also drawn to the solitary nature of sculpting instead of the interaction with so many others in the theatre/film world.

How did your experience as an actor, particularly your time at Shakespeare's Globe and Broadway, influence your approach to sculpting?

As an actor I was always interested in the inner world of the characters I played. My Swan Song was playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night, again on Broadway in 2014. I worked very hard to ‘get into his shoes’ and felt, most of all, his vulnerability whilst he presented such a stern image to the world. So many characters I played were dealing with Loss, Separation and Attachment. All this influenced my work as a sculptor. All the World’s a Stage and the figures that have emerged over the years have all come with their stories. They do not need a Theatrical Stage as such but certainly exist in the invisible contexts of their lives. They ask to be seen like an actor.

You've mentioned working with concrete, wood, and stone. What unique qualities do each of these materials bring to your art, and how do you decide which medium to use for a particular piece?

Each type of stone and each type of wood is different. I approach each medium uniquely, so to speak. There are so many factors influencing what and how I carve. With stone it’s the shape, size (and of course, weight), texture and colour that I consider. Does it fit with my design? And I choose which material to work with as it arises and whatever is available. Despite its seeming solidity I consider stone is quite fragile and lends itself to a sense of vulnerability especially when the subject is in their own world without the need to mask or put on an appearance. Each stone has a big say in what I want to carve. The same goes for wood. With concrete I can do what I want.

Being largely self-taught, what have been some of the most significant challenges and triumphs you've experienced in your sculpting journey? 

As for triumphs? Each time a sculpture is finished there is a quiet sense of triumph. Each time someone sees a sculpture and even, perhaps, wants to give it a home there is also a sense of triumph. But by ‘triumph’ I mean satisfaction and joy that someone has appreciated my work. I felt that as an actor too. I have found that the Ego tends to get in the way.

Challenges? Okay, this is where it gets sticky. At the core of everything is the subject I choose to carve. Like fishing, it needs to ‘bite’ onto a hook which will carry me through the whole process with patience and feeling even when the technique becomes the prime consideration. I need to be moved by the subject. Now, this is hugely challenging surrounded by a sea of suffering in the world. Where do I place myself as an artist? I cannot turn a blind eye and simply carve something aesthetically pleasing. But I can reflect on the beauty amidst the horror as I did with The Cellist of Sarajevo sitting in the ruins playing his cello. The sculpture needs to touch on universal heart strings; something we all share being compassion.

How have life classes shaped your approach to sculpture, and how do you continue to learn and evolve in your craft?

To evolve as a sculptor, I need to sketch and sketch wherever I go. Look outwards as well as inwards and see the wonderful complexity and diversity in the world. I also need to keep up Life Drawing classes. Keeping playful and exploring other medium as I did with using cast off wood chips for The Wood Merchant and her Husband. I need to cultivate my Right Brain in play with my Left.

Could you walk us through your process of creating a sculpture, from the initial idea to the finished piece?

Now, if the piece of stone is uncut rock as most of the Zimbabwean stone I use then I let the carving emerge from the stone. If the stone is already cut like the Blue Kilkenny Limestone I need a plan and design before I start. I prepare through drawing and painting especially with oil as it lends itself to 3 D work. I then sketch with charcoal onto the stone and pick up my chisels. I may use a power tool first to take off surplus to requirement stone. Then work on the figure with whatever chisel meets the stone whether it’s hard or softer. Once the figure feels ready I will start the polish with diamond pads and depending on the stone type I may heat with a blow torch before waxing to bring out the colour. A technique I learnt from Shona sculptors. Then I feel the ideal base to give it a ‘stage’.

You've worked with various types of stone, each requiring different techniques. Could you elaborate on how different stones like alabaster and limestone dictate your sculpting process? 

Alabaster is possibly the most challenging when it comes to technique. It bruises easily and so; extra care needs to be made with the chiselling. The angle of strike needs to be more horizontal; any direct strikes will tend to bruise in my experience. Harder stone like Blue Kilkenny limestone can take more direct strikes from a Point. 

Alabaster and softer stones like Portland, for instance, are also vulnerable in the weak areas like a neck. I’ve had a few decapitations over the years and I tend to reinforce neck areas with something extra to give support.

Having had both group and solo exhibitions in London, what do you find most rewarding about showcasing your work, and how do you feel knowing that your sculptures are in private collections around the world?

My Exhibitions have been celebrations of all the very hard work extending over a period of years sometimes. I made my own plinths and connecting planks. I take great pleasure in arranging them as you might in designing a stage set. And if I’m lucky the exhibition space might be gifted with good lighting or plenty of daylight.

Previews always seem like a party; wine and nibbles playing a crucial role. It’s so rewarding to see people staying with a sculpture, touching and absorbing it. My sculptures are mainly in UK homes and it’s grand to sometimes visit them there. Like old friends or children who have left home.

How would you describe your artistic philosophy, and how has it evolved over the years?

I keep visiting Rembrandt’s late self portrait at Kenwood House. Hampstead. It doesn’t just try to extend the boundaries of Form. It mirrors the depths of the artist’s soul; the light, the shade and the shadows.

The Art World always seems to be searching for break throughs of form and style. The history of art is speckled with such leaps from Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Matisse, Brancusi, Picasso and hundreds of others to our present times. So, does my sculpture push the boundaries of what is possible? I believe it does. But internally and as Hamlet says “to hold a mirror up to nature and show the very age and body of the time its form and pressure”. A reflection of our contemporary world.

Attachment and Separation are the foundations of my work. Just look at the world and see it all on show there even in its most gory forms.

I firmly defend the right of expression. Artistic expression is a humane response to an often-inhumane world. Playfulness, as defined by Picasso, is an essential ingredient of creation.

Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring sculptors, especially those who are self-taught or are transitioning from another career path into the world of sculpture?

When I started out as a sculptor I could find nowhere to work. And so, I took my gear and stone in a wheelbarrow to a remote part of Regent’s Park in London and made my first studio there in the grass overlooking the London skyline. And this I did in all seasons. So, to any aspiring sculptor I would say just get started. Find the material you’re most attached to and practice. But also enrol in Life Drawing or Life Clay classes and learn to look.

Consider what it is you want to say whether in abstract or figurative work. I mean where does your heart lie? And then, fall in love with the process from start to finish; the patient chipping away.

Recently discovered cave art goes back 300,000 years. Sculpture may be that old too. Who knows? It seems that we need to represent the world outside our cave entrance. A need. Why? To pass a message onto future peoples much like the message sent into space? 

I am proud to be part of that ancient tradition. And who knows some of my more enduring stone work may be unearthed in another 300,000 years. 

www.terrymcginitysculptor.co.uk

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