The making of ‘Upwards’
Thoughts and process that brought Upwards into reality.
Introducing my latest sculpture Upwards, finished 2025. I wanted to make an optimistic sculpture, to counteract the depressing news in the world. I set out to sculpt a figure that evokes a sense of empowerment that would inspire people to open up to the wonders of the world. This sculpture began as a feeling and as it progressed, I put together the following words as almost a mantra: The world is big, the sky is high, embrace your fears and touch the sky.
The Making: this sculpture went through a few designs and it took time to plan the different elements, from start to finish it took almost 2 years, on and off. People often ask me how long a sculpture takes me to make and it varies so much. Not only does it depend on what other work I have on and life/family commitments, but also some ideas take time to realise, where as others can take just a month to design and sculpt, when inspiration, time and energy align. This sculpture needed time to evolve and I’m so glad I pursued.
The pose of the figure went through a few changes. I initially thought the figure would be reaching up to the sky, almost like mountain pose in yoga and like a celebration, but something didn’t feel right- I wanted more of a sense of wonder and curiosity. So I asked a life model I know to help me out: we explored ideas and I sketched until I found a pose I was happy with, as you can see in drawings above.
Initially, I wanted to cast the plinth in glass, to give it a sophisticated feeling and sense of water meeting sky. I had been reading about glass casting and was in awe of the process and really wanted to find a reason to experiment with it. However, I soon realised not only was it going to be complicated, but it would not give the right feeling to the piece. I wanted to give the figure a sense of rising out of the ground, she has come from the earth and is rising up to the sky. I felt copper would to acheive this sense of grounding whilst being shiny and beautiful!
