EARLY WORK

I began creating Blockheads around 1992. With the Blockheads I try to have as much fun as possible and to maintain a loose approach to the whole art-making process. This approach is facilitated by the use of easily worked materials such as cardboard, foundry wax and soft woods. The very word Blockhead implies blocking the ‘head’, or the thinking process, allowing feeling and intuition to come to the fore. This is something I personally strive to do. I say strive because years of formal art training and work in fields requiring visual and manual precision push me in the opposite direction. So, for me, it is a search for balance.

Alastair Dickson
July 1994

Angry woman, 1995 Wood & acrylic, 15x11x6"

CORKHEADS

One of the great annual events which takes place in the community where I live is the Christmas Boutique in early December. I decided to make 50 corkhead brooches with each one being different. It was an interesting, if exhausting, explorative exercise.

FISH

Another Christmas Boutique project, fish have always fascinated me, particularly those of the deep sea.

BAGS

I had two interesting handles just crying out for bags to accompany them. The bodies are wood with paint and foundry wax covering.

BRONZES

I created these and other bronzes at the Mariani foundry in Pietrasanta, Italy. I worked directly in wax and wood to produce one-off pieces.

After being exhibited in London in 1996 the unsold items were stolen in England while en route to the docks for their return to Canada.

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