About Martin Pierce

I am a nature enthusiast and observer and this has always driven my direction in work and life. I do not recall a time when I was not obsessed with nature which has preoccupied my thoughts since childhood where my attention was on the physical world outside my classroom window. I did poorly at school but fortunately my basic education included woodworking classes where I learned simple carving techniques and began to think and draw 3- dimensionally. At 16 my realizing my talents were practical my father helped me find a position as an apprentice woodcarver at a furniture restoration company in Worcester, England. This was my only formal training, but it taught me to be an efficient sculptor. I soon became bored with repetitive wood carving so at 21 began a modest business sculpting birds for sale. I met Anne, my future wife when I was 23 and we travelled to Sussex in southern England where she attended university. The move south was pivotal as it introduced me to a variety of artists, academics and one etymologist. I also began reading fiction and was immersed in the fantasy writings and alternative worlds as seen through the eyes of monsters, hut dwellers and seagulls in books like “Grendell” by John Gardner, the “Titus Groan” trilogy by Mervyn Peake and “Johnathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach. This assortment of influences helped my imagination grow and I began sculpting abstract themes and insects, the latter portrayed as larger than life beings to better show their beautiful mechanical elements and texture. These wood sculptures formed part of an exhibition at the Portal Gallery, London, a gallery known for embracing artists lacking formal training. In 1980 my wife and I left England and relocated to Los Angeles with the hope of settling in a more socially open and diverse society. To begin with we focused on making 4 furniture collections which incorporated textured plants formed in gesso and small bronze plants for use as cabinet handles. In 1999 I entered the casting world and began designing and casting functional art aka door hardware in silicon bronze and stainless steel. While my eclectic door hardware continues to occupy some of my creative time it has allowed me to dig deep into lost wax casting. As I now make my own molds and produce my wax replicas, I have greater flexibility to make changes to a piece up to the final stage when it is shelled and cast. The end result is a collection of sculptures on an evolving journey into a fictional world of insects and insectivorous humans with the occasional bird acting as observer and judge. These fantasy creatures exist in a world of distorted mangroves, tree bark and mushrooms where texture and contrast are central. I like to group these pieces together to tell a story and am currently sculpting a collection for an insect race where a raven will judge the finalists. As this is a work in progress, I expect the characters and story will take many twists and turns.