Mother and Child has been an age old theme with me stemming back to when my brother gave an account of how it is to be a father. I didn’t do much just a few drawings perhaps. I never dreamed that our discussion would inform my work in such a way. At that time I was influenced by the work of Picasso and Africa. The tribal, crude often ugly depictions of people, was new and thoroughly exciting to me. Being born and brought up in oxford my first understanding of sculpture came from medieval college buildings. The gargoyles, grotesques and misery chords are sometimes charming, often rude and always wonderfully executed. Early on, in my creative journey and ever since, I have been fascinated with the scenario of when art meets craft.