John Shield graduated from the City and Guilds Art School in 1986, having studied Restoration in stone, wood and polychrome finishes. Since then he has worked on some of Britains best known historic buildings and monuments. After staying in London, post-college, to work as a self-employed carver, he moved to Cambridge in 1992 to work for the Restoration company Rattee and Kett, predominantly carving pieces for Henry VII Chapel, Westminster Abbey. Then, in 1996, came a four year stint in Malaysia making architectural detailing and carved furniture and ornament in wood for a private mansion. Since 2001, he has been based near Cambridge and during this time has produced stonework for Westminster Abbey, Kings College Cambridge, The Queen Mother memorial, The John Soane Museum, Ely Cathedral, Kenilworth Castle ,the Temple Bar, St.Pancras station and St. Georges Church, Bloomsbury among others. This period has also included two working jaunts abroad; to Japan in 2004 and to Germany in 2015 to work on the Berliner Schloss. Having been the external assessor for stone carving at the school from 2008-10, he was then invited to join the teaching staff. ‘ There is a great pleasure in seeing students make a leap of confidence in expressing themselves through stone, and realising that I played a part in this.’