Geoffrey Preston MBE Furniture

'Sea Garden' panels in plaster by British Master craftsman Geoffrey Preston MBE. The designs for this pair of decorative panels spring from the series of drawings the artist made for the The Goring...

Pair of decorative 'Flower Garden' panels in plaster by British Master craftsman Geoffrey Preston MBE. The designs for these spring from a series of drawings in one of the artist's sketchbooks. The decoration was modelled in clay onto a clay base, using fingers, thumbs and small boxwood tools. The clay base enabled Preston to draw into the background, as well as build up from it, which gives a greater depth and emphasis to the modelling. A silicon mould was made from the completed models, and from this plaster casts can be taken. He uses Herculite No 2 plaster with burlap (hessian) and timber lathes to reinforce. Each pair is cast to order and signed and numbered on the reverse. The 'Flower Garden' panels are original works. Preston's aim is to use the fluid character of clay to make poetry in light and shadow in plaster. There is a strong influence of flowers and plant forms in his work, often in the context of architectural elements. He is conscious of proportion and the language of gesture, which is demonstrated in the flowing nature and harmony evident in his work. Geoffrey Preston MBE is a Master of traditional plaster-relief techniques who draws on eighteenth-century decorative art and sculpture, but combines it with his contemporary eye for design. He cites Giacomo Serpotta of Sicily and Egid Qurin Asam of Bavaria as two of the greatest influences on his work, both of whom stretched the boundaries of what people thought possible to sculpt in plaster during the Late Baroque period. In addition, he admires painter Rex Whistler and wood engravers, Charles Tunnicliffe and Joan Hassall...