Posts by: Joe Venables

About The Work

About The Work

A short essay by Powell describing his working practice and approach to sculpting.
Contact

Contact

Please get in touch if you have any queries or would like further information.
Biography

Biography

Learn more about Powell's life and work including a biographical note written by the sculptor a year before his death.
Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

1988     "The behavioural patterns of mayflys and dragonflys were much in mind..."
Come Dancing

Come Dancing

1984     "... the arrival of the apple wood immediately suggested the theme of the popular TV programme of ballroom dancing..."
Sea Swell

Sea Swell

1983     "Heaving of sea with waves that do not break after a storm." — O.E.D.
High Summer

High Summer

1976     "The material itself was the beginning of this idea and was the result of having to saw off the bottom of a large trunk of yew..."
Sleeping Phoenix

Sleeping Phoenix

1988     "More recently, the theme of rebirth from any form of suffering has become increasingly important to me..."
Venus Shell

Venus Shell

1975     "A mollusc presents itself to human perception as two entities: an architectural structure of mathematical subtlety and a living form that is protean, visceral and sensuous..."
Dolphin Leap

Dolphin Leap

1980     "My inspiration was the memory of seeing schools of dolphins while at sea in the mediterranean..."
The White Bird of Childhood

The White Bird of Childhood

1975     "This carving celebrates my earliest conscious memory of something compellingly beautiful — probably a swan or a large gull, on a lake..."
Swan Lake

Swan Lake

1978     "A broken fragment of the bottom of an old-fashioned wine bottle fixed to a cog wheel fixed to a cylinder of wood stained black..."
Floating Bird

Floating Bird

1991     "Suggested by seeing the fallen flower of a magnolia soulangia floating in a backwater of the Thames..."
Fancy Pigeon

Fancy Pigeon

1979     "As a young man I rented a studio, the loft of which was inhabited by a colony of fancy pigeons..."
The Spirit of the Phoenix

The Spirit of the Phoenix

Completed 2012 Bronze Height: 27" Powell's penultimate sculpture, carved in wood over the course of several years and cast in bronze by Pangolin Foundry. In the collection of The de…
Nuptial Display

Nuptial Display

1978     "A celebration of the mating displays of many species of bird, such as the English Crested Grebe or the exotic Lyre Birds of New Guinea..."
The Seed

The Seed

1972     "The overall spherical shape, which was first formed in clay on a revolving template, is pierced in various directions and at different angles, to give the maximum of changing effects of light and shade with the movments of the sun..."
The Enigma

The Enigma

1984     "Much of my work begins as an exploratory playing with shapes and materials until a theme emerges..."
Juggler

Juggler

1956     "This is one of the first of my abstract works, and one of the first in my own individual style..."
Liz & Ruth

Liz & Ruth

1986     "I feel there is a special kind of cosmic solemnity in the first vocal exchanges between a very young child and its mother..."
Gazelle

Gazelle

1990     "Welded and bolted metal scrap including a hay fork, a pair of basin supports and one for a toilet cistern, various gutter supports, vine eyes and a floor mounting for machinery..."
Hungry Fledgling

Hungry Fledgling

1990     "Welded and bolted metal scrap, including old decorative hinges, tool handles, a window catch and vine eyes..."
Nervous Songbird

Nervous Songbird

1990     "Welded and bolted metal scrap. Parts from an old water pump, window catches, and a plumbing juncture as the base..."
Wood

Wood

Works in a wide variety of wood including Yew, Mulberry, Alder, Beech and Walnut.
Stone

Stone

Sculptures in alabaster, Reigate stone, limestone, Bath stone and Carrera marble.
Bronze

Bronze

Powell occasionally had works cast in bronze, generally for private commissions.
Assemblages

Assemblages

A collection of works made using found objects ‘hijacked from their normal usage’.