News — animal sculptures
Animal Crackers - Let's Play: May's Guest Artist - Mick Kirkby Geddes
Spring fever has transformed the gallery into a hilarious menagerie of black metal animals all vying for attention. Mick Kirkby Geddes is the gallery's guest artist for May...
>> Click to view & buy here in our online shop <<
Mick is a Yorkshire man. He was born in Sheffield, but now lives with his family in the Pennines. After finishing a Fine Art Degree at Leeds Polytechnic in 1988, he set out to work as a sculptor and metalsmith, combining his passion for 1970s comics and a love of metal. It all started at university when his materials budget ran out. Unfazed he went looking for scrap.
Mick now has a workshop full of discarded junk. He hates waste and spends his days sorting, cutting and welding the scrap together with new steel to create innovative and quirky sculptures. Some of the pieces he galvanises, then powder coats so that they can go outside. Mick also loves to manipulate scale with sizes ranging from a few centimetres up to several meters. He welcomes commissions.
His Animal Crackers exhibition runs until the end of May and has been warmly received by visitors to the gallery. Collectors have arrived from all over the world including Australia, where one of his cheeky little dogs now resides.
So don't miss out! Check out his work >>Here in our online shop>> or pop in and take a look, we'd love to see you. Read more about Yorkshire artist Mick Kirkby-Geddes.
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A New Dynamic Programme for Utopia in 2024
2024 is a very exciting year for Utopia.
Not only are we celebrating 10 years of utopian living but we also plan to expand this year to bigger, more central premises in the town.
Mick's retirement from making lighting means that we now have more room for art. So 2024 sees the start of our new venture. Each month we will have a guest artist who has been specially selected to exhibit at Utopia. I'm choosing artists that each have a clear narrative, make beautiful work and have a philosophy which dovetails into our own. Expect stunning sculpture and work that you can connect with. Each artist will have something different to offer and not everyone will like them all, but that's the beauty of art. The exhibitions will last around 4 weeks. We hope that you are as excited about this new dimension to Utopia as we are.
We start the programme on 25 March - here are the first two artists we're showing, so do make a note in your diary. All the work is for immediate sale as always, which we know is very popular with you. And all the artists accept commissions, but note each piece is unique.
Best wishes,
Jac
We are delighted to welcome David Cooke and Mick Kirkby-Geddes to our unexpected fold of exceptional artists.
Fur & Feathers
The Extraordinary Ceramics of David Cooke
25 March - 24 April 2024
Prize winning nationally renowned wildlife sculptor, David Cooke, has been studying animals all his life. He draws from his childhood in East Anglia and his current home in Yorkshire, to create sculptures that are as individual as the subjects he studies. Whilst always experimenting with new materials and techniques, Cooke particularly enjoys the challenge of ceramics and bronze.
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Animal Crackers
The Playful Sculpture of Mick Kirkby-Geddes
5 May - 1 June
Mick Kirkby-Geddes's metal sculpture is incredible. From his workshop in the Yorkshire Pennines he transforms the old into something new with a fresh engaging dynamic. Curiosity and a healthy dose of 1970’s kids tv and comics informs his often humorous pieces and brings them to life.
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