Mark Hancock
The turning point
in my life (sorry no pun intended) came in 1989; relocation to Yorkshire with
the firm I was working for as an accountant or redundancy and a new career
direction? I choose the latter and with the aid of the Government Employment
Training scheme began training with a professional turner. During this period
I took second prize for turning in the National Eisteddfod of Wales; first
prize went to my tutor!
for
the profile by Tony Boase which appeared in the May 2000 issue of Woodturning
I began
by specialising in high quality turned decorative and functional bowls and
individual vessels using simple designs to bring out the natural beauty and
variations in colour, texture and figuring of local timbers. As each piece
of timber is an unknown quantity before being turned I worked with the wood.
A cliché maybe, but it is a relationship that develops between initial ideas
for a piece and inspiration drawn from the timber as it reveals itself.
My
work is now more an exploration of line and form than an effort at an artistic
statement and it continues to amaze me how each minute refinement of a curve
can alter the character of a piece. I strive to achieve a perfect form - or
at least something a little closer to it than anything I've done before. There
is always further to go. This originally evolved to a series of work with
hollow vessels based around a vase design with exaggerated rims that are partly
removed and shaped. The inspiration for these came from the image of a falling
drop of water, hence the Drop Series, with the incising giving each piece
a sense of movement. The use of sycamore allows the form to take prominence.
This series of work became my trademark work. The Foreign & Commonwealth
Office commissioned a piece from this series of work as gifts for the Foreign
Ministers attending the Cardiff European Summit in 1998 hosted by the UK as
President.
In 2003 I was invited
to participate in an eight week residency in Philadelphia, the International
Turning Exchange (ITE), working with others selected from the international
community to focus on advanced technical innovations, aesthetics and techniques.
This experience had a profound effect and changed how I approached my work.
Inspiration was drawn from other mediums and disciplines from outside of the
world of turning leading to more sculptural forms. The use of pale timbers
and colouring techniques made the form all the more important rather than
how it was produced. Wood is still my choice of material to work with and
initially turning the method of creating the form but it is not always obvious.
My move in 2005 to a larger studio in Worcestershire has helped this progression
in my work with more space and light to aid this creative process. Where the
work will go next I do not know but that makes it all the more exciting for
me.
