Richard Calvin – sculptor

Sculptor Richard Calvin came to his art along a most unorthodox path. Originally trained as a sheet metal worker with British Nuclear Fuels, Richard learned to craft metals into precise forms of the highest standards — training that also sparked his interest in sculpture. He then traveled around the world, picking up his Jack Kerouac outlook on life, and later returned to London to study philosophy. Along the way, Richard never lost his interest in sculpture, and he now has a growing art career which he balances with more practical design work and other ventures in his ex-pat home with his family in Spain.

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

I see you have quite a varied work background and a clear entrepreneurial spirit, marketing rental properties in beautiful Spain and also flying off to tennis tournaments around the world to do a little tennis trading on the side. When did your interest in sculpture begin, and did you have formal training?

I have never had any formal training in either manual, hands-on, “this is how you sculpt” or in academic studies directly related to art. I did study philosophy at university in London while in my mid 20’s. I first became interested in sculpture during my apprenticeship at British Nuclear Fuels at the age of 17. My life has taken me to many different places around the world. I have always kept an interest in sculpture during those years, but it has never really been easy to combine my life and work and to find the time to sculpt at the same time. It is only over the last five or six years, since my wife Sara and I and our three young boys have been living in Besalú, Catalunya, that life has settled down somewhat and I find myself with some spare time to be able to devote myself to sculpting.

The tennis trading can be a bit complicated to explain, but I get to travel quite a lot to various tournaments around the world, which also gives me a slight time time advantage over those watching on TV. Over the last couple of years, it has become much harder to earn a living from this as a lot more people are doing the same thing. So, you can see my life is a little complicated, but together with the tennis, sculpture and Sara’s villa rental agency, we manage OK.

I understand your specialize in stainless steel. What do you like about working with this material, and did this preference come about from your sheet metal and welding trade work?

My first sheet metal instructor was from an era where true sheet metal workers used geometry to develop a pattern on a sheet of metal, then cut by hand and join together using traditional methods rather than welding. Now everything is automated. From learning how to develop obliquely truncated pyramids, twisted square transformers, and oval to circle transformers, I first became interested in creating unusual shapes and forms. Later in my apprenticeship, I was taught how to weld stainless steel to acceptable nuclear standards — which are pretty high! I have worked in many different places learning different skills along the way, which has put me in good stead to be able to transform a piece of sheet metal into my sculptures.

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

What were your early aspirations and interests as a child, and how have those evolved into the work you do today? Did you have any mentors that helped put you on this path?

This is a bit of a difficult one, really. Early aspirations as a child, I would say to be a hobo traveling bum! During my apprenticeship, I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac and listened to a lot of Bob Dylan. I couldn’t wait for my apprenticeship to end so I could go traveling and experience the world. I did leave my small town in Northern England and first went to London and then Devon in southwest England before saving enough money to travel to Australia at age 22. After 6 months traveling around Australia, I came back to Europe, where I worked, hitched across Europe, and bummed around before returning to university to study philosophy in London at age 25. I would say this part of my life has had quite a great influence on my later life and has helped the creative juices, so to speak.

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

Like many artists, you combine your work in art with more practical commissions such as kitchen projects and, as you joke, ‘repairs to your nuclear reactor.’ Do you like keeping a hand in everyday projects of this nature in order to stay grounded as an artist?

Absolutely. I am not yet quite at the stage where I can survive and support my family by solely selling sculptures. This is my aim, and one day I hope to be in that situation. But at the moment, I have to pay the bills and feed the children, and I find that more “normal” work is easier to find than selling sculptures.

When did you move from Cumbria in England to Besalú in Spain, and does this environment you live in now inspire your work in any particular way?

I left Cumbria at age 21 and moved to Catalunya when I was 33. The interim years were spent in various places around Europe and the UK. I met my wife, Sara, at university in London in 1993. She is a Catalan girl from Barcelona, and we lived together in London and Barcelona before buying our first house in Canterbury in Kent, UK, in 1998. We sold up and moved over to Besalú in 2001 and have never looked back! Catalunya has produced many artists over the years — Dalí, Picasso, Joan Miró, to name a few. There are plenty of ways to find inspiration here. The countryside is amazing, the coastline is fantastic, and just being here is a privilege.

Besalú, Spain

Gallery show by Richard Calvin in Banyoles, Spain

When clients approach you to do a commissioned sculpture, what sort of input do they give? Do you have a specialty within this realm?

Because stainless steel doesn’t rust, most of the commissions I do are for outdoors. The normal process is I meet the client, go to the place where they want the sculpture to sit, then through a process of sketches and talking to them and getting their feedback come to a basic agreement. If needed, I can make a rough prototype from card before starting in earnest.

Outdoor sculpture by Richard Calvin

Backyard sculpture by Richard Calvin

Outdoor sculpture by Richard Calvin

For your own sculptures, what inspires your designs? Do you do anything, go anywhere, or look to other art forms to seek inspiration?

Normally before I start, I have an idea of more or less what I am trying to make. This depends on what material I have available in my studio. When I have a chance, I love to visit art galleries and museums, but there is no one artist or sculptor who inspires me, not consciously anyway.

Sculpture by Richard Calvin

How are you promoting your work? Are you showing your work in galleries or are new commissions coming by word-of-mouth?

I have an exhibition on at the moment in Banyoles. This finishes on January 9th, and I don’t have anything else planned as of yet, although I am looking at exhibiting at the Curia Real in Besalú sometime in summer 2010.

Gallery exhibit in Spain of sculptures by Richard Calvin

What advice might you have for people just starting a creative career, particularly in this economy?

Tough question. One of the old answers to this is to come up with something which has never been done before. Easier said than done, I know, but originality is what will get you known. Take inspiration from artists but try not to copy, add your own touch or ideas and see where it takes you. A little bit like the road in Kerouac’s novel: the road is there — go down it and see what happens but remember to have fun while doing it! Keep your eyes and ears open, and be receptive to new experiences. Bit of philosophy in there somewhere as well!

What do you love most about your work and your life?

Another tough question. Well, I guess the things I love the most are my family, friends, and the place where we live.

Richard Calvin

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