Sculpture at Falconhurst
STONE 2025
STONE 2025 29th June - 26th July
Inspired by on form, the UK’s most respected garden sculpture exhibition at Asthall Manor in the Cotswolds, the magnificent gardens of Falconhurst house will host a curated collection of sculpture by some of the most renowned British sculptors; Paul Vanstone, Tom Stogdon, Kim Francis, Mel Fraser, Steve Buckley, Will Spankie, Anthony Turner, Mark Stonestreet, Guy Stevens, Dominic Welch, Luke Dickinson, Ana Ruiz Agui, Regis Chaperon, Jason Mulligan, Lucy Unwin and Gabriele Risso, Nicolas Moreton among others.
Paul Vanstone
Steve Buckley
Gabriele Risso
Amanda Sumpter
Nicolas Moreton
Kim Francis
Introducing the sculptors
Mel Fraser
Will Spankie
Lucy Unwin
Steve Buckley
Steve sculpts abstract forms in stone, working mainly with hand tools. His sculptures are tactile, biomorphic and display their geology.
His lifelong love of geology led to stone-carving via beach-combing, rock-climbing and mineral-collecting. He grew up in the gritstone and limestone of the Peak District and lived in the French Alps for a while. He now carves at a bench in his exotic Crouch End garden, which features sculptural plants such as saguaro cacti and doubles as a stone store.
He works mainly in fossiliferous limestone, marble and alabaster, sometimes in rarer stones such as serpentine, sodalite, verdite and orbicular diorite. He likes to source stone direct from where it occurs, searching around quarries and scree for promising raw rocks. Most of the stone he carves is 100-350 million years old before he shapes it, often guided by natural markings which were created in deep time.
Régis Chaperon
Régis Chaperon started working in stone at seventeen. His natural sensitivity for form led him to Carrara, and later to the University of Valencia, where he became engaged with contemporary concepts of art. His sculptures are now in public spaces and private collections in England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy. He has also become involved with urban and interior design, bringing together his artistic vision and his considerable technical knowledge of working with stone.
Combining the ancient art of Japanese paper folding with the immutable nature of stone, Régis brings beauty and an unexpected twist to the folds of his elegant sculptures. Using pure and simple lines, the stone appears to have been carefully creased and bent, transformed into intricate expressions of reality. By continually exploring the geometric constraints within his work, Régis injects an utterly modern approach to stone sculpting with this unusual marriage of origami and stone.
Luke Dickinson
Born in 1964, Luke worked as stonemason on Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals before going to City and Guilds Art School and later Wimbledon School of Art. He has done landscape projects in Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India. He has exhibited widely in the UK and also done many commissions.
The sculptures relate to natural forms and domestic objects while being ambiguous. The intention is to suggest something ancient while being new; light while having mass; purpose without being explicit.
Kim Francis
Kim Francis first trained as a jeweller at Central St Martins in London. Her work evolved from body adornment to sculptural forms, through her explorations in carving. Stone has become her primary medium to create the dynamic, sensual and organic forms that fascinate her. Her inspiration is drawn from the infinite vocabulary of movement form seen in the natural world.
Mel Fraser
Mel Fraser, MRSS is a contemporary sculptor specialising in stone. Equally at home working on abstract or figurative pieces, she has worked from a variety of studios in and around Cambridge, UK since the mid nineties. Her work has been shown at numerous art fairs around Europe and New York, including at this year’s London Art Fair and is a regular at on form, Europe’s most prestigious sculpture exhibition devoted solely to stone.
Mel has travelled extensively in Southern Europe visiting quarries in Italy, Spain and Portugal. She has worked in the quarries and stone yards in Kilkenny, Ireland and has a long collaboration with members of the Shona tribe from Zimbabwe.
Her work is held by collectors and corporate clients all over the world and a recent commission saw her work installed in Frank Gehry’s Opus Building in Hong Kong.
Other commissions include Unity, a larger than life-sized piece of 3 figures carved in Kilkenny limestone for one of the UK’s largest trade unions, the GMB.
Nicolas Moreton
Based in rural Northamptonshire, England,Nicolas set up his studio over 36 years ago where he has been creating and carving his sculptures for exhibition, private commission and public spaces. Although his grandfather use to manage a masonry firm it was not until he went to do a fine art degree at university that he experienced first hand stone carving and under the tutorage of John Paddison RCA, Nicolas’s passion for stone was ignited and has never left him.
He is fascinated in a contemporary context by our ancient connection to our landscape and how relevant the use and meaning of stone has been to express humanities presence to the fertile wonders that surround our civilisation.
His work ethic is quite a solitary one, working in a traditional manner ideas are developed through drawings and maquettes before taking an idea through to a final stage. Little use of machinery is used to create his works as Nicolas believes the slower channels of hand carving allows a personal conversation with the stone to carver to occur that ultimately will help give the work its own personality and not appear to feel manufactured.
Nicolas regularly shows in the UK and in major exhibitions and sculpture gardens such as Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden,David Messum Fine Art,The British ArtFair,the Royal Academy, ING Discerning Eye, MKG and the RHS Chelsea’s Flower Show.In 2021/22 saw a major retrospective of his career to date, held in the Cloisters and Chapel of New College,Oxford. His work is collected world wide and he is an elected member of the Royal Society of Sculptor’s
Jason Mulligan
Jason Mulligan is a contemporary sculptor specialising in stone and is currently based in Kent.
His first trip to the marble quarries of Carrara in Italy was in 1996 and the impression he left with regarding stone carving has stayed with him ever since.
Jason's direct approach to carving and his interest in the use of stone as a material has remained a necessary grounding in his search for form.
A whole series of subjects are at play within his work, including ‘recognition’, ‘looking’, and ‘speculation’, which are common in both archaeology and in art, whether new or ancient.
His small hand - held works recall some past primaeval state, while the larger naturalistic works cause the viewer to examine their surroundings more closely and view them with new eyes.
Jason's work is held in collections in USA, Canada, Norway, Europe and the UK. He exhibits in both group and solo exhibitions with a variety of larger public works on display throughout the UK and Eire.
Jason was elected a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors in 2008.
Gabriele Risso
As an Italian sculptor based in London, Gabriele Risso’s work questions the world around him, drawing inspiration from everyday objects. His practice delves into the relationship between form and space, exploring themes of reality and perception. Through his sculptures, Risso invites viewers to engage in a contemplative dialogue.
He studied Sculpture at the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts in Genoa and the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera, Milan, before furthering his training in Paris and London. His work has been exhibited in the UK, including prestigious venues such as the Saatchi Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy. In 2020, he created a permanent installation for the Museo Casa Don Bosco in Turin, and more recently, he completed a public monument in Genoa and a commission for Eighty Strand in London in 2023.
Ana Ruiz Agüí
Ana graduated in Fine Arts from the University of La Laguna,Tenerife. She specialized in stone sculpture, studying in the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara. Ana’s work is in private and public collections in Germany, Italy, Spain, England and the Czech Republic. She currently lives in Lincolnshire and exhibits in England.
Ana Ruiz Agüí seeks through conceptual and abstract sculpture to manifest the beauty of the stone, the dynamics of the curves and the contrasts between different textures. She wants to create sculpture with character, without getting lost in detail, allowing the material to speak for itself and to breathe. She is looking for a synthesis of complexity with cadence and harmony.
Her new collection is about the concept of Chrysalis. It attracts the artist because it is associated with her own personal experience, with the internal transformation in which she finds herself now.
Through the forms of chrysalises in stone she wants to represent those internal spaces in which everything is possible, the refuge of something changing and beautiful that wants to emerge.
Will Spankie
Will studied sculpture at Sir John Cass and Central St Martins Art schools in London. Since then he has been working as a self-employed stone carver and letter cutter. He makes stone sculpture and lettering for public art commissions, as well as working with garden designers and clients on a more domestic scale for gardens and interiors. He also teaches stone carving in schools, adult education colleges and prisons.
He works predominantly in local Jurassic limestones which can withstand an English winter. His work is concerned with natural forms, patterns, symmetry and the unfolding of numbers in space. He tries to capture the ambiguity and ephemeral nature of life in the permanence of carved stone; he also enjoys working collaboratively with people to help them realise their own projects and ideas.
Guy Stevens
Guy Stevens completed a Fine Art degree at Chelsea School of Art in 1994. In 2001, he taught himself to carve stone and has been carving ever since, recently including ceramics to inform his working practice. Guy is an Associate of the Royal Society of Sculptors, has undertaken several public art commissions and has works in private collections internationally. Guy’s work is playful in nature, he tries to resist the obvious, often not knowing what the result will be, the stone, more or less dictates.
'My work is meant to be playful and is not to be taken too seriously, its value is the one you find and observe there, not the one someone else has placed on it, it does not have to be anything just keeps me sane and hopefully spreads a little joy in its existence”
Mark Stonestreet
Mark Stonestreet was born in Singapore in 1971 and embarked on a journey of artistic exploration early in his life. His passion for sculpture led him to study at Newcastle Polytechnic, where he honed his skills and ignited his curiosity for diverse mediums and techniques.
Venturing across Europe, Asia, and beyond, Mark immersed himself in various artistic traditions, laying the groundwork for his own creative process. In 2004, he stumbled upon Mamallapuram, India, a vibrant village boasting over 200 stone carving workshops. For the ensuing four years, he immersed himself in the rich tradition of Dravidian temple carving, living and working alongside master craftsmen. This experience profoundly influenced his artistic vision.
Today, Mark maintains a thriving studio in Mamallapuram, where he continues to craft inspired works. Additionally, he has established a studio in the picturesque setting of the South Downs National Park in Sussex, United Kingdom. Here, he completes pieces initiated in India and shares his expertise by teaching traditional carving techniques to the public.
Constantly curious, Mark remains committed to expanding his knowledge of different stone types and their unique qualities. His travels serve as a wellspring of inspiration, subtly influencing each finished sculpture with hints of his diverse experiences.
In his art, Mark strives for a delicate equilibrium between line, form, and texture, using each element to complement and accentuate the others. Through his work, he seeks to evoke a sense of harmony and beauty that transcends cultural boundaries.
Amanda Sumpter
Amanda Sumpter is a contemporary stone carver living and working in East Sussex. She completed an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and worked as an installation and performance artist until a chance encounter with stone carving in 2004 introduced her to this ‘immersive, protracted but endlessly addictive process’.
Working predominantly in alabaster and limestone, her work explores themes of fragility and transformation. Her sculptures evoke organic, fluid forms that appear familiar yet remain elusive, inviting touch and interaction. Each piece begins with a drawing but quickly evolves as the act of carving reveals unexpected marks, curves, and relationships. This dynamic process is at the heart of her practice, where accidental elements and intuitive responses to the stone guide the creation of forms that suggest an energy lying just beneath the surface.
Amanda was the winner of the Art Gemini Prize for Sculpture in 2024.
Anthony Turner
Anthony Turner was born in 1959 in Nairobi, Kenya and grew up there, living on a coffee farm until he was seventeen. Early influences include many African sculptors, and in particular two meticulous Kikuyu carpentry teachers who both demanded thorough, patient craftsmanship. When twelve he was sent to school in England, which happened to be a bicycle ride between the Avebury Stones, Silbury Hill, and Stonehenge. He studied social sciences at Exeter University.
After travelling through many of the legacies left in stone by ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians, the Inca, and in India, Anthony learnt stone carving skills whilst assistant for four years to master stone sculptor Peter Randall-Page in Devon. Anthony helped initiate the fabulous on form stone sculpture exhibition at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire, which ran on alternative years from 2002 to 2022, and he showed work in all ten exhibitions. He held three solo London exhibitions at the Sladmore Contemporary gallery in Mayfair. Anthony now works mainly in Devon where many of his sculptures can be seen on a riverside walk through a field called Longmeadow, in the Teign Valley on the edge of Dartmoor.
Lucy Unwin
Lucy grew up on a farm in rural Essex which stimulated her interest in nature and wildlife at an early age. Hours spent in the garden and woodlands were perhaps the foundations of an ongoing passion for the natural world and countryside. Regular visits to the Devon, Cornish and Norfolk coasts further extended this interest to the marine environment, and a collection of fossils and shells ensued. Being an athlete in these early years also sparked a keen interest in human anatomy and her latest designs see the amalgamation of the aforementioned subject matters. Incorporating the subtle curves and lines of the human body amongst the twisting forms of an eroded shell, often plant like in their structure these organic shapes represent for Lucy the ever present influences of our natural environment on the human body, be it both physical and emotional.
Lucy graduated from Winchester School of Art in 2006 and since has exhibited widely across the UK and in Sweden, undertaken public commissions and sold work across the globe. All Lucy’s stone sculptures are made in her Oxfordshire studio.
Paul Vanstone
Paul Vanstone studied sculpture at Central St. Martins School of Art before completing an MFA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art, from which he graduated in 1993. Following his graduation Vanstone worked in Italy at the traditional marble carving studios near the famous Carrara quarries.
On his return to the UK, and for the next five years, Vanstone became an assistant to leading British sculptor, Anish Kapoor. Consequently, works carved by Vanstone on Kapoor's behalf have been exhibited at world leading galleries, including the Tate Modern, London.
Since then Paul has shown his work at a number of major galleries in London, including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He has gained a number of prestigious awards and commissions, among them being the Henry Moore Award (1991) and the Lady Carrington Sculpture Garden commission (1991 and 1996). Vanstone’s work has been chosen by many distinguished interior designers including Kelly Hoppen, Tom Dixon and David Linley. He exhibits annually at The Chelsea Flower Show on main avenue as well as at the LAPADA fair.
Dominic Welch
Born in Buckinghamshire, Dominic Welch did not have any formal training in sculpture. Instead, having placed a speculative advert looking for an apprenticeship, he was fortunate to meet the sculptor Peter Randall-Page RA. He worked as an assistant for Peter for ten years, learning the craft of carving whilst developing his own ideas. He has worked independently for fourteen years, exhibiting in the UK, Australia, the USA and Japan. He lives and works in Devon.
Dominic’s purity of form invokes natural harmonies that calm the senses and spark the imagination. The subtle curves belie the hard, stubborn stone beneath. Drawing his designs directly onto the stone by hand, Dominic pays minute attention to each curve, line and finish. In their formal simplicity and directness, Dominic’s sculptures create a unique and mesmerising visual experience.
