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Gary Gordon is a talented young Strand sculptor, presently working as a plumber, who has a deep burning passion to sculpture full-time in bronze. He discovered his talent and love for sculpturing in bronze when he started working at Sculpture Casting Services in Strand where he worked from 1999 until 2007.

His first job here was fetting and welding, which involved the welding together of sculptors' works.

"This was quite a difficult process because I had to not only just weld the pieces of bronze together, but do it in such a way that the welding was not noticeable which meant fine definition on every piece and paying attention to minute details.

"I worked a lot on Dylan Lewis' work. He is a very well-known sculptor who specialises in sculpturing cats from small domestic cats to life-size lions, cheetahs, leopards etc.

"After completing one of his life-size leopards he complemented me on doing an excellent job and this compliment together with many others from grateful customers inspired me to try and sculpture my own pieces.

Not easy at first
Gary said it was not easy at first, but by working on other peoples sculptures for many years and taking note of the different techniques used by different sculptors he slowly and painstakingly taught himself to sculptor.

"The first piece I did myself was also for myself to see if I was able to sculpture. I think it turned out pretty well and it was a silicone bronze representation of a Hammerhead shark hunting a stingray. The stingray's tail is up and ready to strike at the shark and I called the piece "The last supper" and is one of seven copies. "

Gary has also semi-completed a Manta ray ascending to the surface and has called this piece "Ascension" - also one of seven copies.

However Gary's most treasured piece and also his first commissioned sculpture is a one off of Riaan Manser (the Helderberg adventurer who became the first man in the world to circumnavigate Africa on his bicycle).

"This was a very, very difficult sculpture as it was done on a small scale and had many small intricate little pieces such as bags on the bike, spokes, the bicycle and Riaan himself.

"As I started working on the sculpture I realised that it was an extremely difficult and intricate piece, but with Riaan telling me about his trip, he inspired me to continue when there were many times I wanted to smash the sculpture and give up.

"I thought that if he could cycle around the continent of Africa all alone on a bicycle over more than two years then surely I could show a little determination over a few months to complete his sculpture which I called "The lion of Africa."

Gary is now working with his brother as a plumber to, as he says, "keep the pot boiling" but has dreams of holding an exhibition of his works in the near future and becoming a full time professional sculptor.

His works can be viewed at the Gallery on the Bay in the new Decor Centre at Somerset Mall and he can be contacted on 083 3020 130.

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