Raw in sharpest tooth and claw
A new sculpture trail at Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire has been inspired by nature and created using a chainsaw. Catherine Scott meets the Yorkshire Carver. Pictures by James Hardisty.
ACHAINSAW may not sound like the obvious tool of choice for an award-winning sculptor, but that is exactly what the Yorkshire Carver, Shane Green, uses to create his incredible works of art. The Otley art teacher has just finished creating a sculpture trail at Kiplin Hall and Gardens after the North Yorkshire country house received £2,700 funding from the Wild Escape project.
“I heard from one of the volunteers that Kiplin Hall had received some funding for a biodiversity-inspired art project and so I contacted them to see if they would like to me to carve some sculptures for them,” says Green.
The meandering lakeside paths at Kiplin
Hall serve as the backdrop to the series of timber sculptures, carved by chainsaw and inspired by the biodiversity and natural environment in the gardens and grounds.
"The grounds and the lake at Kiplin Hall are stunning. I’d been to watch an open- air Shakespeare play there and I liked the idea that they wanted to create something educational,” adds Green.
Inspired by this diverse habitat, the Yorkshire Carver created several sculptures depicting all that creeps, crawls, slithers, swims, flaps and frolics at Kiplin.
Three of the free-standing sculptures are of birds while the trail also includes five reliefs of other animals and nature-inspired creations.
“The target demographic is seven to 14 and so I have made all the sculptures quite low level to appeal to a child’s eye view.”
Green has been head of art at Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley for more than 25 years.
“I have never given up on education – it is important but now I am getting commissions and all my holidays are carving.
"I’m not doing quite so many private commissions as I just don’t have the time as I really want to do more competitions, but my work can be seen in the likes of Harlow Carr Gardens," says Green, who has represented England at wood-carving competitions – many of them speed carving with a chainsaw – for the last few years.
Always an artistic child, he was encouraged to pursue his creative side by his school art teacher who he keeps in contact with even though he is now in his eighties.