Thorns II (detail), mixed media
Norwegian Maple IV, mixed media
Max Suffield
An experienced and skilled craftsman, Max graduated this summer from Herefordshire College of Art and Design with a BA in design crafts and a new direction for his work. As a craftsman, his work was exhibited in many galleries including The Haymakers in Hay on Wye, Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea, The Royal Exchange in Manchester and Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery. He won a silver medal for his work at the National Woodworking Show 1990. His current work, developed while studying for his degree, uses materials gathered from the rural environment – seeds, thorns, flower heads – arranged in beautiful box frames to produce near-surreal works of art.
My sources of inspiration are my immediate surroundings in rural Herefordshire. The materials that I use are there for the picking, entirely free, gathered during leisurely strolls around the village. The process starts with recognising the individuality inherent in just one seed, or the beauty of a fragment of shell. This is when the collecting bug kicks in. As a young boy, having just a few of one thing never really worked for me. Be it collecting stamps, postcards or beer mates, having hundreds of something made them far more interesting and I feel much the same now as I did then.
The availability of materials is determined not just by the time involved in harvesting them, but more importantly by the seasons. In the autumn, sycamore keys are gathered before they rot, thorns are harvested in winter after the leaves have fallen, and celandines have flowered and died by late spring.
My work usually exhibits a desire to make nature just that little bit tidier by sorting my materials into shapes, colours and sizes – not unlike those stamp albums of my childhood.
Max Suffield, 2005