Sculpture
Keith’s sculpture practice is rooted in a lifelong engagement with wood - its history, character and living presence. Working almost exclusively with timber, his sculptures emerge from trees that have already lived full lives: storm-fallen trunks, removed or reclaimed trees, hedgerow finds, salvaged beams or carefully sourced wood chosen for its particular qualities.
Each piece begins not with a fixed design, but with an encounter. His sculptures seek to belong in their environments, whether placed in gardens, public landscapes or interior spaces, carrying with them a sense of place rather than separation from it.
“It is more like a partnered dance. I work with the tree, not against it. I am not trying to impose my ego or will onto the wood, but to elevate it from a substrate to an equal partner — watching for subtle cues and anticipating where the next step will fall.”
For Keith, wood is not a neutral material or passive substrate. The form of each sculpture develops through a responsive process in which artist and material work together. Rather than imposing a predetermined outcome, he approaches carving as a form of partnership, a balancing act between intention and discovery. Grain direction, knots, fissures and growth patterns guide decisions as much as the artist’s hand. The process requires constant attention, adjustment and trust. Using carving tools alongside chainsaw cutting, burning and oiling, he gradually reveals forms already suggested within the timber. Surfaces may retain scorch marks, weathering or traces of the tree’s previous life, allowing natural history to remain visible within the finished work.
Keith’s sculptures often suggest human or organic presences - torsos, standing forms, markers or abstracted figures - yet they resist literal representation. Instead, they occupy a space between natural growth and human intervention, appearing as though they have evolved rather than been constructed. Many works are created with outdoor settings in mind. Exposure to light, rain and seasonal change is not resisted but welcomed, allowing the sculpture to continue changing long after it leaves the studio. Ageing, erosion and surface transformation form part of the work’s meaning, extending the creative process into time itself. This sensitivity to process reflects Keith’s belief that sculpture should feel discovered rather than imposed, as if the environment itself has played a role in its making.
Each piece carries the memory of its origin. Timber gathered locally or reclaimed from working landscapes connects the sculpture to cycles of land use, agriculture and woodland management that stretch back generations. Knowledge of tree species and their individual characteristics informs both structural decisions and aesthetic direction.Through this approach, Keith’s sculptures become quiet markers of relationship: between human and landscape, permanence and change, making and listening. From intimate carved forms to monumental public works, the intention remains consistent: to reveal presence within material and to allow the life of the tree to continue in another form.
