Our carefully selected art doesn’t stop at fantastic paintings – we offer a wide variety of pieces by exceptional artists from across the country, using an impressive range of mediums and techniques.
Lawrence Murley is our featured sculptor, who uses beautiful, naturally coloured stone from Ireland, America, Turkey and local Cornish marble to carve many of the characterful reptiles, amphibians and crustaceans that you might well encounter here in the Roseland Peninsula.
Murley’s interest and talents lie in both the material and the process of creating his masterful pieces, with a past career in mineralogy leading him to choose and hone his artistic skill later in life. Influenced by both his fascination in geology and his mother, artist Theresa Gilder, Lawrence began his journey to creating the sculptures that he makes today by carving animals out of the stones in his own, personal collection.
Now, years later, Lawrence Murley has received wide success and acclaim both in the UK and USA for his one-of-a-kind three dimensional sculptures that really are a ‘must see’.
When creating a new sculpture, Murley begins with the imaginings of the animal he wishes to immortalise and then sets about finding the perfect stone to work with. It is his both his boundless creativity in the representation of these creatures he chooses to depict and the intricate detail of the stones themselves that lends itself to a finished article that has to be seen ‘in the flesh’ to be fully appreciated.
Lawrence Murley brings animals to life, carefully working each stone by hand using a small hammer and chisel to remove the surrounding marble to reveal a three-dimensional stand-alone piece with limbs carved with great complexity into the solid rock. Finer detailing follows using diamond bits, cutters and files to etch in definition and life-like accuracies.
Each sculpture is finished by being sanded, buffed and waxed, leaving it with lustrous shine and finesse.
Lawrence works largely in stone, his favourite being Cornish Serpentine from the Lizard Peninsula for it’s wide variety of colours, hardness and texture; but he also offers selected sculptures in bronze and cold-cast resin bronze for special projects.
Murley’s work brings a whole new dynamic to our Cornish art gallery by bringing his subjects to life in such a way that is entirely different from a painting, drawing or photograph.
We have a wonderful section of sculptures available in our showroom, ready for you to view and enjoy. If you’re ever passing by, we highly recommend that you come in to sneak a peek – they really are remarkable and photos just don’t do them justice!
