A Cumbrian-based wildlife sculpture has delivered a £22,000 artwork to Canada as demand for his artwork grows in North America.
Andrew Kay, who specialises in creating unique life-size sculptures of wild animals and birds from welded lengths of steel, was commissioned by US property developer Rand Falbaum to create the five metre sculpture of an orca’s tail for the grounds of his holiday home on Hunter Island on Canada’s pacific coast near Vancouver.
The 220kg sculpture was shipped to Canada, on a six-week journey that passed through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific coast to Seattle, before being installed on the largely uninhabited Hunter Island, which is in a maritime conservation area frequently visited by whale species, including orcas.
Andrew said: “Exports are a rapidly growing area of our business, now accounting for around 30 per cent of our turnover, and especially in the US and Canada where we have seen a flurry of orders of late.
“Creating the orca’s tail for Mr Falbaum is a first, but after almost 30 years in business our work has travelled all over the world, particularly to a growing client base in the US.”
Other recent North American orders include horse and stag installations in Maine and in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, while a herd of deer, fox and leaping horse sculptures were installed at a property in Montreal.
Andrew added: “We also have sculptures in Singapore, several of our bulls have made their way to Spain, and earlier this year we delivered a pair of merino sheep to the grounds of a villa in the Basque Country.”
Based at a sculpture studio and foundry near Kirby Lonsdale that he established in 1994, and where he employs a team of six, Andrew regularly receives public art commissions from bodies such as the National Trust and English Heritage.
The studio’s private clients include a string of well-known names including Sir Tom Stoppard, comedian John Bishop, and screenwriter and director Richard Curtis.
Hospitality firm Daniel Thwaites and Scottish Widows are among Kay’s corporate customers.
He said: “Our sculptures are unique and embody a pure, clean Scandinavian design ethos that I gained when I travelled there on a design scholarship as a post-graduate.
“People are always surprised that an industrial material like steel can be used to create sculptures that capture the powerful anatomy and spirit of wild beasts so perfectly.”
