JahRoc Galleries are very excited to introduce Jordan Sprigg’s sculptures to the gallery. In this feature Jordan has answered a series of questions that will give you an insite into what inspires him to create these amazing metal sculptures are full of character and life.

Enjoy Getting to know…..Jordan Sprigg

When did you first feel the desire to be artistic and realise you had talent?

For as long as I can remember I loved to draw. I would have files and files of drawings of animals, monsters and machines spread throughout the house. Not to mention the obsession with lego.

Where did you learn your art?

I’m a self-taught artist. I would often head down the workshop during my school breaks and experiment with the welder and the endless amounts of scrap metal. My dad taught me how to use all the tools at a young age so I would spend hours experimenting with different ideas, generally being animal sculptures. I think you surprise yourself sometimes in what you can create and generally wont know until you try it.

What inspires you most?

The expansive animal kingdom. Especially the dangerous and powerful ones!

What message are you sending to the viewer of your art?

From afar I want each sculpture to capture the form, character and personality of that animal. From close inspection though it resembles an array of organised scrap metal each with its own personal history and purpose. I want the viewer to not only have an attachment to the animal but also create sentimental feelings towards the retired tools and parts.

Describe your studio…

A huge farm workshop with tools and parts surrounding the walls. Outside the shed lays tonnes of scrap metal all organised into categories. Surrounding that is farming land as far as the eye can see. How’s the serenity…

Describe your typical day of creating art?

Generally I get down to the workshop at around 8-8.30 and finish up in the evening. Usually getting a magnificent sunset to drive home with. I find inspiration can be fickle sometimes with some weeks it feels like you’ve done a days work, and then other days where you feel like you’ve done a weeks work. Ice coffee and loud music are essential in the workshop and always help to get the creative juices flowing.

What mediums do you use and why?

Scrap metal, retired tools and machine parts. I haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of the variety of scrap metal out there which is exciting. From springs, gears, bearings, nuts, bolts, shovels, pliers, saws… the list is endless. When I first started making sculptures I just used scrap metal because it was all I had to use. But now I’m starting to appreciate the value that each piece has, and find great joy when viewers identify tools and parts that they have grown up and used themselves. I also love the rich brown textures that only rusted metal can give and the way that a simple angle grinder can take off decades of rust and bring it right back to its former glory. Jordan-Sprigg-Kangaroo-side

What are you working on now?

I have recently just finished a mother kangaroo and her joey with ideas of making a stallion or a wedge-tail eagle in the coming future.

What do you love most about what you do?

To be honest, to do what you love and calling it a job. I’ve never felt that sculpturing down the shed was ‘work’, so when Sunday night comes around I’m actually looking forward to the week to come. I often have sleepless nights of excitement when I come up with an idea and also once the sculpture has been released to the public. Having strangers stop you in the street and say that they appreciate your work is an unbelievable feeling and I feel so blessed that people find enjoyment out of my sculptures.

Where can you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully making more sculptures. My ideas seem to get bigger and more elaborate every sculpture. If I can have a balance between my other career pathway of psychology as well as creating sculptures I would be a very happy man.

I think you surprise yourself sometimes in what you can create and generally won’t know until you try it!