Edgar Ward

The Hardy Tree is an ash tree that has grown up amongst a circle of gravestones that were placed in the churchyard of Old St Pancras by the young architect and later novelist Thomas Hardy to make way for a new railway line in 1865. The roots of the Hardy Tree are now emerging from the ground and engulfing the stones. I took this site as the starting point for a series of drawings and ceramic sculptures. I wanted to capture this interaction of organic and architectural forms in clay, thinking about regeneration in nature and the urban landscape.

The Porte Saint Denis in Paris is a 17th century victory arch that was once the gate to the city’s oldest street, first laid by the Romans. The arch is named after the patron saint of Paris, who is said to have run down this street carrying his head in his arms after he was decapitated for his beliefs by the Romans. He collapsed at the site where the Cathedral of Saint Denis now stands. The arch has been enclosed by buildings as the city grew outwards, now rising above constant traffic and a red-light district.

During this project, I used clay to try to capture something of the energy and atmosphere this site contains, thinking about the layers of history, mythology, and contemporary cultures that have grown up around it. 

My process begins with an experience that I decide to translate into material. Working both on paper and with clay, I try to animate the material in a dynamic, physical way. I let go of formal approaches to sculpture until I begin to see a route to a composition that conveys the image I hold in my head, at which point I begin refining form and deepening shadow. This process is informed by researching the use of rapid terracotta sketch models first developed in the Renaissance period and connecting my understanding of the methods of expressionist and neo-expressionist painters. 

Using 3D modelling software I am able to sculpt gestural and organic forms in digital space, and explore scale and monumentality before beginning to create something physically.  

Archosaurs are a group of mostly extinct animals with a shared common ancestor, of which birds and crocodiles are the only surviving remnants. For me, this piece speaks of human manipulation of nature to fit into the grids and architectures of our civilisations, and of origins and continuity with references to Ancient Egyptian sculpture.