Michael Simpson
Enjoying lengthy walks with his father in the wilds of North Wales as a nipper inspired a young and impressionable Michael Simpspn to become an artist. Or in his case, a contemporary wildlife sculpture artist. And that was down to two things in the main, and three if you count his higher education which we’ll get to in a jiffy. Firstly though, the spectacular North Wales rural environs gave rise to infinite artistic thoughts, not least with the regular interspersion of its habitual animals and creatures, one species of which finds itself at the fulcrum of Simpson’s creative work; the humble hare. And secondly was his father’s insistence and encouragement for his (clearly talented) young son to experiment with his pencils and sketchpad, and visually document anything and everything of a wildlife nature that he witnessed.
Simpson was born and raised some 250 miles south east, back home in London. However he was afforded regular glimpses of a very different landscape than the one he was used to in the sprawling metropolis each and every family holiday time, as the Simpson clan headed to the grandparent’s farm in the Principality for a (very different) change of scene and pace of life. Simpson’s father, himself a keen amateur artist, had always motivated his son to drawn plants and animals whenever and wherever they were on their travels, yet in North Wales they were both spoilt for naturally-occurring choice.
The wildlife sculpture foundations were laid (little did he know) in Simpson’s case when he first clocked a pair of boxing hares going at it tooth and nail on the Isle of Anglesey; just off the North Wales coast, during one of the Simpson family expeditions up there. Entranced by their ‘mad March’ behaviour, this fleeting glimpse and moment in time stirred something, creative, deep within Simpson’s psyche. Yet for all that, his future career very nearly didn’t happen, thanks to science almost messing things up. Having scooped 3 Science A Levels whilst at secondary school (and an A in Art too we hasten to add), Simpson was – despite a sketchpad full of ideas – set on a course in professional life leading to Ecology and Wildlife Conservation. Providing he completed the same-named course. However, a last minute change of tack resulted in Simpson instead opting to study Fine Art, which obviously took him off on an altogether different vocational path.
Arriving at Uni and Simpson soon discovered that he’d made the right choice when he was almost hypnotised by the sculpture work of one of his course tutors, who herself was an award-winning sculptress who was a resident teacher in his art department. She ran a specialist course within the course if you follow, and one which Simpson enrolled on with immediate effect, and it wasn’t long before he had been suitably inspired to feel and believe that his creative future lay within a sculptured field. Fast forward to the final year show, and as well as claiming first prize for his stunning bronze sculpture of a moon gazing hare, already emerging talent, Simpson was approached by a well-known and respected local art collector with a view to purchasing the Leavers’ Exhibition prize-winning piece. Which he duly obliged.
Emboldened by this surprise turn of events, Simpson did the logical thing and set up his own studio and announced himself to the (immediate) world as a bona fida sculpture artist. Whilst not exactly an overnight success, Simpson steadily and stealthily constructed a reputation for his bronze sculptures of hares and other animals native of the North Wales environ where he’d decided to pitch his studio for sensible and sentimental reasons we would have thought. Gradually Simpson’s sculptured stock rose, and he began gaining attention (resulting in the all-important sales) from a client base locally and regionally; before word of his creative labours spread further and wider and he started selling direct from his studios and a host of UK-wide galleries.
This next stage in the process of attaining a contemporary wildlife sculpture artist reputation (one which now, incidentally, sees him as one of the country’s best known and loved exponents of) was helped forged by the UK’s leading art publishers, DeMontford Fine Arts, who on being introduced to Simpson’s work/portfolio took him under their commercial wing and have fully represented him since. Today Simpson is based on the edge of Dartmoor, having swapped one amazing slice of rural life for another, and from here originates and produces sculptured pieces which are collected as far afield as Europe and America.
Simpson was born and raised some 250 miles south east, back home in London. However he was afforded regular glimpses of a very different landscape than the one he was used to in the sprawling metropolis each and every family holiday time, as the Simpson clan headed to the grandparent’s farm in the Principality for a (very different) change of scene and pace of life. Simpson’s father, himself a keen amateur artist, had always motivated his son to drawn plants and animals whenever and wherever they were on their travels, yet in North Wales they were both spoilt for naturally-occurring choice.
The wildlife sculpture foundations were laid (little did he know) in Simpson’s case when he first clocked a pair of boxing hares going at it tooth and nail on the Isle of Anglesey; just off the North Wales coast, during one of the Simpson family expeditions up there. Entranced by their ‘mad March’ behaviour, this fleeting glimpse and moment in time stirred something, creative, deep within Simpson’s psyche. Yet for all that, his future career very nearly didn’t happen, thanks to science almost messing things up. Having scooped 3 Science A Levels whilst at secondary school (and an A in Art too we hasten to add), Simpson was – despite a sketchpad full of ideas – set on a course in professional life leading to Ecology and Wildlife Conservation. Providing he completed the same-named course. However, a last minute change of tack resulted in Simpson instead opting to study Fine Art, which obviously took him off on an altogether different vocational path.
Arriving at Uni and Simpson soon discovered that he’d made the right choice when he was almost hypnotised by the sculpture work of one of his course tutors, who herself was an award-winning sculptress who was a resident teacher in his art department. She ran a specialist course within the course if you follow, and one which Simpson enrolled on with immediate effect, and it wasn’t long before he had been suitably inspired to feel and believe that his creative future lay within a sculptured field. Fast forward to the final year show, and as well as claiming first prize for his stunning bronze sculpture of a moon gazing hare, already emerging talent, Simpson was approached by a well-known and respected local art collector with a view to purchasing the Leavers’ Exhibition prize-winning piece. Which he duly obliged.
Emboldened by this surprise turn of events, Simpson did the logical thing and set up his own studio and announced himself to the (immediate) world as a bona fida sculpture artist. Whilst not exactly an overnight success, Simpson steadily and stealthily constructed a reputation for his bronze sculptures of hares and other animals native of the North Wales environ where he’d decided to pitch his studio for sensible and sentimental reasons we would have thought. Gradually Simpson’s sculptured stock rose, and he began gaining attention (resulting in the all-important sales) from a client base locally and regionally; before word of his creative labours spread further and wider and he started selling direct from his studios and a host of UK-wide galleries.
This next stage in the process of attaining a contemporary wildlife sculpture artist reputation (one which now, incidentally, sees him as one of the country’s best known and loved exponents of) was helped forged by the UK’s leading art publishers, DeMontford Fine Arts, who on being introduced to Simpson’s work/portfolio took him under their commercial wing and have fully represented him since. Today Simpson is based on the edge of Dartmoor, having swapped one amazing slice of rural life for another, and from here originates and produces sculptured pieces which are collected as far afield as Europe and America.