Ian G Brennan Sculptor and Wood Carver to the British Royal Household.

Sculptor Ian G Brennan?who is self taught, is one of those rather rare sculptors that both carves and casts. Ian first?began his career as a professional woodcarver?in 1984 and then?in?1996 also began?producing his sculptures?in bronze;??for?details about how Ian first became a sculptor??Phoenix from the Ashes .?

Ian's?highly detailed?both realistic and heraldic bas-relief carvings and three dimensional?sculpture?can?be found in Museums, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Government Buildings, Churches, Company receptions and many private art collections all over the World.

Ian's first exhibition in an art gallery was at the 'Freeland Gallery' in Mayfair, London and since that time he has exhibited?widely throughout the UK. For the past decade however Ian's work has been almost?exclusively?commission?only, which meant?trying to find the time to?prepare?exhibition pieces for?such showings?rather?difficult,?therefore?public exhibitions?of Ian's work in art galleries are?a?rare event nowadays.?

Although during the past twenty years?Ian has?however?managed to build up a rather unique?collection of?wood and bronze?exhibition pieces, these one man exhibitions have been almost exclusively?set in the somewhat more formal?surroundings?which?include?Museums; The Queens Room onboard?Cunards QE2;? Burlington House, Home of the Royal Academy of Arts?and within?the?historic setting of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.?

In 1989 Ian?G Brennan was?appointed?the 'Sculptor to the Most Noble Order of the Garter and Honourable Order of the Bath and?now spends an average?of four?months of each year on a?wide variety?of unique highly detailed sculptures?for the British Royal Household.??These commissions?vary from?producing realistic sculptures of People, Animals and Birds, to a wide range of?the more traditional Heraldic sculptures?ranging from?Mythical Unicorns?and Regal Lions to Golden Crowns and?Royal?Crests.

Since this appointment,?Ian has received over 85 commissions from the Royal Household.?As well as these commissions for the British Royal Family, there have also been various commissions for other Foreign Royal Families, included HM King Juan Carlos of Spain, HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, HM King Harald V of Norway and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Akahito of Japan.

Ian's most recent commissions for the Royal Household have been as varied as producing the?Crown for HM King Harald V of Norway and?the?Coronets for HM The Queen's first cousin, HRH Princess Alexandra and?the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, Lady Soames. The more heraldic style of commissions which include?a sculpture of?a Talbot,?Boar, a pair of Griffins and a Knight in full Armour?on horseback.?The more recent realistic sculptures have included?a?sculpture of a?Stag, Badger,?Bull,?Dolphin and Horse, along with?three dogs sculptures which included a terrier and a pair of Black Labradors.?

The first bronze version of a?Royal Unicorn?sculpture has recently been produced. This original?woodcarving completed last year?was moulded?and?an edition of nine?of? these bronze unicorn sculptures?will shortly be produced some of which?will be made available?for private art collectors.

The Royal Unicorn limited edition bronze shown both coloured and with the?bronze patina

Clay and plaster 'master copy' of a bronze?statue

11 feet high ( 335 cm )

Over the years Ian has? worked on a large variety of?commissions,?which?have been?as?varied as producing?a life size?'Osprey catching a Pike' bronze for a fountain,?to then spending several?months?carving?the scrollwork on?Lord Nelson's Flagship HMS Victory. A life size statue of the 'Risen Christ' for a local church,?to?then carving from a single tree an Eight feet?( 244cm) 'Bald Eagle in Flight' sculpture for an American Corporation.

Wild Badgers, Foxes, Squirrels and Deer are regular visitors both inside and outside?Ian's?studio?in Southern England.?These visits are a constant source of inspiration especially if he is working on one of his sculptures of British?wildlife as it gives?him?a?rather unique opportunity of being able to study?the local wildlife close at hand.

Although Ian started?woodcarving as a medium for his sculptures with?many of the wood sculptures?being?produced from a single piece of wood., he?also produces bronze sculptures?with wildlife sculptures and birds of prey studies a particular specialty. These woodcarvings and Bronze sculptures are all produced in very fine detail. ?

Since 1984?Ian G Brennan?has extensively exhibit his wood and bronze sculptures in some of the finest Art Galleries in London, however apart from the occasional?special exhibition which Ian enjoys participating in,?he tends?to?work?mostly from commission. This?enables the client to have a particular sculpture?produced directly by?the sculptor?to specific requirements.

Each wood sculpture that Ian?produces are?signed, numbered and dated, and are?carved from?the finest timber,?produced?with the utmost skill and care,?whether the client?be?a private individual, corporation?or indeed?one of Ian's latest commissions for the Royal Household. At present most of the wood sculptures?are being?carved?from the same?lime tree, which grew?in a small village in Somerset, Southern England. This massive tree?blew down in winter storm winds which Ian has recently finished seasoning.?

Ian carefully selects each piece of?timber to be used for his?various sculptures which are mostly?produced from hard woods such as walnut and lime wood,?both of which?carve extremely?well and can also hold very fine detail.?Lime wood is also the wood he most often uses during?the past 15 years,?for many?of Ian's commissions?for?Westminster Abbey and?Windsor Castle.

Although Ian started using wood as a medium for his sculptures in?1984, enjoying the challenge of carving from a single solid block. In?1996 his work began to be also?cast in bronze?and occasionally silver. When appropriate Ian still produces the original master copy for the?bronze?casting?in wood, which is then moulded to produce the bronze sculpture. This? highly detailed woodcarving 'master copy' can then be?polished and retained as a unique sculpture. Unlike the normal method of working where?the master copy of the sculpture is usually produced directly?from clay or wax, which is then often destroyed during the moulding process at the foundry.

Many hours of researching the subject are undertaken using live studies whenever possible, but he also uses videos and books until he has built up a complete picture in his mind of what the intended sculpture should look like. Ian has a natural ability to see things three dimensionally, which is extremely useful when he is carving one of his?life size sculptures from within the trunk of a massive tree.

Every?wood and bronze sculpture Ian has produced since 1984 has been?signed and numbered. The first?wood sculptures he?carved were?a pair of' Leaping Dolphins ' at 6 inches high and a River Otter at 8 inches high,?both of which?he?has retained. Although Ian obviously does not consider these first two?sculptures?as?his finest work, they are however his first attempts at woodcarving after his cabinet making business burnt down, which?was?to become the beginning of his new career as a sculptor, now working in both wood and bronze.

Ian's?first two heraldic commission were the carved and gilded Crown for King Juan Carlos of Spain for St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle?and a carved and painted Cockerel Crest?for an Admiral of the Fleet for Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.?

The first bronze sculpture?Ian?produced was a?10 inches long?'Elephant with a calf 'from which an edition of 99 will be made ,?the second?bronze sculpture?he produced was a?65 inches high life size ' Osprey catching a Pike' from which an edition of nine will be cast.

Ian often works on a number of completely different?types of sculptures throughout?the?week from?his studio in Southern England. He finds the?contrast between perhaps one day?carving from wax a life size ' Swimming Otter'?for a?bronze,?to?the next day carving?from lime wood a jewel encrusted?Crown for a Queen,? enables him to work on each?particular commission?completely afresh.

Many hours of researching the subject are undertaken to ensure complete accuracy, and with the optional coloured 'patinas' added to the bronzes this can give a distinctive appearance of marble?with a warmth and living quality, particularly to the finish of the bronze wildlife sculptures.

When Ian first started having bronzes produced?several of? his early wood sculptures were?used as the master copy and moulded for?these limited edition bronzes, these included sculpture?the Swimming Otter, which was?complete in 1989, Leaping Panther , sculpture, Swan with cygnets, sculpture Osprey catching a Pike. Although many of the master copied for Ian's smaller bronze sculptures are still produced from wood, nowadays the original life size sculpture master copies are?most likely produced in clay, wax or plaster .?

One of Ian's recently completed commissions was?the Ten feet wide relief carving of the village of Warsash in Hampshire, carved entirely from lime wood and was placed above the Vestry in the centuries old village Church.?

Ian has also?been commissioned by the Museum service?and Ministry of Defence on a variety of historic projects which have included amongst other things restoring and replace sections of the carved Victorian oak panels for the Winchester Council Chambers and Southampton Guildhall. Carving a life size Lion figure-head?for a Museum to then?spending several months working on 'Lord Nelson's? flagship' HMS Victory' carving all the replacement? intricate scrollwork around the entrance port on the middle gun-deck on this unique cannon warship built in 1765.

More recently Ian has been working at Southwick House at HMS Dryad,?General Eisenhower's Allied Headquarters in Southern England during WW II? (where D-Day was planned ) restoring and replacing detailed carvings on antique mirrors and picture frames.? He has also produced sculptures for?Company Logo's,? Advertising and? various Trophies. These?have included the?Heraldic Lion logo Sculpture?for Chivas Regal Whisky and the?Trophy for the Scotland V Barbarians International Rugby Cup Final . Ian's work has also?been used as backdrops and props for Television Programs such as providing?Birds of Prey sculptures?for the set of the Granada Televisions detective program 'Cracker'.

Ian G Brennan has also been producing carved and painted Coats of Arms and Crests working from designs and sketches provided by the client, in?wood and bronze?for nearly twenty years .?

Carved Coat of Arms and replicas of State?Crowns and?Coronets, to Regal Lions and Mythical Unicorns for Royalty and the Nobility from? all over the World.

Carved?and painted highly detailed Heraldic Crests which are?often depicting such designs from Majestic Eagles?to Busts of Men and Woman?for Field? Marshals, Admirals of?the Fleet and Marshals of the Royal Air Force.

These ?colourful?carved Crests?Ian has produced have also?include designs?depicting?Animals,? Birds and?Flowers, for Prime Minister, Statesmen and other? Heads of State, which have more recently included the carved and gilded Chrysanthemum Crest for Emperor Akahito of Japan.

These Heraldic sculptures are then placed in such historic settings as The?College of Arms in London,? St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle and Henry V11 Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

The College of Arms is one of the few remaining heraldic courts in Western Europe and is now the oldest? existing such College in the world, and have been granting armorial bearings (coat of arms ) from?their original building?in London since the 1670s.

Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey being??two of the most famous, historic and widely visited buildings in Britain. ?Windsor Castle being the?home to the HM the Queen and earlier sovereigns of England for over 900 years.? Westminster Abbey is where every Sovereign since 1066 apart from Edward V and Edward V111?has been crowned and for many centuries the traditional burial place of Kings and?Queens.

Ian's?work has also appeared?on both Radio and??Television, on the BBC,??ITV and? Channel 4? television and also both Satellite and?Cable Television programs,? details of his work has also been sent worldwide via?British Satellite News and the Central Office of Information.

Ian G Brennan has given many informal talks,?lectures and presentations, using 35mm slides and he also demonstrates the various aspects of his work as a sculptor and woodcarver, as well as writing articles for books and magazines.

For further information about Ian's work or details about commissioning an individual sculpture