Oliver is a self-taught stone carver who works from his studio outside Manchester, creating contemporary functional vessels and objects.
He started stone carving during COVID-19 as an escapism from his regular 9-5 job and fell in love with the craft and the tactility of stone.
Oliver primarily works in alabaster and his practice explores the natural translucency of the stone, as well as light and movement through everyday objects such as vases, baskets and sculptural forms. He is now eager to work with new stone types and to expand his knowledge of stone sculpture, which is where his QEST training will come into play.
A QEST Scholarship will allow Oliver to participate in marble workshops taught by Kyle Ann Smith, founder of ‘Marble Workshop’, and to further advance his practice by learning new techniques such as air chisels, scaling from maquettes and new methods of traditional stone carving.
With the skills learned from his training, Oliver aims to take on more ambitious projects and learn to work with harder stones and make larger sculptures, giving him the confidence to enter competitions for public commissions and one day host his own workshops to pass on his skills.
