About Rupert

In 1991 I left Chelsea School of Art with my degree in Public Art and facing the prospect of carving out a career in Art. I returned home to North Yorkshire where my "eurika" moment, quite literally, tripped me over. Whilst following hounds I tripped over a laid down old pheasant pen. It was covered with brambles and bracken but once I pulled it up, I realized how malleable it was. The process of being stretched made it easy to mould with my hands. I rolled up yards of it and set about making a lurcher. The weathered wire made it easy to paint and the new qualities of the wire made it easy to create.

My first commission was on November 20, a Greyhound for the late Mrs Winnie Morton and that was it - I was off. Living at the time near Helmsley, there was an ample supply of wire and over the next year I worked on my technique. I knew the basics of welding from working on a farm during my school holidays, so I learn't to Mig weld light steel and suddenly I had really strong armatures. I was commissioned to make a 120 ft long Alice in Wonderland topiary frame for Burton Agnes Hall with light steel and wire. This project gave me the idea to look at the garden market for my sculptures rather than galleries.

In March 1993 I launched myself into London at the Country Living Fair, armed with a fox , hens and two commissioned lurchers . I can remember circling the tube with the fox under my arm and being photographed in the paper. What I didn't know was my first break through was going to come out of exhibiting there and was going to propel me into exhibiting up and down the country with my wire sculptures.It came whist at the Fair as I was filmed by the BBC for a morning program.

As I showed of my lurchers the reporter asked “who buys these?” , I was able to say that they were commissioned by Jilly Cooper. In the space of an hour I had a crowd gathered at the stand and the orders flooded in. I rang up Jilly and arranged to deliver her commission on route back up North. On seeing them She bought both sculptures , so armed with cash in the back pocket I moved studios to Hovingham and placed my first advert in Gardens Illustrated.The following year I showed at every Country fair, Agricultural show, Game fair and Garden show I could get in to, combined with the adverts I was off with orders worldwide.

In 1994 I moved to Ireland and lived in Co Kildare and I exhibited at Chelsea for the first time . Then the next year I was asked to exhibit some sheep for Rupert Golby’s Hidcote Country Life garden at Chelsea . The exposure through Country Life propelled me to a new stage.. Garden Sculpture . Until then there were just a handful of either bronze or bronze resin pieces exhibited and certainly nothing as contemporary as wire. My four sheep were sold to Australia on the first night and I had a orders for sixteen by the second day... I now needed a flock! My sheep were on the cover of the RHS members magazine which guaranteed a supply of commissions throughout the year.

Since 1995 - today The Chelsea Flower show has remained my best gallery for my work.

To download a PDF of Rupert's CV, click here.