CONFLUX SCULPTURE SHOW by Sean Cronin and Pat Seaman..music by Blue Lily

October 14, 2019

About CONFLUX our 2019 Exhibition

Something great happens when you meet a kindred spirit. The creative process although amazing can be ploughing a lonely furrow at times. But every now and then, unexpectedly, you find a the walls of your furrow come crashing down and there in your space is another being sparking out ideas that are similar to yours but these ideas are manifesting themselves in different and exciting ways.

The conversation is slightly more complicated between these two beings but goes along the lines of

Do you like this?. Yes

Did you go to this place for your inspiration?. Yes

Do we like each others work? Yes

Do you want to do an exhibition?. Yes

Then add in musical contributions from my gifted daughter then Conflux is born. A made up word but we think best describes an exhibition by two Sculptors with too many ideas. Using eclectic styles of work. That describe why humans make sculpture. Why they try to imbibe objects with deeper meaning, magic, medicine and mystery. Objects streamed into a resurrected but previously long forgotten underground space in the centre of a town known for its rebelliousness, paganism, and idiosyncrasies. Which we have tried to express alongside the more global influences of our work. Then plumbed these objects into the redundant existing infrastructure of this wonderful space. As if they were meant to be there all along and as we peer into the gallery space we are discovering the remnants of strange secret activities that have been suddenly abandoned.

The exhibition has been universally loved by all who have seen it….and was supposed to close on September 30th…..But thanks to popular demand it now lives a little longer in the vaults of the Observer Building in Hastings East Sussex…Find Robertson Street the Gotham Alley then follow the signs. Open throughout 2019.

Every Friday Saturday Sunday 12pm until 5pm

Remember Remember

November 5, 2018

Hmm…. Time to contemplate 50 years of existence.

Friday 9th November and so Happy 50th birthday to me!

There are greater tragedies to remember in November and every year I pay tribute in my own way to the waste of a generation. May their souls rest in peace.

But this November I will be probably focus on one or two people this year.

In particular my father.

He was a fine man and loved by all who met him. A mans man and a man for all people. A family man. I miss him.

Even when facing death there was bravery, dignity and strength.

I carry out this remembrance as a lucky man. Lucky to have had such a fine father and lucky to be able to celebrate 50 years of my life (and all of his life of 72 years) with my beautiful family and friends.

Lucky because not all of us get to 50 or 72 and one significant day in November reminds us of that.

But November also brings smouldering rebellion in the form of Sparklers, Fireworks, and bonfires.

Rebelling against the onset of winter

A brief spectacular display of illumination and magic. A celebration in spite of darker days.

The fallen are also energy and light. They too will return like the seasons.

Weld Away

October 29, 2018

A weld Away! October 2018

This week I was with Catia (my wife) in Auvergne staying at the house of some good friends, “Lord and Lady of Villosange'‘ . I took my trusty arc welder across France to repair the balcony of their new house in the village of Villosange where we enjoyed great hospitality, not just from L and L but also the kind and friendly locals.

A world away from the studio, and a more practical application of skills, the balcony is the main frontage of the house, and the house occupies the centre of the village. This was not apparent to me when I offered to repair it and only fully understood when we parked in the centre of Villosange, opposite the church, to check the address of L and L only to look to see them peering down at us in our car from a stately staircase and balcony.

The next day was spent trying not to blind the locals during the repairs as they made their way past the house toing and froing from field and Boulangerie. Ably assisted by Lord James of Villosange we knocked the balcony back into shape, restoring broken uprights, squaring and re-welding the frames and strengthening existing welds.

I resisted the temptation to weld on mini gargoyles. Especially after visiting two spectacular Cathedrals at Chartres and Clermont Ferrand as part of our trip to Auvergne. Nothing like seeing masterpieces to make you want to up your artistic game or make you get carried away.

As we were fixing it I imagined the balcony must have had generations of people leaning on it and chatting with each other and passers by, as the house used to be the Auberge of Villosange.

During our stay we were introduced to the grand matriarch of the village, Suzanne. She, like the house, occupies centre stage of village life and the house once belonged to the family of Suzanne. She is the oldest inhabitant of Villosange and at a spritely 96 years young she illustrated the history of the house with many of her memories and you quickly understood how important the house used to be to this historic and once busy farming community.

If I know the new owners as I think I do then life. music, kindness and passion is coming back to this grand old place.

Once more people are going to be chatting and waving from the old staircase and now I can rest easy that they will not be doing so on a bent and broken balcony. It was lovely to get it back into shape in readiness for when the old house starts rocking again…..although Suzanne and I think it all already has. That makes Suzanne very happy.

I got the impression when she is happy, Villosange is happy!