Jon Edgar is a British artist born in Rustington, West Sussex in 1968, the grandson of British cartoonist Brian White. He direct-carves in wood and stone using methods of improvisation, and works in clay.
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He studied at both Exeter University and University of London before attending the former Frink School of Figurative Sculpture for two years from 2000, being awarded The Discerning Eye national bursary[1] for his studies.
Responses - Carvings and Claywork (2008)[2] has a foreword by Sir Roy Strong and features other terracotta portraits of eminent sitters who all agreed to sit for Edgar including sculptors Alan Thornhill, Nicolas Moreton and Ken Ford, historian Sir Roy Strong, conservationist Lady Philippa Scott (widow of Sir Peter Scott), entrepreneur Stuart Wheeler, industrialist Sir John Harvey-Jones and songwriter and musician Stephen Duffy.
The Environment Triptych (2008) features portraits of the independent scientist James Lovelock (who sat in Devon in 2007), moral philosopher Mary Midgley (sitting in Newcastle in 2006) and writer Richard Mabey (sitting in Norfolk in 2007). Entrepreneur and co-founder of Cass Sculpture Foundation Wilfred Cass sat at Goodwood in 2008.
In 2009 the first sittings for a new series of heads of prominent British environmental 'doers' took place, with Professor Chris Rapley CBE sitting in Fittleworth, West Sussex, Tim Smit CBE in Fowey, Cornwall, Peter Randall-Page in Devon and Gordon Murray in Surrey.
In 2010, clay from the parish of Compton, Guildford was used for portraits of potter Mary Wondrausch and former Watts Gallery curator Richard Jefferies.
Timothy Mowl's publication on the Historic Gardens of Oxfordshire [3] includes the landscape of Asthall Manor, home to the biennial stone sculpture event[4] where reference is made to Edgar coaxing his stone into semi-figurative forms of brooding power, as in his 'Wight Man' [5] and 'Arch' [6]'.
Partner of landscape historian Kate Felus. One son, born 2006.
Portraits of Antarctic explorer and broadcaster Duncan Carse exist in public collections in South Georgia Museum, funded by the South Georgia Association, South Atlantic [7] and at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University, UK.[8] A bronze of Philippa Scott was unveiled at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Slimbridge visitor centre in December 2011.
The documentary film on sculptor Alan Thornhill; Spirit in Mass - Journey into Sculpture,[9] which was produced in 2007 with funding from Screen South and UK Film Council, features former students of the Frink School, including Edgar talking about Thornhill's influence on his own work.
The creation of the Stephen Duffy head [10] was coincidentally documented during the filming of the Douglas Arrowsmith documentary Memory & Desire: 30 Years in the Wilderness with Stephen Duffy & the Lilac Time. The film[11][12] was released at the London Raindance Film Festival in October 2009.
The terracotta sculpture forms the CD cover image for the 2009 album[13] by the same name.
The 2006 Herefordshire Jigsaw Sculpture outreach project is documented on film.[14]
The Jackdaw Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 - Portrait Sculpture: A Neglected Form? p. 10 ISSN 1474 3914
The Petworth Magazine No. 132, pp. 10–11 2008 - A contemporary search for Petworth Marble
Jon Edgar: A Life in Sculpture, Sussex Life May 2010 pp.108-111
A Decade of Sculpture in the Garden, Harold Martin Botanic Garden University of Leicester (2011) ISBN 978-0-9564739-1-2 p.30