Reliquary Print

Seamus Moran uses combinations of seemingly incompatible ideas to create sculptures inspired by childhood memories of museum visits, fossils, and armour. An industry background in mould-making ensures that his work is convincing & meticulously constructed. By casting knots salvaged from dead trees he has been turning them into complex organic abstracts for many years. His recent work has focused on more figurative themes, often with a strong social comment. They are different to his previous body of work, but retaining the realism and the feeling of museum exhibits from a parallel universe. Through the questioning and the rethinking of familiar objects, he shows his own insights on the human condition with his dark, slightly humorous sculptures. Seamus was born in 1963 in Burton on Trent. He graduated with a Ba (hons) in Ceramics with Glass from Birmingham polytechnic in 1984 and went on to work in the pottery industry in Stoke on Trent as a sculptor and mould-maker, continuing and developing his skills ever since. He started exhibiting his own sculptures in galleries in 2002. His work has been shown around the UK and in 2008 won the People’s choice award at The National sculpture competition at Liverpool’s Bluecoat 2 gallery. In 2013 he was shortlisted for the Threadneedle prize at The Mall galleries in London for his work “Urban Burka”. “Harness” won best of show at the Passion for Freedom festival at the Embassy tea gallery in 2014 and has since been displayed at the Royal Armouries sites including a three month residency at The Tower of London. His work ”Decade” won best installation award at the NOAC in 2106. He has been a member of The Royal British Society of Sculptors since 2016.