Steel Sculpture by Canadian Sculptor Hilary Clark Cole

I have experimented with studies of the human figure in welded steel for many years... it is a slow painstaking effort to achieve the effect I seek, for casting in aluminum or bronze would be much simpler.

Waterworld on the Selected Works page is another example.

I build a skeletal structure of welded steel rod, and then I gradually build the figure on this, drip by drip, grinding to refine the detail and then welding again.

They are very difficult, one-of-a-kind figures, but to me, exquisite in their almost fairy-like personas.

Soliloquy is a gentle individual, gesturing as she speaks, but only to herself. In order to emphasize the mysterious quality of this subject, I have drenched her in chain maille, and its soft movement hints at the figure underneath.

I have been experimenting with chain maille of late, and Soliloquy is an example of a successful pairing of hand-built welded steel, and the jewellery-like fabric of metal rings linked together.

Soliloquy won an Award of Excellence at the Muskoka Arts and Crafts Spring Show in 2007.

(An earlier piece, in which I also used this experimental technique, is 'Pachelbel', pictured here below Soliloquy.)