Studio Visit: Michael James Talbot

Jarva Fine Art meets Staffordshire based artist Michael Talbot in his studio at his isolated house in the countryside to talk about his process and what inspires his work.

6th September 2023

Arriving at the house being led across the garden to a hidden studio making our visit even more intriguing and exciting. We are greeted by Michael at the door who is tall and strong in stature and has such a gentle calm presence about him.

After having a brief chat with Michael and meeting his cat we were led into the back garden with the most amazing scenic country view.

On entering the studio we are not disappointed. An array of absolutely exquisite clay figures partly completed. Some almost completed which we cannot share with you just yet! Just to say we are very excited to show you them.The smell of clay hit your nose as soon as you stepped inside. Michaels house and studio are very isolated in the countryside of Staffordshire. A truly beautiful location for inspiration even in the rain.

Even while chatting with Michael he’s naturally playing with pieces of clay forming limbs so effortlessly he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it.

Michaels life is art and sculpture. After completing a BA honours degree he gained a Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Arts in London for post graduate study in 1980, winning the coveted Landseer prize in 1983. He studied further at The Sir Henry Doulton Sculpture School under Colin Melbourne ARCA and Dame Elizabeth Frink RA.



Michael was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1997 and was elected a member of the National Sculpture Society (USA) in 2012. The inspiration for Talbot`s work has always been the human form and its dramatic poetry. It is this, together with his exquisite skills that make his work so individual, intricate and beautiful.

Michael is far too modest and his quiet persona would not mention his list of A list celebrities he has also been commissioned to sculpt.

Michael typically spends around 200 hours in creating the clay model. Re-working and reshaping to anatomically perfect. Michael takes a lot of care in this process in adding subtle details to sections such as the feet, hands and ears. Once he is happy with the model he will get the mould created. And from there the clay is destroyed leaving him with the first bronze cast.

For the patina of the sculpture Michael will use silver nitrate as a base layer heating up the bronze to open the pores of the metal so that the chemical reaction becomes a part of the bronze. This is repeated for about 30 layers depending on the intended finish. With the colour palette limited Michael gets the most out of the chemicals he can use to create the natural earth tones.

A wax is then applied to the sculpture which acts as a lens for the sculpture allowing more depth in the colour to be pulled through.



CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO BROWSE MICHAELS COLLECTION