Sky Park Farm Deer Sculpture

Project details

Commissioner: Sky Park Farm
Artist: Alan Williams
Year commissioned: 2020
Project type: Commercial / architectural sculpture
Subject: Deer
Setting: Sky Park Farm Visitor Centre, West Harting
Format: Wall-mounted sculpture
Materials: Forged and hand-shaped steel
Finish: Sealed rusted patina
Reference material: Antlers from one of Sky Park Farm’s sire stags
Installation: Purpose-made load-bearing bracket and assembly mechanism
Project collaboration: Dominic Strutt, Estate Manager, on technical and installation requirements
Production: More than three months

Wall-mounted steel deer sculpture created by Alan Williams for Sky Park Farm Visitor Centre

Sky Park Farm commissioned Alan Williams in spring 2020 to create a large wall-mounted deer sculpture for its Visitor Centre at West Harting, near Petersfield.

The subject came directly from the place. Sky Park Farm is a working deer farm and visitor attraction, and the sculpture was intended to sit on the building rather than stand separately within the grounds.

Alan began with scale drawings before constructing the deer from forged and hand-shaped steel. Sky Park Farm also gave him a set of antlers from one of its sire stags to use as reference. The antlers in the finished sculpture were forged individually from steel bar.

The work took more than three months to make. Its size and position at the Visitor Centre also meant the supporting structure and installation method had to be considered as part of the project.

A deer for Sky Park Farm

The commission began with a subject that already belonged to the site.

Sky Park Farm wanted a deer sculpture for the outside of its Visitor Centre. Alan was not working from a generic idea of a stag; he had the farm itself and its animals to draw from.

A set of real antlers from one of Sky Park Farm’s sire stags gave him something physical to study. He used them as reference for the spread, changes in direction and proportions before forging the antlers for the sculpture from steel.

Antlers from a Sky Park Farm sire stag used as reference for Alan Williams’ deer sculpture

Steel framework and construction of the Sky Park Farm deer sculpture by Alan Williams

Drawing and building the form

Alan began the sculpture with scale drawings at his Sussex forge.

Once he established the proportions, he built a framework from steel bar. This gave him the underlying shape of the head, neck and body before the outer surfaces were added.

The face was developed in separate sections. Alan made cardboard templates, transferred the shapes onto sheet steel and cut them with a plasma cutter.

Each piece then had to be worked into shape.

The steel was heated in the forge and hammered before being welded onto the framework. Alan used the same approach across the body and neck, changing the curve and depth of individual sections as the deer developed.

Forging the details

Some parts of the deer needed a different treatment.

The ears were made from sections of steel tube that Alan cut and forged into shape. For the antlers, individual lengths of steel bar were forged separately and assembled to follow the structure he had studied from the farm’s real antlers.

Even after the larger sections had been joined, there was still adjustment to do. Alan used additional heat from an oxy-propane torch where a line or surface needed moving once the piece had begun to come together.

The shape was built gradually rather than being formed from a single sheet or cast from a mould.

Forged steel face ears and antlers of the Sky Park Farm deer sculpture by Alan Williams

Detail of the sealed rusted patina on Alan Williams’ Sky Park Farm deer sculpture

The surface and rusted finish

Once the fabrication was complete, Alan worked over the steel surface before applying the final finish.

The metal was sanded, polished where required and degreased. A treatment was then used to develop the rusted surface seen on the finished sculpture.

That patina was sealed once Alan had the finish he wanted.

The result leaves the construction visible. Edges, welds and changes in the steel can still be read at close range, while the larger outline of the deer remains clear against the Visitor Centre.

Designing the sculpture for the building

The position of the sculpture was part of the job from early in the project.

It was being made for the side of an existing building, so Alan had to consider more than the shape of the deer. The weight of the work, the structure behind it and the way the finished piece would be assembled and fixed all mattered.

Alan worked with Sky Park Farm Estate Manager Dominic Strutt on the technical requirements.

A purpose-made load-bearing bracket and assembly mechanism were developed for the sculpture so it could be secured to the Visitor Centre.

This meant the fixing was not something added as an afterthought once the sculpture had left the forge. It developed alongside the work itself.

Load-bearing bracket and installation detail for Alan Williams’ Sky Park Farm deer sculpture

Alan Williams’ wall-mounted steel deer sculpture installed at Sky Park Farm Visitor Centre

Installing the deer at Sky Park Farm

When the sculpture was ready, it was installed on the exterior of the Visitor Centre.

The wall position gives the deer a different relationship with its surroundings from one of Alan’s freestanding sculptures. The building becomes part of the way the work is seen, while the projecting antlers and shaped steel give it depth away from the wall.

From further back, the deer reads through its outline and scale. Closer to the building, the forged sections and individual construction become much easier to see.