We live in Yorkshire, and make sculpture which explores balance and movement. The smaller pieces for exhibition are made in wood in our studio. For larger scale commissions, we collaborate with fabricators.
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Our work responds to place, and expresses the forms, patterns and relationships found within it. This is as true for the larger scale commissions we work on as it is for the exhibited smaller pieces. Themes and materials are constantly evolving, and each project leads onto new resonances and connections to be made. We are driven by finding and telling stories about a place through sculpture, and people’s interaction with the sculpture.
Images above: Ilkley Fountain
Below: detail of one of four mobiles for John Lewis commission
Images below: An Embrace of Trees which evolved out of a garden and estate in North Yorkshire.
Practice and process
Our projects begin with drawn observation of patterns and forms from the natural world. The sculptural shapes are created by laminating layers of sustainably sourced veneer which are composed into the final pieces, with each part of every mobile integral to the balance of the whole. The mobiles are light and responsive to presence around them. The works are made in series, which are differentiated by theme, material and forms. Image of visitors to the Dovetailing installation by Clare Dearnaley
Background
Jamie works in education and Juliet develops the art projects. In 2012 we were commissioned to make four large-scale mobiles for the three floor atrium space at John Lewis in Stratford, East London and this had a significant influence on determining our practice and the process of making our work. Juliet Gutch CV Nov 2025
Gallery representation
We are elected members of the Royal Society of Sculptors, and work with Jaggedart in London, exhibiting there regularly and at art fairs, in particular COLLECT and London Art Fair, whilst also in the north of England in a number of galleries. As well as our smaller-scale work in wood, we have completed a number of larger-scale commissions in metal for public and private organisations.
Workshops
Workshops are either standalone sessions or part of the creative process of a project. The above image (by Clare Dearnaley) shows a group from a secondary school, Cramlington Learning Village. Juliet worked with the students over 3 months to determine the shapes for the Murmuration of Starlings sculpture for the reception area of a new hospital in Cramlington: the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Healthcare Hospital. The image below (by David Lindsay) shows the maquette for the Northumbria Hospital Commission. It was scaled up, fabricated and installed by ArtFabs.
Collaboration
Our practice often involves processes of co-design with others. The four videos below show different projects, all of which have involved collaboration.
1. Clare Dearnaley: trailer, Dovetailing project.
2. Adam Gutch: maquettes for a permanent commission for John Lewis,
3. Clare Dearnaley: study of A Murmuration of Starlings
4. Clare Dearnaley: study of Untethered
“Your mobiles seem to me like musical instruments playing in the frequencies of light.”
“The work uses the curves and patina of wood to create silent meditative shapes which have their own gentle momentum.”
“The mobile twists in the air, in ever-changing shapes and shadows, much as the ever-present sound of music fills my small flat. Earlier today, for example, I held my breath as I listened to the Adagio from Schubert’s String Quintet: violins, viola, cello, and double bass play the most moving of music, intertwining lines of intensity. Sometimes, I feel I have to move my hands, air conducting the melody and harmony; now I have these pieces of sculpted wood to make the movement for me. I can sit in silence to watch and listen and wait on what emerges.”
“The exhibition was a delight for the senses. A serene experience of light, music and movement. As you walk under and around the mobiles your movement in turn creates their movement, changing the shapes and shadows as they turn and dance. Wandering under and around felt like being in the boughs of the most exquisite and delicate of trees.”
“Beautifully-poised constructions floating in the centres of rooms, gently moving in response to soundwaves of musicians, air waves of human presence.”
“My mobiles give me such joy. I’ve hung mine in the dining area of my kitchen, and the altering light and air currents of the room reflect on the mobiles under which I sit watching them change and move.”
“It was an intimate, multisensory experience, where three dimensional objects made of natural materials responded to the flow of air and movement of viewers. The sculptures looked like notes or thoughts emerging from the air. I was totally fascinated by the way mobiles interacted with the people around them and couldn’t stop taking photos.”
“The mobile seems to float and I can imagine sounds coming from it when I watch it turning.”
“I thought the mobiles seemed to be suspended in space and made me think of thoughts inside the mind.”
“We became completely immersed in a world of wood and the sounds it can make. We found our shadows moving through the woods on the screen along with those of the mobiles, each of which was creating its own living calligraphy.”.
