Jason Sweeney lives in the Scottish Borders where his time is spent creating sculptures of fish and wildlife from stainless steel. A keen fisherman, conservationist and countryman, Jason is a lover of all of outdoors. Whether fishing for trout on chalkstreams, rivers or Highland lochs; or for salmon with his rod on Tweed at Ladykirk and further afield, the riverbank provides inspiration. Jason regularly films underwater both in the sea and local rivers to gain understanding of the movement of his subject "to capture wild salmon or trout in their natural habitat is priceless" so he can reproduce that in his sculpture.
Jason draws inspiration both from above and below water at the marine reserve at nearby St Abbs. The delight in seeing shoaling mackerel along with diving puffins hunting for sand eels influenced a whole series of marine sculpture: puffins, gannets, entire kelp forests, gurnards and lobsters.
To create his sculptures, Jason first mentally outlines the piece before exploring the idea with a series of drawings. When satisfied he uses a wealth of metal working techniques, cutting intricate pieces from flat sheet which are then hand beaten into shape with hammers and welded together. Some of the work is heavy and its execution often brutal in order to get the right shape and curve. It is, however, this marriage of his wildlife sculptures to these aesthetically pleasing shapes that makes Jason Sweeney Sculptures unique. Be it the hypnotic curve of a kingfisher piece or a beautifully balanced wall mounted mackerel shoal the results are the same - modern wildlife sculptures that are unmistakably unique and the cumulative result of many years of artistic struggle.
The possibilities are endless.