Marcus Cornish

Marcus Cornish
Nationality	English
Field	Sculpture
Training	Camberwell School of Art, Royal College of Art

Marcus Cornish is a contemporary British sculptor. After obtaining a First Class Honours degree in Sculpture at Camberwell School of Art, he went on to gain a Master of Arts degree at the Royal College of Art.^[1] A scholarship enabled him to spend time in India, studying the work of traditional Aiyanar potter priests, and his Master's thesis was about their work crafting terracotta horses for Aiyanar shrines in Tamil Nadu.^[2] In 1993 he was elected a Member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.^[1]

He spent time as official tour artist with the British Army in Kosovo, and again as official tour artist on a diplomatic tour of Eastern Europe by HRH The Prince of Wales.^[1] He is an Academic Board member, and occasional tutor, of The Prince's Drawing School - a charitable trust founded by HRH The Prince of Wales that provides a wide range of courses focused on drawing and painting skills.^[3]

Works

Paddington Bear

Jesus in Jeans

The Stag, St James's Square, London

In 2000, he created a life-size bronze sculpture of the fictional Paddington Bear, that stands in Paddington Station in London.^[4]

He was commissioned by a property developer to create five bronze statues of Scottish wild animals. One of them, a greater-than-life-size statue of a red deer stag, was placed in St. James's Square, London, in 2002.^[1][5]

In 2004, he was involved in a collaborative project to create a memorial to recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross medals, which was installed in the Pillared Hall in the Ministry of Defence Main Building in Whitehall, London, and dedicated on 2 November 2004. The memorial consists of a stained glass window, designed and created by Rachel Foster and the Eastwood Senior Citizens Art Project Enterprise (ESCAPE), and a 16 foot high bronze column from which emerges, at the top, a powerful figure, 'Courage', designed and created by Marcus Cornish.^[6]

In 2005, he was Sculptor-in-Residence at the Museum of London, and subsequently exhibited the clay and plaster sculptures he created during that time and based on his observations and experience there, under the title "Impressions from a London Seam".^[7]

In 2008, he was commissioned to create a sculpture of St John the Evangelist for the parish church of that name in Heron's Ghyll in Sussex. The statue was dedicated on 11 January 2009 by Bishop Kieran Conry.^[8]

In 2008-2009, he was commissioned to create a bronze statue of Jesus Christ to mark the 50th anniversary of the Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri Catholic Church in Uckfield, East Sussex. The statue, which was installed on the front of the church in May 2009, depicts a very contemporary figure, wearing a shirt and loose trousers. It was immediately dubbed "Jesus in Jeans" by the media, and was widely reported and commented on.^{[9][10][11][12]}

See also

• Art of the United Kingdom

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Marcus Cornish - Career Outline, Supplementary document (PDF) accompanying his application to be considered for the work of creating the sculpture of Jesus Christ for the Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri Church in Uckfield, East Sussex
2. ^ Out of India: Hindu spirituality in recent British sculpture,David Cohen, ArtCritical.com, 1994 (originally published in Sculpture Magazine, Jan-Feb 1994)
3. ^ The Prince's Drawing School - who we are
4. ^ Secret London - statues of fictional characters
5. ^ LPGT News Autumn 2002
6. ^ Memorial celebrates Victoria and George Cross heroes, Michael Tillotson, The Times Online, 4 November 2004
7. ^ Marcus Cornish: Impressions from a London Seam, Museum of London
8. ^ Sculpture of St John the Evangelist at Heron's Ghyll, Mr Esme Howard
9. ^ Jesus in jeans unveiled on church, BBC News Channel
10. ^ 'Jesus in jeans' sculpture unveiled, The Telegraph, 13 May 2009
11. ^ 'Jesus in jeans' in English church, The Indian Express, 14 May 2009
12. ^ Church wants Jesus in jeans statue to connect with community, Jenna Lyle, Christian Today, 14 May 2009

Persondata
Name	Cornish, Marcus
Alternative names
Short description	English sculptor
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death