Early Works

Experimenting with a variety of mediums including woods, metal, paper, light and photography, his work has developed to what he has gained renown for in his now chosen field, glass.

On closer inspection of this journey, the viewer will see that though nineteen years has passed, many of the underlying themes can still be seen in his most contemporary pieces of work.

You can view Kevin’s latest contemporary pieces of glass at www.kevinwallhead.co.uk

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Welcome to what goes on in my shed….and what comes out of it!

As a figurative artist who works in glass and metal amongst other things, here is a brief explantion of how it all began. From my time at the former Lincoln College of Art, De Montford University and what is now Lincoln University this blog explains how a natural progression appeared and developed, influencing my career as an artist.
For eighteen years now I’ve been doing things in my shed. I call it a shed, the family call it a shed. Some would call it a studio, a workshop, but really it’s the old brick wash and coal house at the back of a little terraced property in Lincoln.
It measures 11 feet in length and 4 feet 9 inches wide (sorry to those of you who are metric minded, I’m old school), but it’s adequate and serves me well. I might show you a picture of it later? It’s the place where I have spent most of my last 18 years, a little cottage industry, away from the turmoil of this godforsaken mad world. I know it’s not a lot to boast about but it’s mine, and hence the famous saying “Never come between a man and his shed!” I’m not quite sure who said it though?

Dad’s Toffee Hammer

Mum and dad lived next door at the time, not ideal but when I was looking to buy a house it just happened that the best property had my parents next to it ………….. and it was cheap. I was always borrowing dad’s tools to do stuff, we were skint because I was at art school and he had stacks of stuff to borrow. His face would appear over the fence. “Kevin! got my chisel, got my saw, got my toffee hammer (it wasn’t a toffee hammer, just a small pin hammer)?” They were always in my shed. Therefor, I made this, a very early Wallhead piece called “Dad’s Toffee Hammer”.
The idea was, to use Dad’s hammer in conjunction with a child’s toy, which would always remind me of his little face peering over the fence.

Toy with Hammer

Drawing for Dad’s Toffee Hammer

I had a lovely piece of stone that I had aquired while working with an electician in the summer hols, this would become the base. The base was drilled with one thousand and eighty seven holes, six inch nails were cut to pre-determined lengths and secured within the holes in the stone, this was all then mounted on a lead backboard.

Dad’s Toffee Hammer had evolved into the biggest, heaviest toffee hammer in the world.

Dad’s Toffee Hammer 1994

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Views From A Loo

As a summer vacation project, students were asked to designate themselves  a  square metre of space. From this space a small sketchbook should be created and filled, containing observed drawings from both within and outside this area.  The space could be anywhere, inside or outside.

I chose my small two metre square bathroom as it had an ideal place to sit, and left my sketchbook on the toilet cistern for the duration of the seven week vacation.

 The confinement of this small area meant that interesting observational drawings were limited, it was while sitting there one morning looking for inspiration that I noticed my small reflection in a tap.

Eight tap images were produced in total, two of which were developed into carved wooden reliefs.

Carved Lime Reliefs 1994

Cast your eyes over other things that have been created in my shed at www.kevinwallhead.co.uk

© Kevin Wallhead 2012