Shelter

by: Marian Fountain, 2007
medium: cast bronze
size: 140 x 42 x 20mm
cast by: Fonderia Sedel Loria, Paris
issue:
edition:
price: £180.00 (non-member: £270.00)  

description: Marian Fountain (b. 1960) is a sculptor and medallist whose work ‘moves from antiquity to the future, wrapping stories and layering ideas’. Having grown up in New Zealand and now living in Europe, she makes work that often calls on diverse cultural influences. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, and public collections in which her medals are held include the British Museum, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Museo Archeologico of Milan, Auckland Museum, and the Monnaie de Paris. Mark Stocker discusses the artist and her work in The Medal, 55 (2009), pp. 40-51. This is the third medal by the artist to be issued by BAMS. The artist writes: ‘Shelter was the first work I made in my new studio, which was allocated to me by the Ville de Paris in October 2007. After twenty-three years of housing insecurity and getting the right papers, I felt I finally had a legitimate place to lay my head. In the medal I wanted to evoke the simple feeling of peace. ‘While I was making it, I had a strong feeling of déjà-vu, of being a child and playing for hours in the garden, making tiny scenarios with leaves and sticks, while our father did the gardening. When opening the mould, I learned that he had died, so the piece became a very personal talisman to say goodbye to him.’

other medals by this maker:

• Monumenta
• The Muse and Her Mother