WHAT DO A BULL, A BANK AND A BAG FULL OF TWO-PENCE COINS HAVE IN COMMON? The answer is Shaun Gagg and his iconic works of art sculptures that are in great demand world-wide. Shaun, 47, originally from Barnsley, now lives in Filey where he made his home 12 years ago along with his wife Viki, who is as much a part of this dynamic duo as Shaun is.
So why two-penny pieces? “It was fate,” says Shaun. “I was working with slate sculptures that weighed 30 stones and one day I was pulling this sculpture on a pallet and I did my ankle in and had to have it pinned. So I looked for an alternative, lighter material to work with. I realised that coins were perfect for welding together and it went from there, plus no-one else was doing it. I thought, every cloud has a silver lining and I realised I’d found it.”
Add to that a constant supply of coins with the resort’s amusement arcades on the doorstep, Shaun began to carve a niche with his one-off creations and soon his stunning works caught the eye of several famous galleries who now display his work. “It has just escalated and taken us completely by surprise.
We had been making things like lamps and chairs and body sculptures and suddenly we were making giant sized beasts!” Shaun quickly went from creating modest sized sculptures to his latest commissioned work which was a life-sized bull for an investment bank in the heart of London. The dad of four grown-up sons says: “The bull stands proudly just inside the doorway as you walk into the building. It looks magnificent. We may be sculpting a second bull along with a bear for a bank in Wall Street, New York.
This sculpture in bank terms denotes the bull as pessimistic and the bear as positive in stock market dealings. Shaun’s wife Viki is the person behind all those polished two-penny pieces. She painstakingly sands each and every coin with a drill bit. “I’ve sanded hundreds of thousands of two penny pieces,” she laughs. “We work as a team and these days we spend more time in the workshop than we do at home.” Viki, 37, also creates stunning garden features from steel pipes. They’re in great demand I enjoy welding steel, I’m good at what I do as Shaun has taught me well. We make a good team and its great working together.”
As the north wind blows around the workshop on a bitterly cold February day you can’t help but admire this hard working couple for their tenacity. Shaun says: “We put a lot of hours into each work of art. The life-size bull took over 1000 hours to complete, it weighed 110kg and 10,000 coins were used. It is demanding work and time-consuming but we love what we do. and we are very proud of that bull.” A call from overseas this week has brought yet another commission, this time it’s for a full size classic motor car, again made entirely from two pence coins. And the cost when complete?
Shaun says: “I can’t say for certain how much the businessman is paying for it just yet. It will be displayed in a gallery and they want a two foot scale model making first before giving the go ahead for a full-sized version.” Just how Shaun creates the stunning masterpieces is a secret. He says: “How I make them is a closely guarded secret, but suffice to say that each sculpture is a complete work of art like no other and our order book is getting pretty full.”
Shaun is modest about his success. He makes it all sound very easy, but it’s anything but. His creativity is genius which is why the rich and famous are beating a path to his workshop door with some rather bizarre requests. He laughs: “I had someone well known asking for a giant sized panda bear but I turned that down. I can afford to be a bit choosy these days.” With some individual sculptures costing £25,000 upwards there’s no wonder Shaun can afford to be choosy. Not bad for a lad who used to drive a dumper truck for a living!
