Shaun Gagg

Shaun was born near the mining village of Wombwell, Yorkshire in 1969. A creative and curios child and from an early age was fascinated by the works of Salvador Dali.

With no fear of heights he would spend much of his free time rock climbing and caving in the Peak District. Becoming a full time roofer introduced him to the magical substance of slate. There were often skips full of large pieces at the slate companies who supplied him with roofing tiles, the words “take as much as you want lad” were music to his ears. This progressed to weekly trips to the huge Wales slate tips. Soon he found a small workshop and decided to have a go at sculpting full time - making large abstract slate pieces. These sold very well and for the next 15 years Shaun would hone his skills by creating a variety slate and sandstone sculptures. He jokes that if you were to ask his wife or any of his family to describe his work at this point; they would say “he has to go over the top and make everything twice as big as it needs to be!”

This trait eventually became his downfall as his left leg, already damaged from a climbing accident, gave up due to the weight of the slate he had been lugging around. Digging out his welding tools in an attempt to make himself a leg support brace, Shaun came across a few coins in his pocket and thought he’d have a try “at a bit of arty stuff”, to his surprise he was able to manipulate the metal in wonderous way and he has never looked back. For the last eight years Shaun has let his imagination run wild creating incredible welded sculptures. Whereas before the natural shape of the stone dictated the final form of the finished sculpture; with welding he can create practically anything.