Third year BA (Hons) Fine Art student Martin Darbyshire has designed and produced the Excellent Longstanding Service Award for undergraduate medical teaching at the University of Leeds.
Martin won the initial brief set by the Leeds Institute of Medical Education and worked closely with the Institute to produce an award made of cast bronze.
We caught up with Martin to ask him about the award…
How did you hear about the Leeds Medical Award brief?
The brief was sent out via college email and our programme leader Sheila Gaffney briefed all sculpture students on the award during one of our strand days.
How did you approach the brief?
I did a little research on the institution first. When the applicants went to the panel I went with a few ideas (in hindsight too many) and images of my previous work. A dialogue opened between myself and LIME representatives, in particular Trish Walker.
Could you explain how you constructed the awards?
Like a lot of my work it has gone through multiple processes before finishing up as bronze. The award was constructed by joining MDF forms cut out using the laser cutter. It was then sanded and formed in the wood workshop. A cast was made in silicon and then waxes from that in the plaster workshop. Once I had my waxes I sent them of to Castle Fine Arts Foundry in Wales where they were cast in Bronze.
What are you currently working on?
My practice involves working on numerous projects simultaneously until they stick. I have few new objects that I will be casting in Bronze at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop if I get them finished in time.
For more information on the BA (Hons) Fine Art please click here.
