Alan Milligan - Sculptor
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_5c3ac7e66b26420d9a2525903fbeb97c.jpg/v1/fill/w_363,h_364,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_5c3ac7e66b26420d9a2525903fbeb97c.jpg)
Sculpture
I find there is something most expressive about molten metal, like making still a moment in time. The way the fluid movement becomes solid and the heat subsides to allow us access to a deeper knowing through a prelonged look or even touching the object.
Bronze is a remarkable material even capable of capturing textures as subtle as its maker's fingerprint. It is such an ancient and resistant material perhaps even responsible for planting the concept of immortality into human conciousness.
To make work in bronze is to silently amplify an idea for a very long time.
![Burying ground birth place.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_5deabc0f9d904a2bb9d58b42d22ec82f.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_5deabc0f9d904a2bb9d58b42d22ec82f.jpg)
Earth silhouette creates an island from which grows a treechair on which sits an egg of stone.
![Hold together](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_ba7fefada8324cc091ff2eb9f5d90738.jpg/v1/fill/w_716,h_536,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_ba7fefada8324cc091ff2eb9f5d90738.jpg)
Bowl made of cupped hands. Cast aluminium.
![Weight 1ft sq](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_5c3ac7e66b26420d9a2525903fbeb97c.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_5c3ac7e66b26420d9a2525903fbeb97c.jpg)
Molten lead and stone
![Light 1ftsq](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_b86742f7fb2d4abb99a8dff81b8388c0.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_b86742f7fb2d4abb99a8dff81b8388c0.jpg)
Molten lead and Seaglass.
![Winged boat](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_4039fa9d94bd48eebcbd8b29f4001e95.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_656,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_4039fa9d94bd48eebcbd8b29f4001e95.jpg)
Wax for winged boat.
![Winged boat](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_23943e862d8c4d309edc94f15e53e25d.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_656,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_23943e862d8c4d309edc94f15e53e25d.jpg)
Wax winged boat detail aft where boat becomes folded wings.
![Bronze age axe](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_343e8ac658c6488ebf6c80d3fdc6b13f.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_343e8ac658c6488ebf6c80d3fdc6b13f.jpg)
Cast using bronze age inspired techniques.
![Creation cradle](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_9ac13842a09949d0a1fda8373fd8f609.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_9ac13842a09949d0a1fda8373fd8f609.jpg)
Lead formed over a stone with three indentations. Possible a stone age tool.
![Breaking the wave](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_63eae60aab4443039ca49eb5b139ebf4.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_63eae60aab4443039ca49eb5b139ebf4.jpg)
Bronze boat set into torn wave of wood.
![Rain](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_09e9062f724642dca4bc6fc5b0af012a.png/v1/fill/w_445,h_317,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_09e9062f724642dca4bc6fc5b0af012a.png)
Lead formed over stone. Possible stone age tool. Inspired by the heavy rain on the surface of the Lough seen at eye level when out in my canoe.
![Ploughsail](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_88708da243ce47d5b06738b3637d110a.png/v1/fill/w_402,h_696,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_88708da243ce47d5b06738b3637d110a.png)
Bronze. I sail pulling a plough. Analogous to the conscious and the subconscious?
![Ploughsail](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_634b2be1841f46efac5c763d39339dc9.png/v1/fill/w_328,h_598,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_634b2be1841f46efac5c763d39339dc9.png)
![At the mercy; Act 1](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_9cfa6ecdf29c41beb0575a7b5e247c1e.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_9cfa6ecdf29c41beb0575a7b5e247c1e.jpg)
![At the mercy; Act 1](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_7c39a4f63f4e425cabcf492ce7517f05.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_7c39a4f63f4e425cabcf492ce7517f05.jpg)
![They sound like feathers](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_c253565223a2483fb90551cb47256425.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_c253565223a2483fb90551cb47256425.jpg)
"In life we distract ourselves from the voices of the dead." Waiting for Godot
![They sound like feathers](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_27a3a5c4d8f343d3bebc112949e39552.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_27a3a5c4d8f343d3bebc112949e39552.jpg)
![Returning home](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_14a1476f0f0f4fbda4340b46489bbe47.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_14a1476f0f0f4fbda4340b46489bbe47.jpg)
Bronze salmon mounted on Lough Erne eroded sandstone
![Beckett](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_7185ae7dc4fb4dd48ac6a3f2a2e8c683.png/v1/fill/w_495,h_469,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_7185ae7dc4fb4dd48ac6a3f2a2e8c683.png)
Chalk on blackboard.
![Sounds like feathers](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_136f1cfc96da4458b8f7da2f4e3f2ac6.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_136f1cfc96da4458b8f7da2f4e3f2ac6.jpg)
Bronze Irish medieval style bell. Cast using a bird feather.
![Muckball maquette](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_c9b76ee90e2842ce9ad3c39b00a56c3c.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_c9b76ee90e2842ce9ad3c39b00a56c3c.jpg)
![The "Muckball" Cup](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_b044897075414d108af97b8a441a9ccf.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_b044897075414d108af97b8a441a9ccf.jpg)
Bronze on Bog Oak.
![The "Muckball" Cup](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_b9c63fcf51954125a0154df776ed94e8.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_b9c63fcf51954125a0154df776ed94e8.jpg)
A rugby trophy commissioned for the Happy Days Beckett Festival. To be awarded to the winners of the first game of the season. The name "Muckball" comes from Beckett's description of the Earth. I interpreted this into the mud splashing around the rugby ball in the moment of triumph of scoring a try on a wet Fermanagh day. Bronze mounted on Bog Oak. (with lazer cut plaque).
![At the mercy act i-ii-iii](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_463e2c6e06004bc1a1b89d1de819ae2f.jpg/v1/fill/w_960,h_720,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_463e2c6e06004bc1a1b89d1de819ae2f.jpg)
Bronze log boats on waves.
![At the mercy act i-ii-iii](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce27be_28e00eb18e054cb19b1ad06bc9088553.jpg/v1/fill/w_720,h_960,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/ce27be_28e00eb18e054cb19b1ad06bc9088553.jpg)
Bronze, Log boats on waves of increasing strength.