In 2021 David was approached by Sheffield Children’s Hospital and asked if they could use the Bear to create a sculpture trail around the city. It was 3D scanned, replicated in fibreglass and then 60 new bears were painted by artists and designers. The result was an incredible success and when the bears finally went to auction at the end of the project a staggering £525200.00 was raised. The story of the Steel Bear and its importance to Sheffield will hopefully endure for many years to come.
David’s last exhibited at Cupola Gallery in 2016 with his highly popular “Into the Wild” solo exhibition.
“Into the Wild was a pivotal point in my work – it saw the development of Herd a large wall piece that explores the concept of the world from above and the shadows that are created as a result.”
David Mayne
David Mayne is a sculptor of national repute who produces work for galleries, public spaces and the domestic environment. His artwork has been commissioned through-out the country and can be found in town centres, rural locations, public buildings and private homes and gardens. All of David's work is proudly made in Yorkshire
David Mayne has a close connection with Sheffield – he moved there in 1983 to study Fine Art (Sculpture) and remained in the city until 2004 when he re-located to his current home on the outskirts of Holmfirth.
He was the creator of one of Sheffield’s most iconic sculptures – the Steel Bear, located in the Botanical Gardens and has been exhibiting with the Cupola Gallery since it first opened.
It’s appropriate he makes a return to Sheffield. It was here that he first started using the material of steel – his studio just off the Wicker, was also home to a mark maker known as a “little Mester” and the area was surrounded by the steel industry, its associated trades and various scrap yards. A perfect source of materials, inspiration and equipment for a young sculptor beginning a career working with metal
This year it’s the 20 year anniversary of the creation of the Bear and it arriving at its home in Sheffield.
“The Bear is made in such a way that many people think it was modelled in a different material and then cast into metal, but it’s just a mix of steel plate and rod and hundreds of hours of welding and cutting and polishing. Every piece of rod that created the fur texture was hand cut, bent into shape and then welded in right place. At the end of all the welding work it took around two weeks to polish the surface so I could be sure there were no sharp edges. When I delivered the sculpture to the bear pit it almost looked like stainless steel - although it was always intended to oxidize over the months and years changing colour and texture as it did so. I never realized just how iconic and how well loved this sculpture would become. I have worked on numerous public art commissions through-out the country but this piece has always been my personal favourite and probably will for the rest of my career.
David’s new exhibition, entitled Journey is his story of making sculpture and the places and things that inspire him. Much of it landscape – mountains and woodland areas that have been a place of adventure, discovery and more recently sanctuary.
The exhibition will contain a mix of David’s smaller scale production multiples and new unique sculptures.