In the studio with… Margaret Higginson

How long have you been at APT?

I have been at Apt for 18 years in three different studios. The one I am in now is the best, with brilliant light, where I can keep the door open onto the yard when I am there.

Describe APT in three words…

Calm, Interesting, Abiding

What is your practice and how do you like to work in your studio?

I am in my studio every week day during daylight hours.I have my grandchild come once a week after school where they are learning to carve. I avidly explore my latest passion relating to the material and a theme.

Years ago I started the theme of Sumo Wrestlers, carving more than 30 pieces, in soapstone. That passion took me to Paris to photograph them from the front row at a bout when they came to the West for the first time. Later I explored different alabaster stone in ‘touchstone’ following the convolutions in the stone to find the light within.

Now since the Pandemic ’Touchwood’ has been my theme ,carving into the rings of growth and patterns in the wood to find the image of time passing and the extraordinary variety of nature in the wood. I look at the shape of the wood, turning it over and over while carving into it until it says to me: ‘’stop I am finished”.

Sometimes I get lost but at other times I am surprised at how quick it has completed itself.

Which artists have influenced you?

Barbara Hepworth was my first influence for the tactile nature of her carving using natural stone and wood. I was impressed by the fact that while an artist she had had two husbands and four children. I later met one of her sons, as an adult, and he told me he had been neglected as a child. Louise Bourgeois is a favourite of mine for her unbelievable imagination and use of materials, she is so inspiring and humorous.

What is the most unusual thing someone might find in your studio?

A leather belt sword holder from the second world war that belonged to my father-in-law.