BIO: Fergal Donnelly

Fergal Donnelly, sculptor in stone and wood, born and reared in Magheragall, Lisburn. Fergal is totally self taught. He entered the fireplace trade at the age of 21 and trained himself to hand copy antique fireplaces using Italian and Portuguese marble. Influenced initially by classical Italian sculpture and a trip to Italy 20 years ago. Fergal uses local stone and wood as much as possible. He enjoys experimenting with the properties of each and at times combining the two. He uses a variety of diamond and tungsten machine and hand tools to cut, grind, shape, texture, hammer, polish and fine tune his sculptures. He takes inspiration from everything he sees and everyone he meets, and prefers to work in abstract and stylised forms.