Nickdasculptor is the business name for Nick Bennett - a Dartmoor based sculptor working in the ceramic medium with occasional mixed media if appropriate.

Nick is the Artist in Residence for the Global Warrior Foundation, a group of extreme explorers who collect vital climate change data from areas rarely or not yet visited by mankind, let alone scientists. Their work is vitally important to the future of this fragile world and he is extremely proud to represent them.

n addition the work he produces for the Global Warrior Foundation, Nick also produces a range of Dartmoor animals, namely cattle, horses and sheep for two key reasons; he is a resident of his beloved Dartmoor National Park and lives in Princetown where the Global Warrior Base Camp is situated.

When feeling whimsical Nick will create his “doodle” art, sculptures purely for pleasure. These include human busts (not from life), human figures, often clinging to the wall, wall hanging animal busts and his ‘heeds’ - small gargoyle-like heads beloved of pub landlords and those that like gothic or comic sculpture. He fondly calls these ‘marmite sculptures’ as people either love them or hate them in equal measure.

Nick  posts about each sculpture (pre and post-glazing) on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube. These can all be found by searching for nickdasculptor.

Nick is happy to see people at his studio (when sculpting or otherwise) by appointment, at exhibitions and shows (see social media postings) or via WhatsApp via his mobile provided on this site.

Nick sculpts those things  that he cares passionately about, the ecological state of our fragile world, endangered species or other animals generally abused or misused by humankind.

Nick  focuses on the beauty around his in his beloved Dartmoor National Park. He  also creates work from his own imagination which he refers to as ceramic doodling. These are often human form and can be grotesque, comic and misted in pathos, depending on his mood.

Nick  loves to take on commissions in which he can react to a brief. If he feels he can do the customer justice for their vision then he will accept the commission and deliver with as much speed as possible in the world of ceramic sculpture.

Nick works almost exclusively with stoneware clay as it is hardier and weather resistant. He loves this medium as, if he is not happy with a certain result he can lop off the offending part and begin anew until he’s completely happy.

Nick’s studio is wonderful in the summer but can become daft-cold in the challenging Dartmoor weather conditions so it’s true to say that summer production continues at more of a clip than winter ones.

Claywork can take a while, obviously the initial build happens quite quickly depending on the size of the desired piece, but then each sculpture must be allowed to be completely dried before the initial firing. Only then can the glazing be applied in readiness for the final firing. This cannot be rushed as if the sculpture is not bone-dry then any residual moisture will explode and shatter the sculpture. The worst case scenario is then that the kiln layers collapse from the trauma and all sculptures in that firing may be destroyed. This is why all ceramicists pray to the kiln gods in addition to allowing items to completely dry prior to any firing. Unsurprisingly, the development time is somewhat quicker in summer than in winter.