Commissioning a sculpture from William Peers
William Peers has produced sculptures on commission for a variety of clients - both public and private - including Imperial College Royal School of Mines, Hoare’s Bank and Warwick Hospital Cancer Unit. If you are interested in commissioning a sculpture, please get in touch to discuss it further.
Telephone: 01288 321 988
The process
“Commissioning a sculpture is a process of dialogue and exploration. The first stage is an in-depth discussion with the client about what it is that they are looking for. If I feel that this is something that could work for us both, then we move on to discussing timescale, material and price. The tricky part of commissioning is achieving a good balance between the desires of the two parties.
I would normally present the client with drawings giving an outline of my thoughts. I do not pretend that my drawings represent an exact depiction of the carving. The reason for this can be a little difficult to understand, but it is simply that I do not work this way. I never draw to a high degree of accuracy as a large part of the creativity happens whilst carving. Too much planning stifles this process.
Once the rough outline of the work is agreed and the client decides to go ahead then I normally ask for a third of the total cost to be paid in advance. I do this on the understanding that if the client is unhappy with the final result then I can retain the third down payment and the sculpture. I would quickly add however that this has never yet happened!
I would advise anyone thinking of commissioning a sculpture to only do so if they like my work. I would not undertake a commission copying someone else’s style or work. I also do not like to make an exact copy one of my own works.”