Auditorium Cave studio

 Auditorium Cave is the name of the recently converted fine-art stone sculpture studio on the Englefield Estate near Theale, just outside Reading. It is named after the location of the world’s oldest surviving rock carving (petroglyph) in India 290,000 - 700,000 BCE.

Occupying ‘The Cave’ is Andrew McAlistair Hood. Now in his 6th year as a self-taught sculptor (following a 2 years’ stonemasonry diploma course at Weymouth College), Andrew is now well-placed to develop further into one of the region’s foremost stone-carving artists.

“It’s extraordinary how much interest the move to a fit for purpose studio has generated! Previously I was just a curiosity stone carver in the corner of a tiny garden centre near Theale. Now all of a sudden I am being noticed: very high value commissions and invitations to speak at functions are filling up my calendar deep into next year. But more importantly I am also able at last, to seriously attend to my own progression as a figurative sculptor. With Reading’s 2016 Year of Culture in full swing now, I am focused very much upon producing work that concerns itself with my home town. I am embarrassed for Reading that neither Reada (after whom Reading is named) nor Henry I (who was buried here) have ever been represented in stone before. They will be now. And more topically, I am searching for the ‘2016 face of Reading’ – an everyday man or woman or perhaps a local celebrity whose life-sized bust I can produce for posterity. “

Andrew’s leaning is towards portraiture. But his expertise is much more comprehensive than that: from stone garden furniture, to a huge coat of arms; from gravestones to animal sculptures; there are few things that he has not already produced or commissions he will not consider. Maybe a small Green Man for an urban garden or a Classical scene for a mansion’s atrium.

In addition to the output of the Auditorium Cave studio, Andrew also teaches basic stone carving to students at his countryside teaching venue at Rushall Manor Farm in Bradfield.

“I love teaching” he says, “Home Educated children’s groups, retired people, and  those seriously considering becoming  sculptors themselves have all enjoyed “cake, coffee  and carving” with me at Rushall Manor Farm. I have also run many extremely popular on-campus stone carving workshops at schools and colleges in and around Reading. I helped almost 300 people produce a stone carving in 2015! “

So what next for this ambitious artist? Apparently a small rented exhibition space in the town centre is next on his agenda.  “In 2015 the fabulous Jelly Reading https://jelly.org.uk/ provided an empty retail outlet for artists to do their thing in, right in the centre of town, next door to Jackson’s Corner for a week each. I was run off my feet by the visiting public. Thrilling! I loved my week there so much that I determined to return one day very soon and open my own permanent display space in the middle of town.”

You are welcome to visit Auditorium Cave at Chalk Pit Farm

RG7 5EE any time – although best to let Andrew know you’re coming first.

Phone 0757 645 1844
e-mail [email protected]
web gallery https://mcalistairhood.artweb.com

Twitter @mcalistairhood