Andrian Melka: sculpting emotion

Andrian Melka at work©Andrian Melka

A twist of fate started Andrian Melka on the path that would lead to his current career as a sculptor.

Growing up in Albania, he loved art from a young age, and attended regular after-school and weekend classes in drawing, a scheme by the then-Communist government to encourage youngsters who showed talent in certain subjects.

However, when it came to high school, he was unable to pursue the artistic discipline of his choice. “I wanted to become a painter,” he says, “but there were too many students for the painting class so we were asked to draw straws to determine our future career path. I drew the short straw which meant I had to take the sculpture class instead of painting, but it turned out this was the right decision after all.”

He went on to study for a Diploma in Monumental Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, graduating in 1994, before spending two years working in a marble workshop.

He came to the UK in 1997 to study at the Building Crafts College in London, and later moved to York to take up a position as head sculptor for renowned carver Dick Reid, with whom he worked on high-profile commissions including the Golden Jubilee Fountain on the royal family’s Sandringham estate. He has remained in York ever since, opening his own studio there in 2003.

Since then, Melka’s work has included original sculptures and statues in stone and marble, clay busts cast in bronze, and restoration work on both sides of the Atlantic, with commissions from Chiswick House, York Minster, St Mungo’s Church in Glasgow, Santa Barbara courthouse in California and St Louis Art Museum in Missouri, US.

He uses classic tools and traditional methods wherever possible, “carving directly into stone and marble without the need of a model to copy from, in the same way as Michelangelo would have worked.”

Whether abstract or realistic, Melka’s work demonstrates a “timeless fascination” for the human form. “When I first started carving in stone, my inspiration came from classical depictions of the gods and goddesses in mythology,” he says. “I was interested in idealised versions of the human body. Now, I’m drawn to interesting faces and figures, subjects that will allow me to create sculptures that generate an emotional response.”

One shining example is a 2m-high statue of Captain Tom, the centenarian WW2 veteran who raised £39 million for the UK’s National Health Service during the Covid-19 pandemic by walking laps of his garden. Melka created the statue to “pay tribute not only to his incredible fundraising achievements but to his ability to inspire others who may be suffering or feel hopeless to put one foot in front of the other and remain optimistic during the most challenging of times.” He crowdfunded the cost of casting the sculpture in bronze, and the finished work was gifted to the Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds, where it is displayed outside the main entrance.

Just as his subject left an enduring legacy, Melka hopes that his work will do the same. “[I love] creating something beautiful that generates an emotional response from the people who see it, something that will last and be here long after I’ve gone.”

Discover Andrian Melka’s profile and more talents on Homo Faber Guide.

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