Sculptural artist Alan Meyburgh's love of animals, the environment and conservation has helped forge a career seeing his work installed in some of the world's most impressive places.
Meyburgh's work can be found at on the grounds of the The Address Hotel in Dubai, in places across South Africa and closer to home in local galleries and wineries.
Before living in the South West, Meyburgh grew up on a farm in South Africa where he created small clay animals from an early age.
"My mother tells me I was pretty good at sculpting from the age of three," he said.
"We used to go down to the river on the farm where I grew up in South Africa, we would dig out the clay from a riverbank then bring it back home and start making little animals.
Growing up on a merino stud they used to sort the fleece on a table and mix together the oil and sand, which they would scrape off using a mower blade.
"It would be rolled into a ball of clay and we would use it to make little animals, it was one of the best mediums and so good for your skin as well," he said.
"Clay modelling was the start for me then I progressed onto doing all sorts of stuff, but as people know life gets in the way."
Kick starting his professional career Meyburgh made small birds using FIMO, mostly guinea fowls, which he sold through Feathers Gallery in Cape Town.
His brother-in-law also asked him to make a sculpture of a dog in a professional capacity, which got cast in bronze, and was his first journey into making bronzes.
"They were quite realistic and quite detailed, I loved the fine detail and could make faces, have veins running down the feet and nails - everything," he said.
"I have always been aware of the form and that was really good grounding for me and doing what I do now.
"That overall look of a sculpture is essential and the detail is far less important than looking at something from a distance.
"If it does not look right I cannot stand it, the detail is secondary.
"I really focus on the form, the balance then a movement.
"I love natural forms. The challenge for me is creating the illusion of movement.
"Along with that is the meaning and a story, I love the story behind each piece and where the materials come from."
Mr Meyburgh sources material from everywhere, taking off cuts from steel fabricators often bartering or offering a case of beer to swap with people.
He has also recently done work with the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, an Australian not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris.
A piece he has hanging at Bay Gallery in Dunsborough was his first piece in Sculpture by the Bay, and was made using rope found on beach clean ups.
"It is called Trapping Ourselves, it is a fish trap metaphor," he said.
"My big driver is the environment, it is really important to me, that piece is almost 100 per cent recycled.
"I love the metaphoric side of art and for me it always almost links back to conservation and the environment.
"I love being out there and what it offers us, I certainly hope the world wakes up and realises that without the lungs of the world, without the forests and the oceans we are pretty doomed.
"We have to wake up and slow down that process."
Meyburgh has spent the last year producing a mass of work after he was separated from his family through the COVID-19 pandemic.
They were all returning to South Africa where he was going to live his dream life as a full time artist when the pandemic hit.
"Some of the top galleries in Cape Town had invited us in to show my work, I had a studio setup, everything," he said.
"I was working on a WOW Illusions project along Harmans Mill Road, when bang, I was stuck here and they were over there, I did not see my kids for a year, it was a pretty rough year.
"But the stuff it did for me as a person, I got stuck into my studio and went crazy and made stuff, I had commissions coming out of my ears.
"I put myself out there, I was ready to do some stuff and was in this weirdly emotional satisfied state, I just produced so much work last year, it was a real springboard for me as a sculptor."
Mr Meyburgh is currently working on a sculpture which will be installed at the Origin Market in Busselton and has his work featured at Bay Gallery in Dunsborough. He is also available for commissioned work.
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