Tell me about your work Caro.

Caro: My sculpture is mainly cast in iron and in bronze - they are the 2 preferred materials that I work with. I feel a real affinity with them and they have marvellous attributes for different types of work.

So talk to me about the cast iron work that you do.

Caro: The cast iron work is a real love of mine. I became interested in it a few years ago when I attended some cast iron workshops. In fact I went because I wanted to explore resin-bonded sand moulds, but I fell in love with the people and the process and became fascinated by producing work in cast iron. It's very different to other materials because the iron is heated to such a high temperature that it requires a thoroughly disciplined way of working and the alchemy of the process gives magical results.

And what does it do for your work?

Caro: For me working with iron is a spiritual process. My work has a spiritual content, and I don't mean that in a religious way, its more a sense of communing with nature and reaching to something beyond oneself. I feel the raw energy and essence of the iron adds to the content of the work.

And how does it make that work special, what does the iron bring?

Caro: It's a material I love working with and if you love working with something I feel that shows ultimately in the work. To me there is a symbiosis, a natural energy in the iron, it is very straightforward, it is very dynamic and it has a strength to it, yet it combines very well with the subtlety of the form and the content that I aim to express in my work. People are usually quite surprised when I tell them a piece is cast in iron because I think people perceive iron as a very hard cold material and something much more functional and used in engineering. So to see it in a fine art piece I think is always very interesting.

Lets change tack for a minute. I notice from your first answer that you also do a lot of bronze commission work. Tell me about that.

Caro: Yes I love using bronze for commissioned work, it's traditional as a fine art sculpture material and it has the advantage that it lasts for centuries as well. It's quite forgiving and workable as a material and can have a coloured finish known as a patina applied to it. It is suitable for indoor as well as outdoor work and always looks glorious if you get the form and the colour and a sense of the material all working together. It can create a really beautiful piece, so I really enjoy doing commissions in bronze.

What kind of things are you doing with it?

Caro: Well, for commissions I often get asked to create figurative sculptures, sometimes tending towards abstraction as well. I think I've been fortunate in that people tend to commission me because they have seen and like the style of the work I have done before and give me a fairly open brief. And if you find out about your client, find out their loves and desires and what they want to achieve with a piece, you can really have fun with a commission and, hopefully, produce something truly spectacular that will give them a lifetime of pleasure.

I think it's a wonderful thing for someone to be in a position to commission a piece that reflects themselves and what they've achieved in their lifetime and leave something of a legacy for either their family or people that come beyond that. My wish and hope would be that I continue to do that kind of work.

So if I was to commission a piece from you, what are the steps we would go through to do that?

Caro: First of all I meet the client and get to know them a bit. I go and see their situation and discover their likes and what they want to achieve with their commission. I'll come up with some drawing ideas for what I interpret is right for them, find something that's really going to make their soul sing in terms of subject matter. Its really important for them because this piece is something they are going to live with for a very long time so its got to be absolutely right for them and reflect them as people. A commission is always an exciting collaboration.

I sketch out my ideas as charcoal drawings, then, once we have agreed a concept, I create a small model called a maquette so they can get an idea of how the piece will look in 3 dimensions. I try and make every view interesting with maybe something a little unexpected and exciting - I feel it gives longevity to the sculpture.

Sometimes the client will want a maquette cast in bronze as well, which is rather a nice thing to be able to offer. Once the maquette is complete I make full scale working drawings of the sculpture to help with measurements for construction of the armature (or structural skeleton) of the piece that I then usually model in clay.

I like to build the sculpture at the height I anticipate it being viewed, so already I need to think about suitable plinth design and materials. The plinth should enhance the sculpture, not dominate it, it also needs to be practical for the environment.

So once the model has been completed in full size and the client has approved it, the mould is made and sent to the foundry where we start working together to create the sculpture in bronze.

I supervise every detail of the wax check, I then go in for the metal finishing once the piece has been poured and ensure it is of the standard I would expect for my client. Finally, the chosen patina is applied and then the piece is ready for installation.

So is their anything else you create in bronze?

Caro: I also create portrait sculptures that are cast in bronze, usually life-size and for indoor display, although they can be very large and for outdoor display also. Portrait sculptures are fine art for legacy, often gifts from loved ones that the whole family can enjoy over the years, ultimately to be handed down the generations. It is always a privilege to get to know someone while they are sitting for their portrait and draw out the essence of who they are and see that emerge in the sculpture as the clay work progresses.

So having talked to us a bit about both mediums, what are the key points that separate iron and bronze?

Caro: Iron is a very exciting material to use. I love being involved in the process of creating a sculpture myself in iron. And my own exploratory work that often ends up in galleries is created in iron simply because I like to be involved in the hands on process all the way through.

I go to America on a regular basis to create cast iron art with an amazing crew who are very talented and very skilled in their own areas of expertise and so we are able to share our knowledge and resources in terms of mould making and creating and casting work together.

The pieces themselves can be for indoors or for outdoors, but for outdoor pieces, although they do last for centuries, there are certain limitations as to the type of patina you can apply to an iron piece. I look on them more as pieces to stand in nature and become part of the environment. In fact I've created a lovely velvety black patina that is very weather resistant and is visually sympathetic to the environment as well.

With bronze pieces you get more flexibility in terms of the form that you can actually produce because the material is more forgiving and easier to manipulate. You can also weld it, which is much harder to do in cast iron, so I think that bronze is a lot more flexible. Again it's got a tremendous longevity and there's more choice in terms of colour and patina. But it is just different, it is not any better or any more than or any less than iron, they are just two quite different materials.

I notice much of your cast iron work is quite abstract. I also notice it has an interesting presence. Are there particular things you are trying to achieve?

Caro: I feel as though I am able to explore more with my own work and take greater risks in some ways. I'm always looking to refine a piece down to its essential form to communicate the essence of my subject. I think that makes for a stronger piece and you get a sense of a stronger energy when you do that. Of course some sculptures are more successful than others, but that's part of the excitement of the journey and when it does work its fantastic.

Aside from your creative work on what I would call your studio pieces, if you were to be commissioned for a large outdoor work in iron, what would be your dream piece?

Caro: Well, I had a fairly dream experience a couple of years ago when I collaborated with Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum in Indiana and created a piece for them. It was wonderful to have the expertise and help of a crew who were there to help me realise my ideas so I think that part of the enjoyment is working with a team. But I love work that becomes part of the landscape and reflects nature. So something of a size that will hold its own in the natural environment, that's my ideal.

How do you find working with your American colleagues?

Caro: It's very interesting working with the Americans because they are fantastically creative when moulding, casting and fabricating with iron. I think my style of figurative sculpture was something rather different for them though, so it made a really great collaboration. I learned from them and was able to impart some of my knowledge as well and I think that through the differences it created something unique for us all.

And what do you see as the future direction of your work both in iron and in bronze?

Caro: Well I love learning so I'm always pushing the boundaries of my knowledge in terms of technique and understanding. I'm always looking to increase my knowledge and take on board new skills. As for the artistic content of my sculptures, I can tell you it will always be something that fires and inspires me. Beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see?