John Austin - Model Ship Builder
Jon Austin The Model Ship Builder
One afternoon, whilst working at the local pub in the village I was born and raised in, I happened upon a conversation with a man who has a workshop locally, in which he builds and repairs model ships. Jon happily granted me access into his workshop to see some of his prized creations. Whilst at the workshop I was shown lots of models of boats, ships, and a few planes. The space for its size contained a considerable amount of large and small models, from previous commissions and repair jobs. Some were obvious in their location, being more current jobs in the main work area, whilst others were more elusive and hidden. Underneath covers, behind boxes and displayed in the ceiling storage area collecting dust and cobwebs, next to the old computers, piles of technical drawings and photographs used for referencing whilst building each project. Jon explained to me whilst walking around how his workshop isn’t up and running like it used to be some years ago, at one time having a full team of people working for him helping complete the models. However now it is just Jon. I was particularly keen to photograph the workshop after he described it to me one afternoon as I wanted to photograph it in its current state no matter how cluttered and dusty it may be, not only because it is a piece of local history. It reflects his inner mind as an artist and I feel that that space is much a piece of art as what is being built, for it is the space in which many great ideas came to existence.
One afternoon, whilst working at the local pub in the village I was born and raised in, I happened upon a conversation with a man who has a workshop locally, in which he builds and repairs model ships. Jon happily granted me access into his workshop to see some of his prized creations. Whilst at the workshop I was shown lots of models of boats, ships, and a few planes. The space for its size contained a considerable amount of large and small models, from previous commissions and repair jobs. Some were obvious in their location, being more current jobs in the main work area, whilst others were more elusive and hidden. Underneath covers, behind boxes and displayed in the ceiling storage area collecting dust and cobwebs, next to the old computers, piles of technical drawings and photographs used for referencing whilst building each project. Jon explained to me whilst walking around how his workshop isn’t up and running like it used to be some years ago, at one time having a full team of people working for him helping complete the models. However now it is just Jon. I was particularly keen to photograph the workshop after he described it to me one afternoon as I wanted to photograph it in its current state no matter how cluttered and dusty it may be, not only because it is a piece of local history. It reflects his inner mind as an artist and I feel that that space is much a piece of art as what is being built, for it is the space in which many great ideas came to existence.
