About Aleks Gorz-Shenton

About the artist

Hi, I’m Aleks, a self-taught polymer clay pet sculptor, based in the UK. I’m originally from Poland, but moved to the UK in 2009. A couple of years later I met my husband and we settled down with our first guinea pigs.

I trained as a prop maker, but after learning to sculpt as a hobby, I discovered that I wanted to do this for work.

I eventually opened an Etsy shop and offered custom sculptures of all varieties, which was a lot of fun!

When my first guinea pig passed away, I was devastated and heartbroken for weeks, missing that cute little face and the silly things she would do. When I was making a sculpture memorial for her, I wanted her personality to shine through, to be just like she was. This was when I decided to focus on making custom pet sculptures, showing their personality in my sculptures.

In autumn 2021 I started making mini guinea pig figurines in colour polymer clay. I wasn’t planning on selling them at first, it was something I was experimenting with and it was a sort of therapy to help with the anxiety I was dealing with. I really love making these and decided to add them to my shop. The inspiration for these guinea pig sculptures come from my own guinea pigs, past and present. They are so full of personality and silliness, but also very smart, that there’s always inspiration lurking around for a new piece 😉

When I’m not sculpting, or getting distracted by the little beasts, I love reading, playing video games, and doing a bit of gardening!

You can buy my art and support me on Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram!

 

My inspiration

Pumpkin
Ozzie
Maja 2019-2024
Vivi 2019-2021
Rila 2015-2020
Teru 2015-2019