The British sculptor Bruce Cameron, 83 years old, who lives in Oria, received last Friday 16th, the recognition and tribute of his friends from the municipality of Oria and the world of Culture, which has been joined by numerous artists from some regions of the province and neighbouring provinces.
Sculptors, artisans, writers, painters, photographers, journalists, institutions and various entities of the province have joined this emotional act that, born from the heart, aims to recognize the figure and work of Bruce, as well as his contribution to the human and artistic heritage of Oria with the creation of the Cameron-Harris Gallery that for some years has been open in the vicinity of the remains of the local Alcazaba.
The group that has promoted this recognition – «to the sculptor and to the friend»-, with the poet and cultural technician of the Town Council of Oria, Ginés Reche at the head, has put together a wide and varied programme of activities and initiatives that will occupy practically the whole day on Friday. Workshops and exhibitions for schoolchildren, organised by the parents’ association, Castellón de Olías, will open on Friday afternoon next to the nursery, followed by a hilorama workshop run by the residents and professionals of the «Bartolomé Sánchez Moreno» Residence for the Elderly.
The figure and work of Bruce will be the protagonist of the collective photography exhibition that will be inaugurated at seven o’clock in the evening in Pez Street, together with another collective sculpture exhibition under the name of «In Cameron». After a snack of chocolate with sponge cake, the main event of the tribute will begin, which will be hosted and presented by Isabel Martínez García, and will be opened by some musical performances by «Duoria», «Pesadilla Electrónica» and Jota. This will be followed by various speeches by friends, painters and sculptors such as Luis Ramos, former director of the Pedro Gilabert Museum, Andrés García Ibáñez, president of the Are Ibáñez-Cosentino Foundation, as well as former mayors and mayoresses of Oria and Purchena. The painter Cherry Harris and Bruce himself will close the day’s programme.
Cameron: essential curves
Shortly after 2003, Bruce Cameron decided to leave his native London and come to Spain in search of a change in his life. His first desire took him to Alicante, but a chance visit to Oria awakened his interest in the village and he decided to settle there, so he bought a house, «Frasquita la Canela» -where the gallery is located-, which he refurbished and restored with exquisite respect for the popular architecture of the village. Bruce found the environment he was looking for, and in October 2008, under the title «Without straight lines», he showed his first exhibition with the help of the cultural promoter of the Orihuela Town Hall, Ginés Reche. A year later, Bruce Cameron took a second exhibition to the Ibáñez-Cosentino Art Foundation in Olula del Río. Subsequently, the sculptures of this master of wood came to the Pedro Gilabert Museum in Arboleas, to Albox, Purchena, Mojácar, Baza and recently to Switzerland.
The first wood used by Cameron, yew and beech, came from the many hundred-year-old and thousand-year-old trees that had been ravaged by a storm in England and which the sculptor decided to bring to life. For his part, much of the work – amorphous wooden sculptures, full of whimsically modulated curves – created in Oria has been made mainly from almond and olive wood. But Bruce’s hands have also created numerous mosaics in different corners of Oria and other municipalities, especially in Purchena. This is not a new facet of the artist’s work, as in his youth he worked on large buildings in Canada and England.
Son of Mary Cameron Steward, the artistic vein is in the sculptor’s genes, as his mother was a famous theatre and variety actress who, at the age of 15, toured several theatres in Europe.