At the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, we celebrate artists who blend technical mastery with thoughtful storytelling—and few do that with more intention and skill than Neil Grant. A national award-winning figurative sculptor and dedicated educator, Neil creates expressive, often humorous works that explore the human condition through animal forms and finely observed gestures. Drawing on a background in marine biology, a lifelong fascination with anatomy, and a twenty-year corporate career he left to pursue art full-time, Neil brings a unique perspective to his craft. Based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, he works primarily in clay, resin, and bronze, and has recently expanded into digital sculpting. He teaches sculpture workshops throughout the Cape and has been represented by Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown since 2018. Neil has studied under nationally recognized sculptors including Philippe Faraut and Brian Booth Craig.

Neil is currently the Artist in Residence at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod’s Hyannis Campus BIRD HOUSE at 46 Pearl Street, where his studio residency runs from September 2025 onward.


In this interview, Neil shares insight into his creative process, the relationship between realism and expression, and how teaching and living on Cape Cod continue to shape his evolving practice.


You sculpt a lot of animals—hares, owls, rhinos, frogs. What is it about those creatures that inspires you? How do you decide which one to make next?

I've loved animals since I was a kid (as a child, I was an avid badger-watcher in England), and I trained as a marine biologist, so it's perhaps inevitable that creatures have found their way into my art. I love the personalities of certain animals, and I have an unfortunate predilection for those that tend to misbehave—I'm drawn to a sly fox or a thieving magpie much more than to a cute kitten. I'm also a bit of an anatomy nerd and love understanding the physiology of animals, particularly by comparing it to humans.

My choice of which animal to sculpt next is driven partly by what interests me at the time and partly by circumstance. Right now, I'm working on a large, mischievous hare for the Children's Art Museum in downtown Hyannis—right next to my new studio!

While I love animals in their own right, for me, they’re also a way to say something about the human condition. For example, my latest piece, Under New Management—a sculpture of a Southern White Rhino with a collection of Oxpecker birds on its rump—is, on one level, just a sculpture of animals in the wild. But on another level, it’s about the significance of management to the worker in our modern economy. I think the best art allows the viewer to engage on a number of levels.

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The Modern Male III group show will return to Bowersock Gallery for the third year running, “simply because ‘he’ has proven to be one of the most popular themes we’ve presented in our 17 years.
The Modern Male III opens July 2nd, runs through July 20th, The show’s online, multi-platform opening runs 5:15 to 5:30 pm, just before the in-gallery, live, opening event, 7-9 pm.

Bowersock explains that the show’s popularity is due to the broad and imaginative interpretation of subject matter reflected by the artists, who deftly address the real-life issues modern man is working through, as he seeks to find his true self in spite of long-held cultural expectations.

Today ‘real men’ happily take on primary child care as ‘stay at home Dads,’ choose to like or dislike sports, or a six-pack (either kind), and some even marry one another! They are soldiers, dancers, farmers, nurses, childcare workers, assistants, sales managers, and are found in many other jobs traditionally held by women.

You may live stream at: at https://www.facebook.com/bowersockartgalleryprovincetown; the show will remain posted on the website at https://bowersockgallery.com.

As a little background, earlier Modern Male exhibits were held as a juried competition. However, this year all exhibitors are drawn from Bowersock stable or are invited, guests. This exhibit presents oil paintings, Forton, and bronze sculptures, and will include realism, impressionism, surrealism, and representational works, all narratives. There will be many magical, romantic, idealistic, and contemporary tales told.

Participating artists include painters: Todd Kramer, Christopher Pothier, Jayne Adams, Christopher Gowell, Heather Morgan, Steve Bowersock, and Darlou Gams. Also featured, the largest collection of sculptors presented in a single, themed exhibit to date: Steven Carpenter, Neil Grant, and again Christopher Gowell.

We’re very fortunate to have Christopher Gowell presenting in two different categories. She has always been a painter, but over the past decades chose to concentrate on creating sculpture, rightfully claiming a name for her 3-D body of work. Only in the past few years has she altered focus to painting, a genre where she’s proven herself equally adept.

When a show takes on such a broad topic, it tends to attract attention, and invite deeper thought; this one surely has and will continue to do so. And as a final thought, it’s all about diversity of thought, ‘that imaginative interpretation,’ a kaleidoscope through which we are slowly, steadily, and gratefully beginning to see and accept who the contemporary male really is.”

*Press Release
“Interpretation” - a fine art exhibition
At Bowersock Gallery*

Where: Bowersock Gallery, 373 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA
Dates: Aug 16th – Aug 27th, 2019 with opening reception Friday, Aug 16th 7-9p
Contact: Steve Bowersock 1-508-487-4994

"Interpretation," a fine art exhibition at the Bowersock Gallery, is just that; interpretations of social issues, wild nature, and the human experience. The exhibit brings together three diverse artists who have all honed their voice, and mastered their medium.

"Interpretation" opens with an artists' reception Friday, August 16, 7-9 and runs through Aug 27, at Bowersock Gallery, 373 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA.

"Interpretation" features Angela Ales, Neil Grant and Jeffrey Fitzgerald, a trio of mature artists who consistently produce unique, exquisite, masterful works.

"All three of these artists are fairly new to us, each having signed on within the past couple of years. Still, they’re not new to their art; each has distinguished themselves in style and subject," says Curator Steve Bowersock. "In the short time they've been with us all have found a following, and created much buzz both inside and outside of the gallery - the reason is evident."

Ales's intense, moody, surreal narratives are her statements on the state of affairs; each work exposes both a personal and social compass, executed artfully with technical perfection.

"My work is a response to our times," Ales says. "As a Latin American artist, today, more than any time in recent memory, I find myself and my gender, threatened by corrupt politicians who are eagerly harnessing fear of the unfamiliar, exhibiting blatant racism and spewing forth disinformation as tools of power."

"Interpretation" will feature works from two of Ales' series: "Immigration" addresses internal struggles of the immigrant, while "Monologue" depicts imagery of "mirrors where the inner worlds of corrupt leaders and those affected by them are reflected," Ales says.

"The viewer doesn't have to know what each image is addressing, nor do they need to understand the artist's take. Their power and plea, vitality and spirit are evident, there to be interpreted," Bowersock says. "Content and composition, as well as execution are brilliant. These pieces deserve long, lengthy visits, and lots of thought."

Cape Cod Sculptor Neil Grant's work is all about the human experience, replete with the requisite encounters and ensuing emotions brought forth. His "Rising Anger," comprised of five separate figures depicting the stages of a single man's head emerging from a surface, is one of the most talked about works the Bowersock Gallery has presented. The first bronze casting has sold and a second from the six-limited castings is part of the “Interpretation" collection.

In addition Grant, a self-taught artist, who teaches at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, will unveil two new sculptures, both of a more humorous/touching nature, and both featuring animals.

"Peeking Duck” has the water fowl emerging from a handbag, while "King at the Bottom of the Garden" is a tender portrait, bust of man and frog.

"Grant's 'Peeking Duck' is a beautifully executed piece, which just makes you smile," Bowersock says. "'King hits another note. It may sound silly in its description, but Neil's 'King' is in fact a tender, heartwarming work, which also happens to be exquisitely modeled."

New England painter Fitzgerald lives along the Maine coast, and captures its wonder in exciting and fluid works. Fitzgerald is renowned for his ocean portraits, abstracted images of close encounters with its power and shorelines. For "Interpretation" Fitzgerald has transformed the humble seaweed and seagrass, into the majestic.

Fitzgerald's abstracted forms explores the subject, and gaps between them, with exciting sweeps of media and color. The tumult and motion of the sea and its surroundings are inherent in his style.

"Jeffrey has quickly become one of our more popular artists," Bowersock says. "With his work it’s about the excitement - the mesmerizing energy and passion and meditative rhythm he conveys within the context of beauty."

The Gallery's other showrooms will feature new works of sculpture, watercolor, oils, acrylic, graphite, prints, assemblage, encaustic and more, by dozens of its stable artists,.

"This exhibit isn't for those looking for passive pieces. This one is about work which touches deeply 'the little grey cells,' and stimulates, accordingly," Bowersock says. "It covers a broad range, from heartwarming to heart-pumping - and is surely not to be missed."

Rising Anger was cast in bronze by Buccacio Sculpture Services this month and immediately had its first outing at the Boston International Fine Arts Show as part of the Bowersock Gallery booth. The patina on the pieces was excellent and it was continuously photographed by passers by.

I'm delighted to announce that Casual Friday won the Fred and Cheryl Newby Patrons award at the National Sculpture Society's 85th Annual Awards Exhibition. The piece will be on display until the end of October at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. Alternatively, you can view/purchase the first cast at Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown.

Allyson Plessner wrote a nice profile of me and my work in the latest edition of Cape Cod Art. If you're in the Cape Cod area you can pick up a copy. Otherwise, follow the link below.

Link to article

Going to be teaching a great weekend workshop on 26/27 August on lovely Cape Cod. There are only a few places left so book now to guarantee a place. The link for more details and to register:

http://cotuitcenterforthearts.org/experience-art/sculpture-workshop-with-neil-grant-realistic-heads/

Great article by Christine Ernst on me as a sculptor. I teach at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.

Papa's Got A Brand New... won the award for "Most Creative In Show" at the 2016 All New England Exhibition