Diarmuid Byron-O'Connor (born 7 December 1964) is a British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, best known for his

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He attended the John Fisher School in Purley, with presenter Matthew Wright. In 1984, he started at art college in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. In 1986 he joined "Changing Places", a community and environmental arts project, as a stone carver – leaving in 1988. In 1991 he studied conceptual fine art at Chelsea School of Art, London. Starting a decorating firm, Byron-O'Connor worked evenings sculpting with wax at home. He was commissioned to create a statue of

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

to stand outside

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

which was given the rights to the character by creator

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

. Following the unveiling of this work and an exhibition of small bronzes in 2000, he built a studio for private commissions. In 2005 he added a scale statue of

Tinker Bell Tinker Bell is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play '' Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation '' Peter and Wendy''. She has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 ...

to the one of Peter Pan, unveiled by The Countess of Wessex. Byron-O'Connor's research into

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

led to him designing sets for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

's ''The Trench'';

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

's '' The Somme - From Defeat to Victory''; and the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

's ''Mud, Blood, and Tarmac''. Whilst working on the set for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''The Crafty Tricks of War'' he was asked to co present the series with Dick Strawbridge. He subsequently made ''Geronimo'' with Fearne Cotton for BBC1. File:Peter Pan in Clay Copyright D Byron-O'Connor 2000.jpg, The clay Peter Pan File:Icarus by Byron-O'Connor.jpg, Icarus by Byron-O'Connor File:Peter Pan Edition.jpg, Peter Pan limited edition] File:Tinker Bell Bronze edition for GOSH.jpg, 150 Limited edition bronze for Great Ormond Street Hospital

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byron-Oconnor, Diarmuid 1964 births Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts British art directors British male sculptors British sculptors British fantasy artists Living people People educated at The John Fisher School