Horses, family and a life forged in steel.
The horse stretches his neck, ears twitching. Muzzle to muzzle with his sculptural doppelgänger, the gelding’s breath clouds the steel nose of the life-size horse head erected in the middle of the paddock. Nearby, sculptor Adam Humphreys snaps a photo of the meeting. Behind them, the Moonbi Ranges glow pink in the distance.
It’s a long way from the Welsh countryside where Adam grew up, surrounded by horses and the woodlands of his family’s farm.
"From Old South Wales to New South Wales,” he jokes.
Adam has worked as a sculptor for nearly 20 years, creating figurative works inspired by the natural world. Horses remain a constant, a connection to his childhood and his mother, Rosie.
“My mother, Rosie, really instilled her love of the horse in me. We spent many happy days in the saddle together, exploring the woods where I grew up, fox hunting on the Welsh hills,” Adam says.
His father, Henry, introduced him to working with timber. At 16, Adam attempted his first chainsaw carving.
"I wanted to carve an eagle, which became a pheasant and finally a fat grouse as I got things wrong and the timber slowly shrunk,” he laughs.
"It really started as expensive firewood. However, the first sculpture I sold paid for a one-way ticket to Australia when I was 21.”
A sold-out exhibition near Yass in 2010 launched his professional career. He later exhibited in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens and sold works across Australia and the UK.
In 2017, while travelling through Africa, he turned his attention to steel.
"We were working and travelling in Africa, and the chainsaw is a little harder to take on a plane,” Adam says.
His sculptures now include a large black swan outside Inverell’s art gallery and three enormous horses galloping outside the showground at Lang Lang, Victoria. Through BackTrack Youth Works, he has also helped
at-risk young people learn welding and sculpture-making, with collaborative pieces displayed at Parliament House and the University of New England.
Adam credits his ability to visualise sculptures in three dimensions to his dyslexia, something that made his school years difficult.
"I really struggled academically at school, and that lack of confidence in my ability to learn was really difficult as a young person — but now I see it as my superpower,” he says.
Horses have taken on greater significance since the death of his mother from cancer in early 2025. Now raising three children with his wife Emily on their property outside Tamworth, Adam sees that connection continuing through another generation.
"I always feel Mum with me when I’m with the horses,” he says. “When I see my children with their ponies and when I craft a sculpture, I hear her voice. I’m so grateful for that.”
Read the full story in Issue 01 of The Burton, available in RB Sellars stores and with every purchase online.
The Burton
Look Westward
Amid ambition and setbacks, is cotton reshaping the future of Western Australia’s Ord Valley?
From Steel
Horses, family and a life on the land inspire a rural sculptor turning discarded steel into art.
A Cut Above
Meet the mates who bonded over meat, and saved their local butcher shop.
Of Salt And Sky
Rare floods transform Lake Eyre into an inland sea, revealing the beauty of Australia’s interior.
Bleeding Blue
A county rugby club fights for a home premiership with a town behind it.
All Hands On Deck
Long days, breakdowns and big machinery as as harvest gets underway in Central Queensland.
The Long Thread
After 200 years of wool growing, Victoria’s Mount Hesse Station is adapting for a changing future.
Whatever It Takes
Life on a vast Northern Territory cattle station where no challenge is ever small.
Look Westward
Amid ambition and setbacks, is cotton reshaping the future of Western Australia’s Ord Valley?
A Cut Above
Meet the mates who bonded over meat, and saved their local butcher shop.
Bleeding Blue
A county rugby club fights for a home premiership with a town behind it.
The Long Thread
After 200 years of wool growing, Victoria’s Mount Hesse Station is adapting for a changing future.
From Steel
Horses, family and a life on the land inspire a rural sculptor turning discarded steel into art.
Of Salt And Sky
Rare floods transform Lake Eyre into an inland sea, revealing the beauty of Australia’s interior.
All Hands On Deck
Long days, breakdowns and big machinery as as harvest gets underway in Central Queensland.
Whatever It Takes
Life on a vast Northern Territory cattle station where no challenge is ever small.
