Community Project Stone Carving at Shambellie House

I am a professional Sculptor with over twenty years experience of working as a community artist predominantly in the field of Sculpture. My practice has been dedicated to the pursuit of Sculpture and the accessibility of Sculpture in the community.
I have shown a commitment to making and developing work in many geographical contexts – Newcastle Upon Tyne , Glasgow, London and Northern Spain. I am particularly engaged and focused on producing work centred on climate change in the polar regions. Recently I represented Scotland during International Polar Year creating an ambitious installation ; collection of glass sculptural engravings showing how Antarctica’s ice shelves , glaciers and sea ice had been altered due to global warming. Transcripted from satelitte data provided by the European Space Agency the artwork is an accurate visual recording of ice loss.
As a Artist in Residence I have initiated and managed many of my projects collaborating closely with the community to arrive at ideas for developing and producing public artworks. This can be particularly seen in the Surf City Public Sculpture Project in Ruchill , Glasgow [part of Glasgow 1999 UK City Of Architecture and design]. Young and older participants with no prior experience were taught the skills of constructing and carving in stone and in laying the foundations, building process of a large scale public sculpture.
In Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens I lead and ran a series of Family Sculpture Days engaging with the general public along side a project collaborating with visually impaired people , helping them to learn the skills of wood carving through a series of workshops. The carved sculptures were inspired from the range of plants and flowers grown in the glass houses .
Latterly I have led and delivered projects producing stone public artworks which enhanced community green spaces. I worked collaboratively with a core group of participants teaching them the skills of stone carving in both relief form and full sculpture . Resulting artworks were permanently placed in the grounds of Govan hill baths, and Lambill Stables Community Garden.

With the 3 year Trails And Tails Project at Kirkintilloch I delivered a series of taster stone carving workshops involving the community to create a core group to work with closely during this period. We explored the cultural heritage of the area , focusing on the lost heritage as concepts for the production of the stone public artworks which were permanently sited in the town centre and surrounding environment. I worked very closely with the participants teaching them the skills of stone carving, also producing my own work for the project alongside them .
Alongside my experience of working as a community artist I have 17 years experience of teaching in further education as a lecturer / tutor at West college Scotland for 15 years and recently at Glasgow School Of Art and Strathclyde University – continuing education department. My expertise has been in the fine art disciplines ranging from painting and drawing , printing , life drawing , location drawing , sculpture, and Mosaic Design. I also have a TQFE qualification .