The studio at SSW is a bright, warm space. It is a shared studio which encourages conversation and cross-overs, between residency artists and open access artists. The studio has several large desks, but can be set up depending on the group’s requirements. There is 24 hour access to the studio for residents. The studio is available to any artist who comes on Open Access or residency. Images by Felicity Crawshaw
Photo: Ross Fraser McLeanScottish Sculpture Workshop’s two short stack cupolette furnaces offer artists the unique opportunity to experiment with iron casting. Our Senior Technician Eden Jolly has a vast knowledge and experience of running the specialist furnaces and working with iron from ore through to final casts. As with all SSW facilities, artists will be encouraged to participate in every part of the process, from breaking up iron to counting charges and pouring the metal. To work in iron at SSW, request Open […]
SSW is 40! (2019). Photo: Felicity CrawshawThe SSW Communities Room is a warm and bright flexible space, with wifi, a projector and kitchenette. Housing the SSW Library, an eclectic selection of artists’ books, catalogues, reference books and the Frontiers in Retreat Edge Effects library, the space is great for solo research and writing and can be configured as required. The Communities Room also hosts SSW’s Public Talks programme, as an accessible space for events, talks and screenings. The room is available for external hire – please […]
The wood and metal workshops at SSW are housed in the ‘red shed’ together with a materials store. Both workshops house a range of hand and power tools, available to use while technicians are on site and following the completion of an induction. As well as these power tools, the workshops are well stocked with a range of hand tools. To access the wood and metal workshops, request Open Access or come on residency.
Photo: Ross Fraser McLean / Studio RoRoThe purpose-built foundry at SSW offers artists training and access to specialist equipment for mould making and casting in hot metals. We have been pouring hot metal on a regular basis at SSW since 1982 and are the only Open Access foundry in the UK. As with all the SSW facilities, the onus is on learning through doing and our technicians are skilled in supporting artists to engage with every part of the process, regardless of experience and skill level. […]
SSW is 40! Photo: Felicity CrawshawTime in Lumsden is intangible, fickle and slippy – but we have all made another cycle around the sun! Working on the rural peripheries, with a proximity to material, weather, the more-than-human and each other, time is felt and marked here in the temperature of the workshops, the hours of sunlight, funding cycles, and regular Cake Monday (thanks to the wonderful Max). Today is one of the shortest and darkest days, which tells us it’s nearly the close of SSW’s […]
SSW is 40! (2019). Photo: Felicity CrawshawTo celebrate the close of our 40th year at Scottish Sculpture Workshop, we have commissioned three texts that explore our current practices and speculate on the transformations that can take place here. Taru Elvfing, Ilana Halperin and Jack Tan have all come to know SSW in many different ways across varied time periods. Their words share both their personal experiences of SSW, and the opportunities they see in our future. We hope these texts help more people to come to […]
Ashanti Harris, Forsakin' Gold for Corn (2019). The Skeleton of a Name, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow. Photo: Matthew Arthur WilliamsOver the past few weeks, we have been working with artist Ashanti Harris through the RSA Residencies for Scotland. Below she shares some words on her project and what she has been working on at SSW. “I am a visual artist working with sculpture, installation and performance to explore themes of identity and diaspora through historical research. I create educational artworks and performative installations which function as a form of post-colonial critique, challenging dominant representations of history and re-imagining the […]
Photo: Petra Söör, Into The Mountain research (2018)In October 2019, we welcomed artist Edythe Woolley to run a workshop, SWEAT: the sky leaks I leak, as part of LADA’s DIY programme. SWEAT aimed to cultivate an embodied practice of dyke/ queer resistance through a series of sauna sittings, walks, impulse writings and observation. Together, participants considered sweating and the intermingling of liquids as eruptions of resistance to and healings from, pervasive heteronormative culture. Here we share a collaborative text by the workshop’s participants. Written in and around […]
Trainee Technician Michael Hautemulle burning out a mould. Photo: Finn ArschavirA short reflection, written by Finn Arschavir, Infrastructures Intern at Scottish Sculpture Workshop: I started four weeks ago as the first Infrastructures Intern the night before the crucible of molten iron was poured marking 40 years of making at Scottish Sculpture Workshop. The countdown to my final three weeks conclude during the winter solstice – here I am at the midpoint reflecting and looking forwards. My role at SSW is to look at the infrastructures that support and sustain the […]
Scottish Charity Number: SC003223