Scottish Sculpture Workshop is based in the village of Lumsden, a rural inland village in Aberdeenshire with approximately 400 inhabitants. The village is one main road with small side roads and paths either side. It is surrounded by farmland and countryside.
The main road in the village has pavements with drop curbs at occasional crossing points. The crossing points are silent and without blister paving. Many side roads and country roads in the village and surrounding area have no pavement. SSW is directly next to fields and farmland. Some paths around the site are uneven, stoney, grassy and directly next to sheep fields which may contain ticks.
It can be challenging to travel outside of the village if you don’t drive. There is a free community bus which you can register for and book with limited capacity but there are no regular buses. You can also book taxis to travel around the area with the taxi company numbers we have provided in your welcome pack.
Scotland, especially the Highlands of Scotland, lacks ethnic diversity with 95% of the Scottish population reported as being white. The ethnic diversity of the staff team and board is 0% the staff and 29% of the Board are from the global majority. SSW staff aims to make all visitors feel welcome and comfortable and have undertaken training in actively practising anti-racism. SSW’s mission “is to expand the possibilities of what sculpture can be – always working towards positive social and environmental change. One of the ways we are working towards this is to recognise the historic and ongoing omission of diversity within technical workshops and the cultures that this can create within these spaces. We believe that this has led to narrower visions for what sculpture can be and who is able to make and enjoy it”.
Read an expanded version of SSW’s Community Guidelines.
Scottish Sculpture Workshop is an active workshop made up of several buildings surrounding a courtyard which houses workshops, accommodation, common areas, community space, a sauna, Bothy and kitchens. There is a house down the road which provides additional off-site accommodation.
Oren Shoesmith & Rabindranath X Bhose, SSW X Counterflows Residency 2023
Photo by Felicity Crawshaw
