The SSW team have taken some time to reflect and share updates from their Spring travels before they dive into their busy Summer season. It has been great to spend time with colleagues across the UK and Europe as well as make visits closer to home to grow our important partnerships, undertake training and check out other exciting workshop spaces as we make plans towards the second phase of our capital planning.
Our team’s travels started in March with Ceramics Technician Amy Benzie heading down to Oxford Kilns to undertake their 5 day Fast Fire Kiln Building course led by Dr Robin Wilson and Claude Aussage. Amy describes her experience below:
‘The course was an enriching opportunity to expand my technical skills and collaborative approach to ceramics. We focused on sustainable practices, using foraged and repurposed materials to dismantle and rebuild existing kilns, before firing them with our own work. From fire management and bricklaying, to experimenting with ash application to mimic anagama effects, the week was hands-on and exploratory. It also challenged traditional power dynamics by promoting a more accessible and collective approach to firing—something I’m keen to bring back to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop.
This experience has equipped me with new tools to support artists, residents, and community members engaging with ceramics at SSW. I’m especially interested in how we can adapt fast-fire kilns as teaching tools, enabling experimentation and shared learning in a more responsive firing process. By integrating these insights, I hope to further shape a ceramics space that is inclusive, sustainable, and full of curiosity.’
The following week, Ruaridh Allen, SSW’s Technical Manager, visited Ratho Byres Forge near Edinburgh to develop his blacksmithing skills. Ruaridh highlights:
‘My trip focused on learning traditional hammering techniques and exploring the use of various forges and power hammers. It was a fascinating opportunity to see how the forge continues to preserve time-honoured methods while also embracing modern technologies.
The visit also provided me with valuable insight into how we might improve our facilities at SSW, particularly as we look ahead to our Phase 2 capital project. It also offered inspiration for integrating more sustainable practices into our workshop including the use of induction heating, which offers more energy-efficient alternatives to traditional fuel-based methods and encouraging us to consider how similar innovations could reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and align with our long term environmental goals.’
Sara Gallie, SSW’s Finance and Governance Director, also headed up to Glasgow School of Art’s Innovation and Technology Highlands campus in Forres, for the launch of their Rural Labs. Sara describes:
‘Heading off to the Rural Labs launch I was hoping to find a future focussed facility with workshops to explore new materials and building technology set within a rural campus, what I found is that Rural Lab is much more. Ten years in the making, GSA’s exploration of people, place and potential is what it means to collaborate locally for future benefit – sustainable lives and livelihoods.
I marvelled at the beautifully restored Italianesque courtyard studio setting and conversed with visitors and research students within the idyllic grounds of the campus, strolling along the estate tracks lined with wildflowers and was suitably impressed by the cutting-edge design and curation of the project work achieved to date.
The launch of Rural Labs’ next ambitious programme at Rochuln sounds fascinating. Currently a semi derelict cottage on a lonely moor but soon to become a research outpost for exploring sustainable living and biodiversity fieldwork. The aim is to generate new forms of energy and building design to support self-sufficiency – on earth, in space or underwater!’
In April Sam Trotman, SSW’s Programme & Partnerships Director and Ruaridh headed over to the Netherlands to visit the post study academies of Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht as well as open access facility Make in Eidhoven. They also caught up with the wonderful folk at British Council and Dutch Culture whilst on their travels. Sam shares:
It was wonderful to spend the morning with Struan and Jennifer from the British Council and Astrid from Dutch Culture to hear more about the many initiatives they have to support Dutch artists and make connections with the UK. It was also great to hear of the impressive Creative Europe programmes still taking place in the Netherlands to support artists and communities which we hope to be able to re-connect with in the future.
‘At the Rijksacademy we also spent time in the impressive metal, print, media, ceramics and wood workshops as well as taking time to speak with their programme and technical team members. We also met up with 2024 SSW Artist in Residence Harriet Rose Morley, who is now one of the 25/26 Technical Fellows and Amy Pickles currently in the first year of their residency. It was wonderful to spend time with Harriet exploring her approach to improving environmental conditions within the metal workshop and how these approaches also intersect with access and workshop culture. We also particularly enjoyed the cafe and the incredible food on offer there.’
‘The following day we headed over to MAKE with Harriet to check out their foundry, glass and graphics facilities. It was exciting to explore the workshop spaces, meet with team members and see their innovative way of reusing plaster from their mould making process.
We also shared many conversations about the setting up and layout of the workshops as well as the ways in which they were dealing with their waste streams. It was also impressive to see the scale of their workshops whilst maintaining an artist centred approach to how they work.’
The following day they headed to Jan van Eyck Academie, to spend time in the recently re-opened Materials Lab, where they had the opportunity to speak with Dorieke Schreurs and hear their inspiring case studies of how artists and designers are rethinking their material practices.
Ruaridh continues ‘The conversations sparked a lot of reflection on our own plans for a material garden at SSW and encouraged us to consider new ways of engaging with the waste materials on our site. We left with fresh ideas about how local materials and our own waste can be reprocessed and repurposed into valuable ingredients for casting, ceramic glazes, and other applications.’
Our Spring travels were rounded off with a trip by Anna Lomas, SSW Programme Producer and Ruaridh to Inverness for this year’s SCAN summit. The programme titled The Grid, also aptly focussed on the climate breakdown, extraction and energy.
Anna shares ‘It was fantastic to spend the day listening and reflecting with the programmed artists, thinking about energy, land use and people in the highlands and globally through time.
A breakout session with the Inverness Feminist Bird Club, provided time in the local environment to observe and find new ways to describe and connect with birds. The day was rounded off with Maria Fusco’s Master Rock listening event in the granite chapel before getting the train home.’
The SSW Team are excited to put their learning into action with the preparation of the Phase 2 of the Capital Programme, new courses taking place in July and in the Autumn and developing new partnerships and initiatives in the future.
The team thanks everyone who took time and care in sharing their knowledge, expertise and hospitality and looks forward to re-connecting soon.
