CORRIE THOMSON

Pave the Way Softly

Corrie Thomson used the Balavoulin Art Grant to help fund a residency she attended at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in June-July 2018. The residency was used as a period of time dedicated towards experimentation with new techniques such as bronze casting, blacksmithing and ceramics. The location of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop up north in Aberdeenshire was a poetic location for the artist to spend time making and experimenting. Since childhood and throughout her life it has been the frequent visits to the highlands and other northern corners of Scotland where she learned to create narrative through the use things she made and the objects and materials she found around her.

At the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Corrie was inspired by walking, foraging and gathering. The curve of a hill, the surface and patterns of a rock at the local quarry, the meander of a pathway, a standing stone, a horizon line or the wood from a particular type of tree are a few of the influences which have consciously and unconsciously weaved their way into the work. Making the work with these small details in mind allows her to feel connected to these places even when she is not there. They allow her to remember a feeling, remember how energised, focused and liberated she felt while exploring every inch of a place. These minute, often non-descript details allow the work to tell its own story.

Corrie is also currently in the process of developing the work she was producing at Scottish Sculpture Workshop for a group exhibition she will be taking part in in Belgium. The exhibition ‘Something Beautiful’ will take place in La Vallée, in Brussels and will bring together international artists who met at The Common Ground residency in Braemar in the Cairngorms. Corrie has been reflecting on the time she has spent here, taking influence from the objects she found here, the shapes and forms of the landscape and the horizon lines, and the abundant caledonian pine forests.