» Artists & Makers

ARTISTS & MAKERS OF FROME

With CAMERON SCOTT

What is your artistic background I did a degree in Textiles and Embroidery at Grays School of Art, Aberdeen, before winning, in 1966, the Cinzano National Scholarship which enabled me to work in fashion houses in Milan, Florence and Paris for 9 months.

What made you follow that path My parents had a village bakery and I had always presumed my older brother would take it over from them when they retired. So I realised I would have to do something else and art was what I was good at, so it seemed an obvious route. As it happened my brother decided not to take over running the bakery, so perhaps if he had made that decision prior to my going to art school, I might have finished up a baker.

My relief carvings, which are lime wood, always starts with a drawing of my idea which probably will sit around for some time before perhaps being turned into a carving. With my collages they usually start with a theme, I will then by research the subject, such as the one I’m working on now “Celebrated Women of Frome”. In this latest series it has meant going round Frome photographing sites and trawling through the internet until I’ve gathered enough information/images to start.

What inspires your work? My recent carvings are influenced by my move to the south west 7 years ago and seeing all the standing stones and chalk figures in this area. This made me remember all the Pictish standing stones in the North East of Scotland where I come from. So, I went back to the north east and toured the numerous sites and that has inspired me into producing a series of carvings round the theme of the Pictish Standing Stones. It is ironic, as a child, 20 yards from my home in the Aberdeenshire village I lived, there was a Pictish Stone in the village graveyard, but as a young child it meant nothing to me.

How did lockdown affect the way you work and create? With many galleries closed during lockdown I discovered on-line exhibitions, many of which seemed to originate in America, but attracting artists from all over the world. I was quite successful being selected for more exhibitions than I normally would. On line galleries have a great advantage over real galleries - you don’t have to drive all over the country delivering and collecting your work, you just press a button!

Where do you work from? Tell us about your studio? When we moved to Frome, we specifically looked for a three-bedroom house so one room would be my studio. This means I can go into the studio at any time and not have to travel to a studio, which is a relief with the price of petrol at the moment. It is quite a small studio but as I my work is not too large and the processes I use are relatively clean, it works well.

What is your favourite place to be for artistic inspiration? Inspiration happens at the oddest of times. I can be walking down the street and suddenly the juxtaposition of images might trigger a thought, which grows into my sketchbook. Some ideas progress, some don’t. When I am sitting in my studio wondering what to do next, it would be good if I had a favourite place to go to be inspired, but there isn’t.

What artists inspired you and why? The first artist to inspire me was Masaccio (a 15th century Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Italian Renaissance) whose compositions broke away from the earlier traditions and this started me looking at things with a new eye. Then at art school I was influenced by Peter Blake and David Hockney, both artists for whom drawing is so important.

If you hadn’t become an artist what would you have done? My father thought I should be an accountant or a policeman! I was rather single minded and when I decided art was for me, that was all I concentrated on.

How do you find the Frome area, in terms of creative and artistic community? It annoys me that when I think about the range of creativity which seems to grow out of Frome - why didn’t I come to live here much sooner. Are there any artistic processes/disciplines which you haven’t worked in/with but would like to? When at art school I did a bit of etching, which I always wished I could have done more of. Also when I had a studio in Bradford (the northern Bradford) I used to do paper pulp constructions. That was a bit messy and needed a lot more space than I have in my studio in Frome.

How can people see and buy your work? From 9 Sept to 14 October, I have a solo exhibition at the Town Hall Arts Centre, Trowbridge – 60 years of art – which will show work from my time in art school, through to a series of collages specifically about Trowbridge and its history.

Also if you have to visit the RUH Bath I have a couple of carvings in an exhibition there.

You can also see my work at www.cameronscottart. co.uk. and on Instagram @crscarver – however I don’t usually show my work there just show photographs of things which attract me.