Making History - Brechin Round Tower(2023)
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and Craft Scotland partnered to commission artists to work with a local community group to research, collaborate and make objects inspired by the architecture, history and stories of the buildings.
Working out of Brechin round tower, I discovered the Irish word for round tower is ‘Cloigteach’ which translates as “bell-house”. This informed one of the key themes for the community workshops resulting in the creation of ceramic Bells with coloured clay slips. The community group were encouraged to dig into their family history and local knowledge to inspire designs and reveal hidden stories. Symbols and images were scratched into the surfaces of the bells using the technique of sgraffito which reveals hidden designs beneath layers of clay.
The group also created “Trade Tokens” celebrating skills that might not always been seen as high-value on individual tokens.
Maker's marks found inside Brechin round tower
Brechin round tower
Glaze tests - searching for gold
Tower form with 'gold' glaze to reflect the use of gold in the decoration of religious manuscripts which would have been stored in round towers for safety.
Workshop - community group's designs
Workshop - community group's designs
Workshop - community group's designs
Workshop - community group's designs
Workshop - community group's designs
Workshop - community group finished bell
Workshop - community group Trade Token
Workshop - community group finished bell