Recent Sculpture in Private Ownership

An inspired contemporary gravestone, by Helen Denerley, with a brass and copper relief appliqué in the form of the tree of life in a sinuous style. A mouse and a lizard are nestled among the tree's roots.

Molten iron was poured into an arched shaped mould spanning the Deskry Water (a small tributary of the river Don) and a local boundary.
This major project involved a performance/ installation utilising a purpose build furnace for casting iron, and resulted in a permanent new work spanning the burn. Boundaries was developed with Professor George Beasley of Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA and Helen Denerley, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire in collaboration also The Scottish Sculpture Workshop. The project involved the whole community of Glen Deskry in the performance, and was broadcast live by satellite to International Sculpture Centre conference, Pittsburgh PA. About 250 people watched in the remote glen while an equal number watched on screen at the conference in the USA.

2 poles carved in a primitive style

Massive wood carving using most of the whole trunk of the tree

This was a five and a half acre garden in a sylvan setting; the garden contains some fine specimens of mature copper beech and Colombian pine. On a walk through the garden, past visitors could view 14 monumental sculptures - some as much as 25 feet in height. Frank Bruce, the sculptor, has perfected his own style, which he calls, "archetypal abstractionism". His monumental works maintain and prove the figurative sculpture can and should be easily understood.

A performance/ installation piece by Professor George Beasley of Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA, and associates, involving a nocturnal pouring of molten iron with a rotating turntable mounted channel from the furnace to the mould, the finished casting being a curved wall shape. The channel was wooden lined to add to the pyrotechnic effect of the multiple transfers of molten metal from furnace to cast.

Large wood carving

Large woodcarving of a boulder throwing giant, carved from a single trunk with an applied copper kilt. Created in 1990s installed here in 2000, after being on tour with Scottish Sculpture Open 9, Kildrummy Castle (1997), MacRobert Art Centre, Stirling (winter 1997-8), fabricated at Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Lumsden

Large stone carving of a female nude.

An amorphous cement obelisk decorated with polychrome ceramic /glass tesserae.

A massive timber carving by Frank Bruce

A massive timber sculpture by F. Bruce utilising the bifurcating tree trunk as part of its symbolism.

Sculpted millstone grit figure of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology (abducted by Hades and having to remain with him half of every year because she ate six pomegranate seeds the pomegranate can be seen in the statue's right hand), she is holding a mirror similar to that on the nearby Maiden Stone.

A largish wooden carving of a puffin

A colourful rotating exterior kinetic installation created from model sailing boats.

A much larger than life size carving of a head in granite that is strongly reminiscent of ancient Greco-Buddhist art of Northern India particularly the 1st -2nd century Buddha heads of Gandhara (a kingdom in what is now part of Pakistan and Afghanistan). These in turn owing their iconography to ancient Greek representations of Apollo.

A contemporary bas-relief in wood of the head of a crucified Christ made in Jakarta Indonesia for Ian and Barbara McNab, who presented it to the church.

An intentional relocation and placement of a natural stone for aesthetic reason. An act that draws on oriental (Zen) precedent as well as the examples of our neolithic forbears so noticeable in the local environment.

A tree sized wood carving, by Frank Bruce.

Sandstone bust of the poet Robert Burns (b. 25 Jan 1759 d. 21st July 1796, at the age of 37) on a columnar pedestal by Robert Taylor 'Ghosty Bob' a local monumental mason and sculptor (his nickname a result of his work carving many gravestones). This was the first statue of Burns that the artist did. Both works ultimately derive from the 1787 portrait by Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840). This seems to be regarded as the definitive image and has been used as a source for most of the huge number of later representations, it is certainly more flattering than the portrait painted by Peter Taylor in 1786. This bust is in a much more classical style than his Burns Statue in the Burns Garden at David Street (see related artefact) which was created as a result of a commission resulting from this one, but was never collected. The characters Souter Johnie and Tam 'o Shanter look down on you as you view the Master, from the garden wall.

A trunk based wood carving by F. Bruce.

A trunk based wood carving by Frank Bruce

An installation of 5 trunk based wood carvings by Frank Bruce.

A wood carving utilising the division of the trunk to make its point, that in war we fight ourselves. In the words of the artist, Frank Bruce, "To make a war a patriot on both sides is needed. A winner and a loser. Eighty per cent of casualties are civilians. "

A concrete or ciment fondue sculpture of 2 figures joined in a gymnastic or acrobatic position.

A large tree sized wood carving by F. Bruce, inverting the original trunk to give the sculpture its representative form.