I am delighted to have been selected as the Winner of the Scottish Landscape Sculpture Award and a £2,000 commission to create the first prize trophy sculpture for the 2025 Scottish Landscape Awards. The winning work, Rising From The Cracks, is new work which is inspired by the tiny mosses and lichens that grow in abundance all around us, but largely go unnoticed. It was particularly exciting as this is the inaugural Scottish Sculpture Awards exhibition and I am very proud to be included in such a wonderful and diverse exhibition which covers two floors of the City Art Centre in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Landscape Awards is a biennial event open to anyone over 16 years born, living or studying in Scotland, and for works in any media. The judges were Barbara Rae, David Mach, Ade Adesina, Marian Leven and Jane & Louise Wilson and there were over 2,8000 entries of which 133 were selected. The awards as conceived by the Scottish Arts Trust encourage “an environment where landscape is a springboard for investigation, experimentation and discourse”.

Read more about Scottish Landscape Awards: www.scottishartstrust.org/results-landscape

Scottish Landscape Awards
Exhibition dates: 4 November 2023 – 3 March 2024
City Art Centre, Edinburgh

Images from top:
‘Rising From the Cracks’ by Lorna Fraser. Photo: Shannon Tofts.
Sara Cameron McBean, Barbara Rae and Lorna Fraser. Photo: Greg Mcvean
Lorna Fraser with her winning entry. Photo: Greg Mcvean

From 26 April to 3 May I was lucky enough to participate in an Erasmus training placement in the beautiful mountain village of Pano Lefkara in Cyprus.  Along with 7 fellow artists (all professional members of Applied Arts Scotland), I undertook a week of working with traditional materials and learning traditional techniques.  The trip was organised by Grampus Heritage & Training Ltd, which is a non-profit making organisation based in the North-West of England.  Since 1997 they have been involved in the management and promotion of European projects concerned with culture, heritage, archaeology and the environment.  The whole focus was about sustainability and how that can be applied to our practice.

Read a blog post by participating artist Lar McGregor

It was a glorious week and I learnt so many skills including sourcing greenwood olive withies, weaving withies into a hurdle, macrame, peg looming, crochet, cordage from natural vegetable fibres and plait weaving.

We were also taken on many amazing trips including visiting the ancient ruins of Kourion, Nicosia and a trip to North Cyprus.  Plus a farm which uses ancient methods to shepherd sheep (there is no need for a sheepdog because they all love the farmer and follow him around!).  This farm produces some of the best Halloumi cheese on the island.  One of my favourite trips was to an ancient olive grove to visit one thousand year old olive trees which are carefully maintained using traditional methods.

We put our new-learned skills to use, collaboratively creating a children’s reading room from found objects and locally-sourced materials, using only traditional craft methods.  Working and learning with my fellow makers was just fantastic and was a very special part of a week packed with creativity, great conversations and a lot of laughter.

www.appliedartsscotland.org.uk

I am over the moon to have been selected for a residency which will take me to the Isle of Eigg this September. Awarded by Bothy Project in conjunction with Visual Arts Scotland, I’ll be heading to Sweeney’s Bothy for a week so that I can observe, photograph and draw the tiny Bryophytes that grow in abundance on the island.
Keep an eye on my Instagram for updates @lornafraserclay

I am delighted to have been invited to be included in the prestigious Homo Faber Guide which is a directory of European craft excellence.

The Homo Faber guide is presented by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship which is an international non-profit organisation that celebrates and preserves master craftsmanship and strengthens its connection to the world of design.

Delighted that the commission Forth Flora: A Study In Porcelain is now in situ at the new haematology wing of the Western General hospital, Edinburgh. It was nerve wracking transporting and hanging the work but thanks to the brilliant Alastair Letch (who made the bespoke boxes) the whole day went like clockwork and the boxes are now safely hanging in the treatment room.