Spey Bench for COLLECT
Angus working on the Spey Bench.
Spey Bench. Scottish Ash. Dimensions: L 163 x D 86 x H 78 cm
The Spey Bench is the third bench based on Scotland’s rivers and was created for COLLECT : the International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects held in the Saatchi Gallery London in 2019 and also showcased at ‘WOOD’ in The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh in May 2019. About once a year Angus makes a speculative one-off where he has the artistic freedom to make decisions on the bench – he calls it sketching with wood. These experimental pieces are fun to make and challenge his practice. The Spey Bench was designed to capture the movement of the River Spey and the shape created by a fly fishing rod in the Spey Cast.
“The makers in the Craft Scotland showcase at Collect 2019 are the alchemists of our time; carving, casting and creating new traditions, ideas of value and material possibilities across all disciplines. This showcase is craft and design at the boundaries and should not be missed!
Drawing on a range of different influences and fusing together very different techniques, all 15 makers represented are working to create striking new forms and materialities which deliberately defy definition, including furniture maker Angus Ross and his super-natural use of folding and steam bending……”
Modern Alchemists at Collect 2019 Dr. Mhairi Maxwell
COLLECT is a gallery presented international exhibition and we were represented by Craft Scotland. When making a speculative one off piece for Collect there is a much more freedom and a looser process than with the commissioned work and Angus finds the process immensely satisfying. Rivers are a great source of inspiration. Historically and psychologically rivers connect rural places to the wider world and they have a unique energy, movement and light. For this bench Angus turned his thoughts to the River Spey – famous across the globe for whisky and salmon fishing. Over half the distilleries in Scotland are in Speyside in the north east of the country. The river and its tributaries provide plentiful water required for whisky (both to drink and for the cooling required in the making process) and the surrounding fertile plains provide the barley. Speyside was also a remote area with easy access to the sea which will have made it attractive to the illicit distillers and smugglers of past centuries. The Spey is also the fastest flowing river in Scotland with a shallow gravel river bed perfect for wild salmon. It is widely considered to be the best salmon fishing river in the world. The Spey cast is a particular technique used in fly fishing to allow a fly to be cast a long distance onto fast flowing water. The Spey Bench started with the physical process of steam-bending – literally coaxing and pushing planks of steamed wood over formers to create the desired line. The elements were then traditionally jointed but this process was quite complex due to the angles involved.
Local ash (Fraxinus excelsior) was used for the bench. Angus likes to use ash as it is usually disregarded for fine furniture making – but considered an excellent firewood - hence its name. Ash is considered a plain wood aesthetically but our Scottish wood often includes characterful timber with a deep pinky tone called olive ash as seen in the back-rest. Angus finds ash to be the best wood for steam-bending.
The form of the bench evokes the flowing river, the angle of the rod and the loops of line formed during fly casting. Angus is interested in dynamic flowing lines and the interface between a person and a piece of furniture. When nestled on this bench the interface is keenly felt. It is also a lovely place to savour a glass of whisky.
