Marion Smith, Sculptor

Ten works in two series. Three of the works including the image with bees draw upon the Robert Burns poem Tam o’ Shanter for imagery. A distinct series of five works are spaced at increasing distances apart to encourage rehabilitation, these works feature nouns in Burns’s poetry.

When I was developing ideas for the commission I ran workshops in Crosshouse and Ailsa Hospitals with adult psychiatric patients, drawing and working with clay and plaster. This was an opportunity to talk about the imminent change to services with the centralisation of resources in Irvine. I was able to discuss with the workshop groups, including health care staff what they thought imagery specific to their part of Ayrshire was, and how I might be able to reflect it in my work.