Slate | Lasting Impression
Lasting Impression began with a moment of surprise while I was working at Jupiter Artland, just outside Edinburgh. I had grown up working with whinstone and granite on the west coast of Scotland; materials that, when used to repair dry stone walls, involved very little use of a hammer. Encountering carboniferous sandstone on the east coast was therefore something entirely new. It marked a shift; this stone asked to be treated differently. As each piece was shaped with a hammer, fossilised ferns and the textures of ancient tree trunks began to reveal themselves, compressed within the stone over millions of years. That experience proved fascinating and became the starting point for this wall panel.
Exhibited during my first year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2013, where we received a five star award for outstanding presentation of a trade stand, Lasting Impression was designed to act as a focal point at the rear of our exhibition space. From a distance, the fabric-like texture and fern pattern in relief served to draw the viewer in. Up close, the construction itself became a source of intrigue to many. The piece was also featured in The Daily Telegraph, bringing wider attention to the work.
True to my working method, the relief is not carved after construction. Each individual piece of slate is carefully shaped and stacked to build depth and contour from the outset. This approach demands planning and patience. The panel took around a month to complete, but it allows the material to dictate the rhythm of the surface. From certain angles, an optical effect occurs where the pattern appears to lift from the wall, an unintended but compelling outcome.
Wall panels such as Lasting Impression can be commissioned at similar or larger scales and developed with different subject matter in response to the architecture and context they inhabit.
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