The body of work, ‘Scot Free’ was produced during my residency at Scotch College Melbourne, which took place throughout the 2019 academic year. The residency was pivotal, affording me the opportunity to shift focus from full time teaching, to a professional arts practice.

The work was primed by first hand experience of the routine and activity of the school and its community, as well as its significant history. The resulting sculptures are informed by the school’s extensive archive and explore themes of commemoration, boyhood, coming of age and the singularly Australian concept of mate-ship . These subjects resonate with my history as a teacher of boys at Eton College in the UK. I was particularly interested in the contradiction between the formality that lends structure in an institution such as Scotch College Melbourne, and the energy, distractions and contemporary values of its emerging pupils.

In addition I produced a functional series using archival material, photography and observational drawings as surface design . I was doing a lot of drawing while taking in my new surroundings after immigrating to Melbourne late in 2018, illustrating my interests and discoveries. Through mono-print processes, the flat surfaces of plates, platters and slab built cups offered a canvas on which to utilise this collection of imagery.