Frank Bruce, Sculpture garden (Feshiebridge)

"one world"
this picture (2008, Flickr) and the

next two courtesy of Leanne Eddie

The pictures depict the wooden creations by Frank Bruce (1931-2009). a Scottish self-taught artist who became a sculptor beloved by the general public.

Life and works

Bruce was born in a family of fishermen in the community of St Combs in Scotland. As a youngster attending school was problematic because he was dyslectic, which probably was not recognized these days. Thinking in images and forms, rather than in words, Bruce preferred the world of nature, such as the forms of trees in the forest, above the world of books and scholarly knowledge.

So after leaving school at age 13 he refrained from further education but went to work, entering all kind of jobs, like working in a saw mill or unloading coal boats, jobs that are rather physically burdening.

In the 1960s, by now married, he and his wife settled in the community of Aviemore, where the couple began a bread & breakfast.

Due to an accident Bruce blessed his back and as kind of a manual therapy he did some wood sculpting which was the beginning of a new creative adventure.

"third world" (fragment)

At first he made small wooden objects, but soon he began making sculptures in large formats, using dead trees as his basic material, feeling inspired by themes associated with nature, Scottish folklore and patriotism.

"two patriots"

The rather large sculptures were displayed in the garden around the family house in Aviemore.

The site in Banff

When the garden proved too small for the collection, around 1995 a new site became available. In agreement with the authorities of the community of Banff, on the Scottish east coast, the Colleonard Sculpture Garden and Gallery was opened on Sandy Hill Road.

a view of the Colleonard Sculpture Garden

picture from the website Artesian Arts

It displayed some fourteen of Bruce's large sculptures.The exposition enjoyed the interest of thousands of visitors and the garden was never vandalized.

The sculpture trail in Feshiebridge

Meanwhile this garden has been closed because -with the help of the Scottish Forestry Commission- another location for the sculptures was created. This one, opened November 2007, is located in Feshiebridge, in the Cairngorms National Park, in the interior of Scotland, not far from Aviemore.

In these natural surroundings the sculptures were exposed along a trail.

A trust takes care of the sculptures

Some years before Frank Bruce passed away (September 2009) already a Frank Bruce Sculpture Trust was founded which assisted in the creation of the sculpture trail and took care of Bruce's artistic legacy.

The gradual decay of the sculptures

A text on the Forestry and Land Scotland website, dated 24 October 2019 and titled Saying goodbye to the sculptures of Frank Bruce, indicated that some of the wooden sculptures were gradually decaying.

It was noted that "the inevitable fact that some of the sculptures would weaken and fail, whilst others stood the test of time, was a key element of the sculptor's original concept"

The June 2022 Much Better Adventures website had an informative article about this with a series of photos

In the spring of 2024, a violent storm destroyed almost all the sculptures along the trail.

Documentation (from the early years of the trail)

* The Frank Bruce Sculpture Trail website, with information about the accessibility of the trail
* John Thorne, "Frank Bruce. Polemics in Pine", in Reforesting Scotland, nr 46 (autumn/winter 2012) (the author is a trustee of the Frank Bruce Sculpture Trust)
* A series of pictures, including explanatory notes, on the weblog of Simon and Karen Pavin (2012)

first published October 2009, last revised June 2024

Frank Bruce
Sculpture Trail
Feshiebridge, Cairngorms National Park, 
Scotland, United Kingdom
most sculptures along the trail have succumbed