Gordon Munro

Gordon Munro (b.1963) is a lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, the University of Edinburgh, and a member of the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Society of Sculptors. He was a founder member of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, where he held the post of assistant director until 2022. Predominantly cast in metal, his explorations are mutually bound to the artworks he creates, giving his practice a depth of connection. Each piece is different, but together they speak as a family. Munro uses his sculpture to understand the world we live in and the circumstances that shape us. Seeking explanation and reassurance from the materials and methods he uses, Munro’s work seeks a path within process through his interest in the life of objects, the language of materiality and their relationship to scientific discovery and the human condition.

The artist writes: ‘I was delighted to be asked by BAMS commissioning secretary Kate Ive to develop a medal proposal for the British Art Medal Society and decided to link the medal with themes within my own work and the ways I use materials and surfaces in my sculpture. The title Conversations Past, Conversations Future relates to the numerous conversations we have in life. Some are clear in our minds, some are lost or are altered by our memory, and many cannot be continued as life moves on. However, somehow fragments of this information remain with us, embedded in our thoughts and many new conversations lie ahead. For the obverse of the medal I have used a mix of tiny letters to represent this aggregate of information and for the reverse side I have created a linear design representing the blank lines of a page waiting to be written, conversations yet to happen.’