Jan Patience: Sitting pretty creates a high benchmark

Judging by the number of benches we see dedicated to the memory of a loved one in our parks and green spaces, there’s universal recognition that benches are places of reflection.

In an inspired move by Design Exhibition Scotland, artists have been invited to change the way we view the humble bench by creating original benches for Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute.

The brief from curator Susanna Beaumont was to “reflect on the potential of these objects to connect people to nature, offering the luxury of calmness and stillness in an ever-changing and fast-paced world.” The result is Sitting Pretty, which opened last weekend and runs until October 15.

Materials used by the five designers include locally sourced wood and sandstone, recycled plastic, marbled jesmonite, ceramics, and scrap metal.

James Rigler has designed an indoor bench for the interior of Mount Stuart with a leonine feel, albeit a headless lion, a blue faux fur coat and shiny legs. This responds playfully to Mount Stuart’s Marble Hall with its columns, glorious Gothic arches and midnight blue ceiling.

In the grounds, there are benches by Rekha Maker, CA Walac, Andy Campbell (of Dress For The Weather) with Stefanie Cheong and Chris Dobson.

Dobson’s design combines traditional hand-made Orkney chair design with concrete bus shelters found on the Isle of Lewis, while Campbell and Cheong mix red sandstone with an inlaid plastic seat made of recycled material.

Walac’s bench was created from scrap metal found in her Glasgow studio. Using jesmonite resin and fibreglass, Maker’s has come up with an ingenious solution to the problem of having somewhere to sit AND to put a book or food. My kinda bench.

A fascinating – if a tad grisly – new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh takes an in-depth look at the history of anatomical study.

From artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders, Anatomy: A Matter Of Death And Life brings together more than 200 objects which reveal the social and medical history surrounding the practice of dissection of human bodies. Some of the objects have never been shown in Scotland before.