A major retrospective exhibition by the late sculptor and furniture maker Tim Stead opens at An Lanntair in Stornoway on 10th February 2006. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh with the kind assistance of Tim’s widow Maggy Lenert, and with the generous sponsorship of CalMac, it attracted some 45,000 visitors during last year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Tim Stead’s life’s work extended into many areas, blurring the lines between furniture design and sculpture, business and conservation, poetry and teaching. Until his premature death in 2000 at the age of 48, he worked tirelessly on various and diverse projects but was most famous for the striking sculptures and furniture pieces he created mainly from elm, oak and ash. Many are represented in the With The Grain exhibition at An Lanntair.

The memorials to this inspirational man are in the Woodschool he founded near Jedburgh, in the Borders Community Woodland which he created, the interior of the Café Gandolfi in Glasgow, and the numerous extraordinary pieces he created during his life, from chess sets to cabinets to the Throne for Pope John Paul II’s Edinburgh visit in 1982, to the Memorial Chapel in the Kirk of St Nicholas in Aberdeen in 1989.

His last project was the cladding of the Millennium Clock Tower in 1999 at the Royal Museums, a collaborative project with Eduard Bersudsky from Sharmanka, J Tubbecke, and Annica Sandstrom.

The exhibition is accompanied by a book with contributions from curators, critics, collaborators, artists, admirers and friends and with a foreword by the Prince of Wales.

An Lanntair Roddy Murray said “The legacy of this extraordinary man is inestimable and we are very privileged indeed to have this show in the Islands.”

With The Grain runs from 10th February until 1st April 2006.