Roland Fraser (b.1968) creates artworks inspired by the material they are produced from. His furniture is created entirely from salvaged wood and relief panels are a combination of marquetry, cabinet making and assemblage.
Roland Fraser was born in Bridge of Allan and attended school in Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. From 1986 to 1990 he attended St. Andrews University where he studied Philosophy and Art History. Since 1995 he has worked predominantly creating his own artworks and teaching woodwork. His interests vary from vernacular design in early furniture to improvised structures like allotment sheds for their crude functionalism. His furniture and relief panels are created from timber salvaged from furniture breakers, farm buildings and skips. He selects raw materials that have an accumulation of surface markings and evidence of human use. The ghost traces from missing locks, hinges and structural joints have a particular resonance for him as they refer to previous incarnations. The completed pieces are a composition of these disparate fragments and his titles often make reference to the places where the raw material was located, for instance Stair Chair. His public and private commissions include the John Barbour Memorial Panels, St. Machars Cathedral, Aberdeen, Joint Stool and Coffer Chest, Argyll Lodging, Historic Scotland and Skymye Knave Kist and Welsh Cupboard with the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. He has won three awards at the Visual Arts Scotland exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy; the Flora Wood Award in 2005, the Applied Arts Prize in 2007, and the Open Eye Gallery Award in 2011. He has exhibited regularly in Scotland and has works in private collections worldwide.