The studies of marine nature in pewter, gold-leaf, and brass, bronze and copper displayed in the hotel are the work of the Scottish sculptor Sam MacDonald.
Growing up on the Isle of Lewis and living on Orkney allowed Sam to pursue his love of fishing and the outdoors from an early age.
He studied Metal Work and 3D Design at Camberwell Art College, London, choosing this degree because it was a disciplined, traditional, technique-based course. This enabled Sam to build up the tools and techniques that allowed him to express his evolving ideas in metal. At this time he began the process of building up a vocabulary of marks and colours in metal, which has never stopped.
His artistic endeavor is to observe and capture fleeting moments of nature. Sam attempts to express an emotional response to something very private, a moment shared between man and nature, suggesting a balance and a suspension, with the brooding colours of the background saturating the work with a contemplative stillness.
Travelling to fish and to seek inspiration has taken Sam to Iceland, Pakistan, St Kilda, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
