Art project seeks artisans to help tackle killer tree disease sweeping Scotland

Artists, designers, carpenters and crafters are being called on to help highlight a deadly disease that is threatening the survival of one of Scotland’s favourite native tree species.

Ash trees are not only beautiful, they are an integral part of our history, folklore and culture. For millennia they have been a familiar feature of the landscape, helping support a wide variety of other wildlife.

Strong, light and flexible, ash wood has also been sawn and carved, whittled, bent and planed into all manner of useful items, from spears, longbows and oars to flooring, furniture and sports equipment.

It was used to make wheels for early chariots and carts. Renowned Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh fashioned some of his most iconic chairs out of it, and even today the frames of Morgan sports cars are still made from ash.

“Human beings would have struggled without the ash tree – we’ve got to remember how important and integral they were to the progress of the human race,” said tree surgeon Archie Wilson. “On multiple levels the ash tree is pretty much the Tree of Life.”

But the species is in jeopardy. Ash dieback – an incurable airborne infection caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus – was first discovered in the UK in 2012 but has been spreading rapidly northwards, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Infection results in leaf loss and withering, and is usually fatal. Many hundreds of trees have already perished or been felled.

Experts fear it will kill off more than half – perhaps up to three quarters – of all ash trees in Scotland, with as many as 75 million fatalities overall and a bill for £180 million to boot.

Tree surgeon Angus North removes an infected ash from Killearn woodland – the wood will provide the raw materials for the Ash Rise project, which will tour Scotland next year. Picture: Tina Sorensen

Now, as part of an innovative project called Ash Rise, creatives from across the country are being invited to turn timber from diseased trees into useful objects and furniture that will be featured in a nationwide exhibition and outreach programme aimed at raising awareness of the affliction and its impacts.

“Ash dieback will have a huge impact on ash trees across the UK,” said furniture maker Tom Addy, project co-ordinator for Ash Rise. “It will change the landscape forever and threaten many species which rely on ash.”

He is passionate about his craft and the medium. Working with timber is “an opportunity to read a book that is perhaps 200 years old, the leaves of which have never been read”, he said. “The story is told in the grain of the wood.”

The initiative will also raise the profile of artisans and demonstrate the effort and finesse required to create bespoke pieces, according to Mike Whittall, chair of the Scottish Furniture Makers Association.

Tree surgeon Angus North was part of the team who felled the trees afflicted by ash dieback disease at Killearn Eastate - the wood will be used to fashion furniture and functional objects for the Ash Rise exhibition. Picture: Tina Sorensen

“This sometimes gets lost with mass-produced furniture,” he said. “What we hope to show through the project is the craftsmanship and the skills that go into that, and they are skills that really shouldn’t be allowed to die.”

A total of 20 pieces – 10 functional and 10 items of furniture – will be commissioned for Ash Rise, going on tour to six locations across Scotland in autumn next year. Inspiration could be found in the work of renowned sculptor and furniture maker Tim Stead, who created unique handcrafted pieces for galleries, castles and cathedrals across Scotland and his own Borders home – now a museum.

All trees are good for the planet, absorbing climate-warming carbon dioxide while they are alive – which for an ash tree can be up to 400 years. But turning dead trees into durable wooden items keeps that carbon locked up for as long as they last.

“Ash is an excellent timber for internal uses but has limited natural durability,” said Helen McKay, chief forester for Scotland. “So if left where it is felled it will naturally break down quite quickly, returning the stored carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

The oil industry memorial chapel in Aberdeen's Kirk of St Nicholas is among renowned Scottish sculptor and furniture maker Tim Stead's best-known works. Picture: Tim Stead Trust

“Ash Rise encourages individuals and companies with the skills to convert ash timber into products with a long lifespan, so that the carbon continues to be stored and does not add to atmospheric carbon dioxide.”

Successful applicants will be provided with the raw material they need to create their wonderful woodworks, with all timber coming from diseased trees which were felled at Killearn Estate woodlands in Stirlingshire in late 2022 and then milled at Scottish Wood in Fife.

By showcasing the best of Scotland’s wood-working talent, the travelling exhibition – which will include a film charting the wood’s journey from forest to finished creation – aims to educate people about the environmental, social and economic consequences of ash dieback.

“We want to show what can be made of it and then the public can appreciate how important it is and what value it has,” Addy said.

Researchers are currently working to find solutions that might save the species and protect future ash woodlands from succumbing to the infection.

James Nott, head of tree health at Scottish Forestry, said: “Sadly we expect to lose between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of our current ash population.

Ash Rise project coordinator Tom Addy, of the Scottish Furniture Makers Association, takes a closer look at the unique grain of a diseased tree felled at Killearn Estate, in Stirlingshire. Picture: Tina Sorensen

“Although representing only a small percentage of our overall tree cover in Scotland, ash is an attractive tree that greatly contributes to the biodiversity of our woods and offers a link to our natural heritage.”

“Scientists are currently working to identify which trees are tolerant to the disease and on the basis of these results they hope to breed tolerant ash in order to ensure the ash population can continue to be a thriving part of our natural environment.”

Ash Rise is a collaboration between Scottish Furniture Makers Association, Scottish Forestry and the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers, with funding from the National Lottery.

The design selection panel will draw on external specialists in furniture design, including Stephen Jackson, senior curator for furniture and woodwork at National Museums Scotland, David Jones, furniture historian and lecturer at the University of St Andrews, and Christina Jansen, managing director of the Scottish Gallery.