Sculptor and teacher working in a wide range of materials and idioms, and with a strong emphasis on community participation. Born in Edinburgh, the elder son of the sculptor and jazz musician James Munro, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1972–77). After travelling on a postgraduate scholarship to Norway, and a period working as an environmental artist at Livingston new town, West Lothian, he went on to complete a course in foundry practice at the Royal College of Art, London (1980). Much influenced in his approach to art and its role in society by the writings of Patrick Geddes, he has exhibited in group shows at the Collège des Ecossais in Montpellier, France (1992 and 1993), and has had solo exhibitions in Edinburgh (1988), Stornoway, Outer Hebrides (1994) and Selkirk, Scottish Borders (1995). Among his public commissions are Stones of Scotland – with George Wyllie and LesleyMay Miller – Regent Park Road, Edinburgh (2000–02); The Pyramid Stone, a structure decorated with bronze badges designed by children from five local primary schools, at Renfrew, Renfrewshire (2005); Tempus Fugit, a homage to the actor and playwright Neil Munro, at Musselburgh, East Lothian (2009), and Reflected Vision, a mirrored stainless-steel structure erected at the University of Exeter (2015) as a memorial to the Scottish film maker Bill Douglas. Munro currently lives and works in Kinghorn, Fife.
Sources: information from the artist; McEwan, P.J.M., The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, 2004.
Ray McKenzie 2018