Ex Terra Vis

by Ian Sloan Photography
(Glenrothes)

Ex Terra Vis

This large sculpture is by Benno Schotz (born 28 August 1891 Arensburg - died 11 October 1984 Glasgow), an Estonian-born Scottish artist. In 1912, he emigrated to Glasgow, where he gained an engineering diploma from the Royal Technical College.

From 1914-1923 he worked in the drawing office of Messrs John Brown, a Clydebank shipbuilders, while attending evening classes in sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art. Schotz became a full time sculptor in 1923. From this point onwards his reputation grew and he became a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy, head of sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art (a post he held from 1938 until his retirement in 1961), and eventually was appointed the Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland in 1963.

Ex Terra Vis is latin for "From The Earth Comes Life" and this refers to the fact that Glenrothes New Town was created to provide homes for coal miners at the nearby doomed Rothes Colliery. The figures of a mother and children dominate an entrance to the Kingdom Centre.

The Kingdom of Fife is famous for Golf, for its history, castles and palaces, the Forth Rail Bridge, Fishing Villages of the East Neuk and perhaps even fish and chips at Anstruther.

But these modern sculptures remind us that Fife is also a very 21st century place, and although we enjoy our history, our part of the world is also very modern.