My friend Brian Thompson, an academic and artist, saw walking as integral to his artistic practice.
Brian’s sculptures and drawings were often records and memories of walks in a particular place and time – in Japan, in the Lake District, on the escaped slave routes of the underground railroads in the US, or around the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.
He saw that the measured lines could become a linear pattern for the strata-like forms that he constructed using a variety of techniques and materials, including glass, wood and lead, and which he coloured accordingly.
The strength of that idea and the quality of his topographical work was recognised far and wide, winning him Pernod and Peter Stuyvesant awards in the mid-1970s and a place in exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery (1975), the British Art Show (1979) and the XI Biennale de Paris (1980).
He was also exhibited across the US as part of a British Council touring show in 1981, in Moscow at the Central House of Artists in 1992, and at the Kakimori Bunko in Itami, Japan, in 2016.
Like most artists, Brian, who has died aged 73, did not make a living through his art, and so he supported himself through teaching and lecturing work, first in schools and then at the University of Sunderland, where he became head of art design and research before his retirement in 2014.
Born in Tingley, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, he was the youngest of the three children of Norman, a signwriter, and Hannah (nee Griffiths), a factory wool mender. The love of the countryside and his parents’ skills working with different materials were lifelong influences.
After attending Morley grammar school, he graduated in 1975 with a master of fine arts degree in sculpture from the University of Newcastle, where he met Jane Chapman, a fellow art student. They married in 1977 and established their home in the village of Dalton in North Yorkshire.
Brian began working as a part-time art lecturer at colleges and universities across the north-east of England while following his art practice, until in 1980 he switched to be a part-time sculpture lecturer at Sunderland Technical College (now the University of Sunderland), then full-time head of sculpture before promotion to head of art and design. He eventually rose to be associate dean for research, resources and engagement, and on his retirement in 2014 he was made professor emeritus.
Brian was also chair of the Newcastle Group of artists for several years and a founder member of the research group Walk.
He is survived by Jane, their daughters, Emily and Becky, his granddaughter Winter, and his sister, Pam.
