Forensic artist reimagines the Millers

Delivered through Cromarty Arts Trust’s funded artist-in-residency programme, Reimagining the Millers aims to promote community engagement and public interest in the life and legacy of Hugh Miller, whose birthplace cottage and museum in Cromarty is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland.

Dr Maria Maclennan is a Senior Lecturer in Jewellery and Silversmithing at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), having enjoyed a decade-long career as an interdisciplinary designer, researcher, writer and artist. Her practice is rooted in the intersection of these disciplines with the fields of forensic science and human identification. Her PhD in Forensic Jewellery was the first research of its kind in the world to explore the use of jewellery as a method of forensic human identification.

Known internationally as ‘the world’s first Forensic Jeweller’, Dr Maclennan recently completed an MSc in Forensic Art and Facial Imaging. She was awarded the prestigious Cromarty Arts Trust Residency Prize in 2024 and spent a month in Cromarty working to produce a series of new artworks incorporating artefacts housed at Hugh Miller’s Museum as well as portraits and written descriptions.

Drawing inspiration from the forensic-art process of post-mortem depiction, a three-dimensional scan of Miller’s death mask was used as the basis for the creation of a hyper-realistic 2D digital colour portrait and a traditional 3D wax sculpture in full colour.