Famed for his attention to detail and the ‘perfectionist’ inclination in his work, Kirk is well known as an important teacher across the Scottish colleges, at the time when the now lauded exponents of the art were just coming through as students.
He trained with Charles and Norah Creswick in Edinburgh, registering his punch in 1951, before opening his own studio in 1961.
Thereafter he continued to lecture part-time at Edinburgh College of Art in silversmithing and jewellery until 1999 and was a visiting lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art until 1978. During this time he taught many including those who would eventually enter the teaching profession themselves, including Professor Norman Cherry and the current Glasgow School of Art Head of Department for silversmithing and Jewellery, Anna Gordon.
Kirk’s work focused on hand raising and engraving and we can see his skill in pieces such as the Alphabet circa 2004 which was featured as part of the memorial exhibition ‘William Kirk: Towards Perfection’ curated by the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 2011. The preface of the catalogue was composed by the late great Dorothy Hogg and is an ode to ‘Bill’ complimenting his ‘uniqueness’ in skill in moving from one medium to the other. Although rightly regarded as a silversmith he was a real renaissance man who could turn his hand to virtually any other craft with almost equal skill.
Mainly celebrated in Scotland, Kirk’s work is housed at Edinburgh University, Huntly House Museum and Aberdeen Art Gallery. National Museums Scotland have on permanent display a ‘container’, (accession number K.2004.32.2), exemplifying the precision of the containers and the detail in the slate base with similar gilded detail as this one here.
Kirk was also part of a select few of Scottish silversmiths invited to commission a piece for the Millennium collection now on loan from the Incorporation of Goldsmiths of the City of Edinburgh to Bute House where the Scottish First Minister resides. The commission is a beautiful rose/ fruit bowl and is of quite a size, especially when you think it was hand raised.