Monday, 24 April 2017

Growth Exhibition


Friday night saw me head over the barriers to The Loft Gallery in St Margret`s Hope for the opening of `Growth` a new collection of textile works by Emma Fraser, Jean Malone and Morag Tweedie.
These three artists share similar passions for making art work through textile and stitch. 
This exhibition shows the use of these techniques to depict the natural world, it`s flora and fauna.


Emma Fraser


Emma`s work comes from her childhood obsession with peat moss where 
she saw the beauty in it`s detail, pattern and colour.

Jean Malone


Jean explores the relationship between flower/plants and insects: Their similarities as in intricate patterns and colour, life-cycles and how they can be both delicate and yet incredibly resilient.

Morag Tweedie



Morag is currently fascinated by field boundaries with their colour, textures and patterns and has combined this with her love for common wild flowers that grace the landscape.

It was a truly beautiful selection of works and was well worth the drive there.
The exhibition is on from the 22nd April - 23rd May and for anyone who loves this kind of art work,
its a must see!!

Thursday, 20 April 2017

Festival of Deep Time

The Festival of Deep time comprises a series of interdisciplinary workshops, talks and field-trips throughout the weekend, to engage the community with the project.

For more information on the weekend events click on the link below

And Anne Bevan our  Art and Design Curriculum Leader at Orkney College will be featuring her work in association with the project.

`Picture perfect!!`



Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Endeavour Exhibition

Endeavour
 - a creative collaboration
25th March - 17th April 2017
Pier Arts Centre

This exhibition was a project that brought together two of the PAC`s on going programme`s, the Piergroup and their work with BA (Hons) students at Orkney College and is the result of several months of creative exchange with the artist Neville Gabie.
BA (Hons) Level 3 student Beccy May helped curate the exhibition as part of her Professional Practise module and the resulting show presents a selection of works that highlight the interactions of the participants.


Neville Gabie
`Endeavour`
This piece was a continuous line drawing created on a train journey by Neville and what began as a straight line ended being more like a wave showing the motion of the train.

Beccy May
`Many Hands make Light Work`
(L-Stone mason /R-Farmer)

`Stone work`

Piergroup

`Experiments in sand`
(short video sketch)
`Collaboration Black & White`
`Polaroid Project`
`Sketchbook Stories`

Displayed on a shelf were the sketchbooks that `travelled` - to and fro between the art students in Orkney and Neville Gabie.


Erlend Firth
This mixed media piece was one of twelve, displayed in a straight line. Each 
one was dominated by the bright orange dot which immediately caught the viewers eye.

Kathrine Diaper
`Scarth`
(images on out of date photographic paper)

The word `endeavour` was the vehicle to which all the art works on display was generated from and demonstrates a wealth of artist endeavour.

This is just a small sample of what can be seen at the PAC 
and with so much more on offer, its a 
worth while visit!!

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

Innovators Exhibition

Innovators
Orkney`s Art graduates 
2015 & 2016

25 February - 17 April 2017
Pier Arts Centre


This exhibition celebrates the work of young artists who have studied in Orkney, either as school pupils or as undergraduates. All have gone on to gain degree awards in art, design or architecture from art school or colleges throughout the UK.

This was a fantastic and inspirational show, especially for those of us still at college!!
It also demonstrated the diversity and talent of our island folk.

Russell Gilmour 

In his work, Russell considers the complex relationship between our outer and inner self 
exploring these divergent worlds through his drawing and painting.

Charlotte Slater

Charlotte has her degree in Landscape Architecture and now works as a Marine Spatial Planning Officer in Shetland where she has been conducting a coastal character assessment. A relatively new method that looks at a variety of topics such as geology, history, industry and culture.

Erlend Firth

Erlend is an interior designer who strives to create playful spaces based on in-depth research making subtle references to fine art and popular culture.

Leanne Fisher

As a product designer, Leanne is increasingly concerned with the ecological impact of product manufacture and disposal. She questions the need for so many products and if design could be used, not to sell but rethink the role objects play in our lives?

Emma Fraser

Emma`s installation was titled `Forty Winks`  through which she created a dream like web that drew the viewer in and included crystallised objects that related to the dreams of family and friends.

Rachel Blair

Rachel is a jewellery designer and combines precious metal with hand-dyed papers to create pieces that express tension, pressure and balance between the materials.

Anna Clark

Anna works in an intuitive yet methodical way, her ideas evolve and develop organically through the physical and repetitive action of cutting paper.

Samantha Marwick

This piece was titled `Time Travel` and merged together a tobacco tin, music box and dandelion to create a puzzling yet compelling piece. Samantha`s work revolves around collecting and play, displaying natural and discarded objects together to address more complex issues surrounding our relationship with the environment.

Kirstin Wishart

Titled `Scan Results 1 - 3` these light box prints had an underlying impetus that was prompted by Kirstin`s personal and close family experiences of breast cancer.

Susan Boyd

These digital images of human form are some what disturbing when viewed through a fish-eyed lens.
Susan`s work explores attitudes and responses to the human body, through her work she seeks to challenge and question established perceptions of age, gender and stereotypes.

This is just a small example of what this exhibition has to offer so if you want to appreciate it in it`s entirety then I recommend you go along to the Pier Arts Centre and take a look, it`s well worth it!!