Donald McKenzie
A Walk in the Uists
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
6-31 October 2003

I HAVE ALWAYS had an interest in Art. However, I discontinued it as a subject before the third year of my Secondary School education, as at that time it was not really considered a route towards stable employment. In that respect I have come to Art as a career option relatively late in life.

As it was important to me to obtain a proper grounding in my chosen field I attended Inverness College in 1995-6 for a year to prepare a portfolio for application to University. Subsequently I attended Grays School of Art in Aberdeen where I specialised in Drawing and Painting and attained an Honours Degree. I followed this period of study by continuing my art education at Duncan of Jordanstone Art College in Dundee where I was awarded an MFA in Fine Art in December, 2001.

It would be true to say that by attending university the scope of my work widened as I now have an interest in other areas of practice. The methods I use encompass, for example, construction, sculpture, making artist’s books and writing among others, and the boundaries among them are not fixed.

However, my main subject matter is fairly consistent in that I have a great interest in the Western Isles, particularly the Uists and St Kilda. As I have been more involved with 3D and mixed media work over the last few years I thought it would be interesting to focus again on traditional oil painting, and that was the seed that has grown into this project for my exhibition ‘A Walk in the Uists’.

My mother came from Benbecula, and I always saw myself as one generation removed. I’ve always been interested in the area, and my most satisfying immediate commission after graduating from Dundee was to make three sculptures in granite, glass and marble for Western Isles Enterprise headquarters on Benbecula.

The present exhibition grew out of an initial idea to look at Greek fables reset in a Hebridean landscape, but that would have been a more experimental project. Instead, I opted for a landscape-based exhibition as my response to the three months I spent up there. There are 26 oils, and some works on paper. It has given me some ideas to carry forward as well. I will be exhibiting in Aberdeen in November in a former students show, and am waiting on final confirmation of another solo show in Lochmaddy.