Castle Gallery and Tore Gallery, until 29 September 2007

Silver bowl by Alan Baillie.

THE CASTLE and Tore Galleries have joined forces to present joint exhibitions this month “celebrating the role of the visual arts in the Culture of the Highlands”. With the lack of an adequate public gallery space in the area, commercial galleries provide vital public access to art, raising awareness about the range of work being produced and inspired by our unique environment.

This contribution has not been recognised within the official Highland 2007 programme and both galleries have therefore staged parallel fringe shows to make the work of visual artists in the Highlands more visible in this focus year of culture.

Paintings, Screenprints, Jewellery and Sculpted Wood by Eileen Gatt, Tom Mabon, Alisdair McKay, Evelyn Pottie, Jonathan Shearer feature at the Castle Gallery, Inverness, and works by Alan Baillie, Clare Blois, David Body, Suzanne Gyseman, Michael Stuart Green, Kitty Watt and Allison Weightman are featured at Tore Gallery.

An Illustrated talk on “Art Inspired by the Landscape and Culture of the Highlands” by Castle Gallery Director Denise Collins also focused the spotlight on Highland artists represented by the two galleries.

That two commercial galleries have felt the need to invest in an educational and awareness raising programme is admirable and extremely positive, however in any other developed city this is usually part of basic public provision for Visual Arts via a central public arts space or spaces.

What Highland Fringe Exhibition brings into sharp focus are the skills, expertise and contribution of Highland based Visual Arts practice to the economic and cultural wealth of the area.

Evelyn Pottie’s screen prints are particularly evocative of Northern light and landscape. “Winter Haze” ed 7 is a perfect example with a soft frosted palette of colour. Multiple screens of colour are evident in Pottie’s technique which allows for the subtle changes of colour and light in the natural environment.

“Windy Day at Rosehaugh” is another example of this multilayered approach. Here there is a sense of movement through the overlap of colour in the sky, turbulently hanging low over the landscape. There is also a drawn quality to the foreground marks of russet vegetation that add detail and interest to the treatment of the scene.

“Snow Lying on Higher Ground” ed 2 is distinctive for its vertical striations in the shifting winter sky, again subtle details are used to great effect. Not perhaps what we would expect from the art of screen printing due to its usually bold commercial associations. This degree of skill and refinement of technique is testimony to Evelyn Pottie’s many years of experience as an artist and printmaker.

Eileen Gatt’s superb works in silver are beautifully displayed, with ample light and space around each piece to really appreciate the textures and finish of every part of the work. A series of framed brooches in silver, 18ct gold and acrylic with a softly textured finish, incorporating animal forms and rowan branches are both elegant and lyrical.

They are part jewellery-as-adornment, framed as unique and precious works of art, but also part of a narrative. It is significant that the artist has previously collaborated with well known Highland Storytellers such as Janet MacInnes, Bob Pegg and Martin Watssman. Her interest in myth, fantasy and Highland custom is coupled with excellence of design and a thoroughly contemporary feel to the work.

A series of beakers displayed together – “Fish Beaker”, “Mad March Hare Beaker”, “Animal Form Beaker” and “Selkie Beaker” – are exquisitely finished. Gatt’s “Mad March Hare” bowl is a beautifully rounded and highly crafted form in silver.

Alisdair McKay’s sculptures in wood such as his “Elm Spiral Shell” take inspiration directly from natural forms. In this piece the gradations of wood, position of the grain and rhythm of the work as a whole create a wonderful sense of movement.

A highlight of the exhibition is his “Vessel in Ash” (sycamore & ash) an amazing example of contemporary design but also a living breathing form. The way in which the wood has been fitted together allowing it to ripple and move like the flexible shell of a living organism in response to sunlight and atmosphere is inspired. The organic abstract shape of the vessel and its thinly sliced sections enhance our appreciation of the natural grain.

Influenced by artists such as Turner and Horatio McCulloch, Jonathan Shearer’s oils on canvas display loose gestural brushwork and an earthy palette of umber countered with blues, greens and greys. There is variety in the handling of the paint drizzled and applied with varying degrees of thickness.

“Am Monadh Dubh” and “The Sound of Sleat Looking Towards Rum” are two strong examples. In contrast Tom Mabon’s work including landscape, town and cityscapes are characterised by a flat pastel palette. Whilst I found his oils dull due to the paint handling and candy like colours, a small watercolour, “Taransay, Harris”, was an absolute gem. The sketched lines still visible, the rhythm of stones and shoreline are pure poetry in this work.

At Tore John O’Groats based artist David Body displayed his usual brand of vibrantly coloured landscape. Favouring a square format “Freswick Beach” is a good example of Body’s handling of colour and subject with blocks of colour and delicate spatters. The mixed media works are the most effective incorporating sand and other layers of material to add depth and texture to the landscape.

Clare Blois’s signature use of strong colour and animated brushstrokes can clearly be seen in “Field of Cornflowers, Black Isle” in gold, orange, cerulean blue and ultramarine and “The Wild Garden” in purples, greens and blues.

Scoraig Ceramic Artist Allison Weightman has contributed a number of works to the show among them a beautiful “Set of 3 Pebbles” in Raku with pierced and crackled surfaces. Her “Blue Vase” in the form of a pod or raindrop-like shape coated in a turquoise glaze and “Lacy Vase” with russet, white and tinges of green appear to be new explorations in terms of decoration.

“Large Copper Vessel” (Raku) is another example with a greenish metallic glaze and a drawn resist pattern which echoes the overall form of the piece.

Suzanne Gyseman features in the Tore exhibition with works such as “Ural Owl and Moths” in delicate pen and ink and “Enchanted Forest” (coloured pencil). Originally trained as a botanist, Gyseman combines detailed observation with mysticism and fantasy in her illustrative works. “Thinking of Home” (pastel) is an example of her stylised landscapes, set on a high horizon line in strong green and blue.

Alan Baillie’s silverwork designs are clearly influenced by the natural world. “Jelly Fish Cuff” and “Chased Bangle” which reads like a wavy adornment of kelp are two such examples. Baillie also uses semi precious stones set in silver to great effect as in his oval moonstone brooch. His highly polished “Cone Pendant” features a strong elongated design that is both organic and striking.

I was glad to see information in the gallery about “Prints V Reproductions – What’s the Difference?”. In an age of digital printing there are many public misconceptions about the art of print making and what constitutes an original print.

As part of the focus event Tore Gallery have featured the works of artist-printmakers Kitty Watt and Michael Stuart Green. Based in Caithness and inspired by the land and sea in the Orkney Isles, Kitty Watt’s aquatint etchings result in fine graduations of colour which are as much about the art of inking the plate as incising the image into metal with acid.

“Arch Yesnaby” is a great example with dark stone rock formations in contrast with the sea faded into a spray of white foam at the shoreline.

I found Michael Stuart Green’s work particularly interesting due to his combination of drawing, print making and digital techniques which lost none of the spontaneity of original drawing. “Glen Shiel 11″ (digital print) has the fresh quality of drawn marks, combined with the look of lithography and blocks of screen print.

Similarly “Glen Shiel 3″ displays drawing as a baseline for the exploration of different techniques and media in Green’s work. It reads as a multilayered work with the combined qualities of charcoal and pastel drawing with solid areas of the landscape blocked in, in the manner of screen printing.

Digital technology is simply another “mark-making tool” and the Green’s method retains the integrity of the traditional production of print editions by “destroying the files” after an edition has been made in the same way that plates are destroyed in other print making processes.

Both galleries are to be congratulated for their awareness raising event and commitment to raising the profile of work created in the Highlands. We have now seen both artist groups and the commercial gallery sector showcase works by Highland Artists in this focus year.

It is time for the leadership, commitment and vision of Highland artists and private galleries to be equalled by sustained long term arts strategy from our local authority and provision for public access to Visual Art.

© Georgina Coburn, 2007

Links

• Tore Gallery
• Castle Gallery
• Additional images from the Highland Fringe exhibition