Opportunity of a Lifetime

IAN STEPHEN has been involved in both of the Triangle Trust International Artists Workshops held so far in the Highlands & Islands, once as an artist as once as resident boatman. The Lewis-based writer, artist and sailor sets the scene for this month’s Three Islands Workshop on the island of Hoy

The Three Islands Workshop is a development that grew out of Còmhla, the first Triangle Trust Workshop to be held in Scotland (see weblink at end for more information on the Triangle Trust). It took place in association with Taigh Chearsabhagh on North Uist in 2003, and was followed by the first of the Three Islands Workshops on Tanera Mor in the Summer Isles last year (see our From the Archive feature or page link below for the Northings weblog which documented the event).

The second Three Islands Workshop takes place this month on Hoy, and the sequence will culminate with a return to Uist next year.

NORTHINGS: Ian, how did you get involved in the Triangle Trust Workshops?

IAN STEPHEN: I got involved in the run up to the Còmhla workshop in Uist, which was a partnership with Taigh Chearsabhagh. I hadn’t heard of the Triangle Trust before, and wasn’t aware of their work, but I was asked to be on the steering group, both as one of the artists involved, and also in helping to select the other artists. Several of the other people involved had been on Triangle Trust workshops elsewhere, including Nicky Gear in Zimbabwe, I think it was, and Shauna McMullan in Pakistan.

If you talk to anyone who has been on one of these, I think they would agree they have been profoundly moved by the experience

N: What form does the event take?

IS: The basic idea is that you have ten or so artists from a host country and about the same number from as wide afield as possible, and they are just put together for a couple of weeks with a small materials budget and accommodation provided, and that is basically it. There is no pressure to make an exhibition or anything like that. The emphasis lies in the process itself – it is the experience of working together that is the point.

N: And the Three Islands Workshops grew out of that intial Còmhla event?

IS: Yes. That was the first Scottish workshop, and everyone involved regarded it as a big success. From that the idea grew to do it again, and we started to talk about how we might go about it, and that was where the Three Islands Workshop came up. It is a three-year plan. The first was in June of last year on Tanera Mor, the second is just starting in Hoy, and the third will return to North Uist. We wanted a new variation rather than trying to simply repeat what was done before – the thought was well, we know the formula works, but let’s do it in different areas for the variety.

N: How did you find your experience from an artist’s point of view?

IS: It is a very carefully selected balance of people – it is quite purposeful in that regard. There will be a number of artists there who have been at Triangle Trust workshops before, and I think that is quite important. There is also very much an ethos of helping each other, and in both workshops I have attended that happened very naturally without too much in the way of planning and meetings and so forth.

Someone would have skills in digital art, for example, and would make suggestions and help someone else, and someone else would have good joinery skills and would be able to help someone else carry out an idea. I’d say the ethos was one of of mutual support and cooperation rather than actual collaborative work.

N: Did you find that led to explorations of new directions in the work of the artists involved?

IS: Very definitely. In my own case, I had always been interested in film, but the idea of the technical side of it and having to cope with another skill was a bit daunting. During the Còmhla workshop with some help I made my first ventures into video, and that has remained part of my work ever since. That would be pretty typical, I think. I know that happened with other artists as well. A lot of us work to commissions or work within quite tight strictures, and basically the workshop provides freedom and the stimulation of great environments and loads of different skills and viewpoints on hand. That freedom has allowed a lot of people to find new ways of working.

N: You would see that freedom as a significant factor?

IS: I think it would be difficult to overstate the significance. Being an artist can be a difficult business, especially if you are making your living from your artistic work, and to be put in the freedom of such a situation is a wonderful experience. In both cases everyone responded wonderfully to that. It was a great combination of fun and hard work – people really put in the hours on their work, there is no doubt about that, but it was also great fun, and that combination of work and play was central to it, I think.

N: How much of a role did the locations play in the way the workshops functioned?

IS: I would say a very important one. In one way if you get the right people together you can put them anywhere and it would work, but everyone found these environments pretty special, and Hoy is going to be similar. It is an environment that gets people excited, and the landscape definitely emerged as a strong factor in both workshops on Uist and Tanera Mor. Just getting out to the islands was a great adventure for a lot of the urban artists!

N: You were involved in selecting artists for the first one at least – what kind of criteria come into play in that process?

IS: I would say that the first thing is that balance between host country and visiting artists. A second is that you are looking for a range of different levels of experience – you want some people who are fairly established and experienced in their work, but also to give an opportunity to newer artists. And you are looking for a spread of different art forms to be represented – you wouldn’t want fifteen digital artists or fifteen sculptors. And also a spread in terms of age and gender.

N: Last year’s event was documented by a weblog on Northings – how did you feel that worked?

IS: It was ideal, in my view. The documentation of the Còmhla Workshop was done retrospectively, and I think most people would feel that wasn’t ideal. Something more immediate is what you want. The nature of a workshop is that you are having to think on your feet. It’s not necessarily about a polished final product, and the idea of retrospectively producing a booklet some time afterwards wasn’t ideal, whereas the form of the Northings log was perfect for the workshop. The immediacy was pretty important, and there was loads of input, and that made it pretty special.

N: You were not actually involved in the Tanera Mor project as an artist – what did you do?

IS: My main involvement was as boatman. I skippered a Lewis community boat as a resource for the workshop, and that worked great, and it would have been fantastic to do that again in Hoy, but time was a problem this year, and to be honest, so is the time of year – April in Orkney waters can be an interesting prospect for a sailor! As well as that, you don’t want to repeat things in the workshops. You are looking to make each of them a unique experience.

N: Would it be fair to say that there was more scope for involving the local community on Uist than in Tanera Mor or Hoy?

IS: I think that’s true, certainly as regards Tanera Mor, and also in the fact that Taigh Chearsabhagh has very strong links with the community on Uist. The open day at Còmhla was fantastic, seeing the local people genuinely engaging with quite difficult art and taking it in their stride. The Tanera Mor one had to be arranged a bit more, although there is a strong artistic community in Ullapool, and we did manage to engage with them.

N: Overall, then, you would see the Workshops as a very worthwhile thing?

IS: Without any question. If you talk to anyone who has been on one of these, I think they would agree they have been profoundly moved by the experience. There is something very special about the Triangle Trust ethos, and although it has been going on for many years now, it has not grown at all tired. It is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I think people very much feel that way when they have the chance to do it.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2008

Links

• Triangle Trust
• Còmhla
• Taigh Chearsabhagh