HI-Arts Argyll Makers Day

20 May 2009 in Argyll & the Islands, Visual Arts & Crafts

A Goody-Bag For The Soul

JOHN SAICH reports from a successful gathering of makers and artists on the Isle of Mull

FOLLOWING a highly successful Makers Day in Stornoway, HI~Arts Crafts Development Coordinator Pamela Conacher brought together a similarly inspirational and informative gathering in Mull on 7 May.

Tobermory’s An Tobar was the perfect location for a sizable group of motivated and talented makers and artists to learn some new things, re-affirm long held passions and share some personal experience with like-minded others.

An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull

Like Stornoway, Mull was graced with some dramatic weather on the day, always a source of twitchiness for event organisers working on islands. As the bus driver from Craignure reminded us – several times – this was the Wild West; thankfully however, not quite wild enough to deter anyone from making the various crossings from Iona, Lochaline and Oban. As we’ll discover, their determination was well rewarded.

You might ask then, why chose an off-shore location like Tobermory for a meeting of makers from all over Argyll – and, as it turned out, from Ross-shire, Inverness and Lochaber? One reason is obvious. As a centre of the Arts, An Tobar has been commissioning original work since 1999 and has hosted an astonishing number of exhibitions, including the Argyll Boxed Collection and work by Andy Goldsworthy, Dalziel+Scullion and many others.

Mhairi Killin's Studio and Gallery

To quote Ross Laird from Mhairi Killin’s presentation, “objects made by caring hands are alive”, and An Tobar understands that perfectly. But there is another crucial dimension. Referring again to Mhairi Killin, whose maker’s journey from Glasgow to Iona has defined so much of who she is and what she does, it might be said the crossing of water and travelling-to-meet brings an added enchantment to something already special.

Like Mull itself, it’s hard to define, but you feel it in the air and hear it in eager conversation over lunch and coffee.

Gatherings within any artform operate on more than one level. There is the scheduled programme of presentations by invited speakers which, on this occasion, were of the highest order. Sian MacQueen and Jean Donaldson gave us a virtual guide of Artmap Argyll and Cowal Open Studios respectively – both rapidly expanding artists groups with some synergy of purpose but very clear individual characteristics.

Both were uplifting examples of how much can be achieved in a relatively short time with commitment and a professional approach to marketing. Also, that neither is in competition with the other, a refreshing message from a sector that recognises the value of collaboration and mutual support.

Mhairi Killin followed with the aforementioned Makers Tale, a beautifully crafted presentation that provoked some challenging questions about looking to yourself and your own ambitions as an artist whilst striving to open up new business opportunities.

Work by Mhairi Killin

Mhairi’s current response to the former will be her Absent Voices exhibition, which opens at An Tobar in July, and the latter is very much evident in the success of Aosdana on her home island of Iona.

In the afternoon Nicola Henderson, Development Director of Timespan in Helmsdale, delivered a sure-handed users guide to on-line selling.

This would be a big subject to cover in one sitting under any circumstances, but as we’re all increasingly finding our customers on the web, there are some definite pitfalls to avoid and Nicola spelled out a few. If you took only a handful of points from this presentation you’d be in good shape to sell with confidence.

Finally, we heard from Alex Connell and Isle of Mull Weavers. This was an engaging story of how organic agricultural management and Gaelic folklore can take on a new, sensuous aesthetic to create something very beautiful – in this case the Ardalanish Collection by Anja Hynynen.

Practical support came from Cowal-based photographer Derek Prescott (www.derekprescott.co.uk) who photographed makers’ work for use in brochures and web sites, and from Pamela Conacher herself through one-to-one conversation and advice.

Frock Coat by Isle of Mull Weavers

All that would be plenty, but what is it in the act of getting together that we respond to so deeply? To answer that you have to put yourself in the shoes of the artist or maker, living and working in rural Scotland. How many days would you face your materials, drawing on a well of inspiration and motivation as unpredictable as that Wild West rain, thinking – am I the only person doing this?

I spoke to someone over lunch about how the technologies of mobile phones and the internet must have changed island life immeasurably in recent years. As she said, before email, you could easily be just another artist up the end of the track.

And that’s just it. All over the Highlands and the Islands, all over Scotland, there are hundreds of makers and artists up the track, all believing in what they do and doing it regardless of whether the rest of the world likes it or not. Gradually, and thanks to growing networks of communication, artists groups and Makers Days like this one at An Tobar, the world is waking up to how wonderful so much of it is.

What you take away with you from such a day is a goody-bag for the soul. Certainly, you get the benefit of meeting and picking the brains of some very inspiring and knowledgeable guest speakers. But you also go home feeling just a little bit more connected than you were yesterday and your particular end of the track, whether real or imagined, seems a better place to be.