An Talla Solais, Ullapool, until 5 June 2011

THE West Coast Open exhibition at An Talla Solais shows the Ullapool gallery at its most community-minded. Submission to the show is open to anyone, and for this year all those who put work in have at least one piece displayed (although that is not policy – all work is individually selected). Around half of the artists are from the Ullapool area, with the rest coming from far and wide around the UK.

It is a testament to the success of the gallery as a community organisation that this exhibition has impressive submissions from well-known local professional artists who are willing for their work to sit alongside pieces from amateurs and hobbyists.

Work by Shiela Robertson

Walking into the room where one wall is dominated by James Hawking’s wildly colourful ‘Falls Glen Doucharry’, it is hard to look at anything else. Likewise Peter White’s paintings create a huge presence with their thought-provoking emptiness – a blank book, hats without heads. Paintings of this quality are immediately striking and more rewarding the more time you give them.

The gallery, which used to be a dark and uninviting space, has been refurbished and is now bright and welcoming, with lighting that draws attention to the work on walls and plinths. It is small, but the circular arrangement of rooms and use of the corridors creates a sense of space and encourages you to revisit what you have already seen from a different direction.

There is such a profusion and variety of work on display that it repays a second or third look, and often I found myself returning to a room and coming upon pieces that I had completely overlooked at first glance. One such was the West Coast Odyssey, a collage by Rosemary Bassett that appeared at first abstract, rather like the inside of an oyster shell, and only on second examination revealed itself as an exquisitely literal portrayal of the mountain landscape of this area.

Susanna Robson’s landscapes had a similar effect, the intense quality of the light in her paintings of Waternish and Lewis becoming more and more beguiling with each encounter. Other work that grew on me included Susan Brown’s two black and white drawings: ‘Tunnel into Darkness’ and ‘Tunnel into Light’, the intensely coloured work of Sandra Murray and the exquisite detailing of Richard Lindsay’s pen and ink evocation of the Snowy Kintail Sisters.

Untitled piece by Dan Murray

The exhibition has been curated with skill and each room has a balance of paintings, sculptures, craft pieces and photography, although paintings and drawings dominate. There is much to enjoy, too much to be able to name-check everything worth seeing. The sculptures (especially Barbara Peffer’s) and photographs are a particularly enthralling aspect of the exhibition, and it is perhaps surprising not to see more work in these media.

In one room, Alison Weightman has a pair of ceramic seeds and a single seed. Next door there is another ceramic pair and singleton, this time by Patricia Shone. This pattern of singles and pairs is repeated over and over, creating a pleasing rhythm and helping the exhibition cohere, with many instances of two similar pieces by one artist together in one place, and third different piece on its own, sometimes nearby (such as Rhiannon van Muysens’s absorbing abstract paintings) and sometimes (like Martin Howard’s startling fish and bird photographs) in another room.

Hare made from driftwood by Paul Szeiler

The best joke is Jan Breckenridge and Viv Halcrow’s bike with wicker paniers, called ‘Whither Donkey’, and I enjoyed the pair of hares, both Paul Szeiler’s salvaged boatwood sculpture and Sara Garnett’s miniature. And there are dark moments, like Lynn Bennett-Mackenzie’s charcoal drawing called ‘Journey’, which depicts a hand holding a feather, or perhaps about to drop it, suggesting a need for letting go.

Although much of the work is recognisably west coast Scottish, there are glimpses of other parts of the world. For example, Joanna Wright brings a sense of Uganda; her ‘Elders under the Mango Tree’ evokes the light and shade of a place far hotter than Ullapool’s hottest days.

Perhaps it is not surprising that the town that has a fish festival should have so many fish on show. There are many, and they are various. Philip D James’ mackerel caught my eye, as did Anne Roberts Nicoll’s mermaid, but my favourites were Florence Jamieson’s fish in moonlight, although it did take me a while to notice them lurking in the shadows underneath James Hawkins’ radiant falls.

© Mandy Haggith, 2011

Links

• An Talla Solais