The Pier Arts Centre is to present an exhibition of drawings, paintings and prints by Orcadian artist Sylvia Wishart this autumn. The lamp in the seaward window – the art of Sylvia Wishart opens on Saturday 27 August and will be on display until Saturday 5 November.

Supported with funding from Scotland’s Islands the exhibition forms a key element of the year long cultural celebrations. Further funding has been awarded from Orkney Islands Council Culture Fund and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, and the exhibition has been generously sponsored by J&W Tait Ltd, Orkney.

This exhibition represents the first comprehensive gathering of the work of Sylvia Wishart RSA (1936-2008).

The scope of the display, from one of her earliest drawings to the later large-scale paintings, allows her work to be seen in a fresh light and a context that not only charts her artistic achievement over more than fifty years, but establishes her place as an important and influential Scottish artist.

At the heart of Sylvia Wishart’s work is the landscape of her native Orkney. Her drawings and paintings express a distinct and singular approach to recording her subject. Her acute observation of the shifting seasons and the ever-changing patterns of human activity on the land convey a remarkable insight that reveals much more than just the visible.

She had a lifelong fascination particularly with the island of Hoy and with Rackwick valley, and the dramatic cliffs of St John’s Head and Hoy Sound viewed from her Innertoon studio.

The Pier Arts Centre Director Neil Firth commented “Sylvia Wishart’s art will be well known to many Orcadians and examples of her work are spread across our islands. This exhibition draws many of these works together along with major pieces from public and private collections across the country to offer an in-depth survey of the breadth and beauty of this remarkable artist’s work.”

Mr Firth added “Having drawn the works together in one place the Pier Arts Centre, is preparing a book about the artist’s life and work that will enable her importance as a significant Scottish artist to be promoted on a broader stage.. We are grateful to the public and private bodies, companies and individuals that are supporting us to achieve this and to mount the exhibition.

As part of this effort we are delighted that a selection of work from the show will be displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy early next year – a well deserved accolade for a great Orcadian artist.”

Sylvia Wishart had a long and fruitful association with the Pier Arts Centre. Sylvia was a close friend of Margaret Gardiner, the Centre’s Founder, and owned part of the buildings that now form the gallery before serving many years as a Trustee. Subsequently she exhibited in the gallery on a number of occasions and a selection of her drawings formed a central display at the re-opening of the gallery following its refurbishment in 2007.

The works in the exhibition are on loan from a great number of private collections in Orkney and beyond, these are complimented by drawings and paintings from Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, Robert Gordon University, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Orkney Museums and the Royal Scottish Academy. In addition a selection of drawings from the collection of the exhibition’s main sponsor J & W Tait Ltd completes the exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre.

A book documenting the artist’s career will be published by the Pier Arts Centre later in the year which will include a new essay by the writer and art critic Mel Gooding and many colour reproductions of rarely seen works.

Sylvia Wishart was elected as an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1993 and an Academician in 2005 and a selection of the works from the exhibition will be on display at the Royal Scottish Academy galleries on Princes Street Edinburgh from early 2012.

The Year of Scotland’s Islands initiative aims to raise the profile of the islands across the UK and internationally, attract more visitors, bolster economic development and strengthen links between the islands and mainland cultural organisations. The programme, which includes over 100 events across 42 islands, will showcase the music, arts, food, sport and history of the islands, as well as highlight their unique beauty as visitor destinations.

The Scotland’s Islands initiative has been developed through a partnership of the six local authorities with island communities – Argyll and Bute, Highland, North Ayrshire, Orkney, Shetland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Other supporters who have contributed to the funding the programme include Highlands & Islands Enterprise, EventScotland, European Regional Development Fund, VisitScotland and Awards for All.

a lamp in the seaward window will be on display at the Pier Arts Centre from Saturday 27 August until Saturday 5 November 2011. The centre is open 10.30am – 5.00pm Monday – Saturday. Admission is free.

For further information on the Scotland’s Islands initiative visit: www.scotlandsislands.com