Presentation of cheque to RNLI on 28 Jan 2012 (Photo credits from right to left: John Nicolson (crew) Myra Urquhart (Chair Lifeboat Fundraisers Skye & Raasay), Emma Nicolson (ATLAS), Audrey Ellis, Carol Nicolson, Roma MacRae.)

As part of their year of Scotland’s Islands event, ATLAS arts invited people to get involved with artist Deirdre Nelson’s FISH EXCHANGE knitting project to raise funds for the RNLI.

On the 10th of September 2011, ATLAS organised a ‘knitted fish auction’ in the Gathering Hall in Portree to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Association (RNLI) as part of the Bàta Brèagha / Bonnie Boat event. The event was well attended with lively banter provided by Anne Martin and Alistair Danter auctioneers resulting in generous bidding for the carefully crafted catch. The total amount raised was £500, with and a further £209 through sales at Isle of Skye Crafts, Over the Rainbow, the Isle of Skye Baking Company and Anchor Sea Foods.

Emma Nicolson, Director of ATLAS said… ‘We are thrilled at the result; we wanted to involve the community in a project that would contribute to a cause close to their heart and link with history of netting, knitting and fishing. The response was over whelming, through the power of social networking we received fish from as far away as South Africa and Ireland. One visually impaired 90 year old lady from Wiltshire knitted over a dozen fish because the RNLI was her late husband’s favourite charity. It is wonderful that so many people locally and elsewhere supported the cause and in such a beautifully creative way.’

ATLAS was established in 2010 to generate innovative and ambitious visual arts projects in Skye and Lochalsh. ATLAS is a platform for the creation of projects which are not fixed by, or to, a permanent gallery space. ATLAS aspires to generate vibrant contemporary art practice in the context of Skye and Lochalsh through high quality projects, incorporating educational work and involvement from the community in a variety of forms, and placing this work within a local, national and international context.

ATLAS is funded by Creative Scotland and supported by HI-Arts.

To learn more about ATLAS’s work go to www.atlasarts.org.uk. You can also follow ATLAS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/atlasartpeopleplace and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skyeatlas

Source: ATLAS