The old Georgian stables at Cambo Estate have inspired 15 artists in a major art exhibition. The artists have each taken different inspiration from the location in Kingsbarns (near St Andrews) in Fife and presented innovative ideas and outcomes, which bring new life to the old stables.

The Heartwood Artists at Cambo exhibition will run from 28 July to 26 August 2012, 10am – 5pm daily. It is curated by a core group of 7 Heartwood Artists comprising Fanny Lam Christie, Kyra Clegg, Su Grierson, Frances Law, Shona Leitch, Martine Foltier Pugh, and Ceri White. They have invited further 8 artists: Tom Harrup, Pat Law, Jessica Ramm, Johannes Sailer, Liz Skulina, Edward Summerton and Deniz Üster to take part in this art project.

Frances Law has transformed her space into Musée de l’extraordinaire presenting a collection of archaeological finds and artifacts. Some of these forms were collected from the beach and woodland at Cambo Estate, others have come from further afield. Liz Skulina is inspired by the tack room. Her work The Tack Room is based on the archaeology of the space, using its history and artefacts as a starting point to create artworks which aim to discover and realise our sense of collective identities.

Tom Harrup used horse dung as a sculptural medium mixing with sand and clay to create several elevated voids and passages using a Bronze-Age mould-making technique. Fanny Lam Christie focuses her work on ideas of regeneration, presenting New Leaf by grafting reclaimed roof slates onto branches of an old whitebeam tree. Jessica Ramm’s Blacklight questions our current cultural assumption that ‘seeking the light’ is synonymous with conceptual enlightenment.

Commenting on her experience in Heartwood Artists projects, Su Grierson said, “Each year the Heartwood exhibition brings a new artistic challenge as we have to think about and respond to a specific location and environment. I always end up making a work that I would never have imagined or envisaged without that stimulus of ‘place’. In turn this has often led to further projects following that line of enquiry. This year, the stables have stimulated my interest in language and I will be making an installation using large lasercut text within the stable stalls.”

Over the past 4 years, Heartwood Artists have organised exhibitions in a woodland environment in Perthshire and have embraced the new challenge of exhibiting in such atmospheric spaces with passionate enthusiasm and creativity.

The original central stalls of the stables were built in the 1760s but have long since fallen into disuse. Currently, the spaces are in a state of transition with plans for restoration into a new visitor centre in 2013. There is, however, still enough in the stables remaining untouched to give a rich sense of the past.

In the introduction to the Heartwood Artists catalogue, Diana A Sykes, Director of Fife Contemporary Art and Craft, said:

“In addressing the challenge of the exhibition the artists demonstrate the variety of ideas and materials they bring to exploring a subject and creating something new. The horses which originally occupied the space provide a departure point through, for example, an examination of what they ate and how humans have used their behaviour to shape language. Marks and traces of the buildings’ past have provided the focus for researching and re-imagining their history. More abstract interpretations of the quality of light and feel of the spaces come into play and references extend to the buildings’ context – the estate’s coast and countryside environment.

Heartwood’s interaction with Cambo invites visitors to think more deeply about and enjoy the stables at this point of transition as well as the artwork itself. Just as the heartwood supports the growth of a healthy tree this exhibition looks to the future creative possibilities at Cambo”.

The exhibition is open to the public daily from 28 July to 26 August 2012, 10am-5pm at Cambo Estate, Kingsbarns, Fife KY16 8QD. It is well worth a visit and there is no charge for admission. The exhibition has incorporated weekend art workshops, including bookmaking on 11 Aug, ceramic sculpture on 18 Aug and stone carving on 25 & 26 August 2012.

Details are on Cambo website www.camboestate.com/events . Enquiries telephone:  01333 450054.

There will be artists at the stables to meet visitors and talk about their work in all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 28 July to 26 August 2012.

The exhibition is presented by Heartwood Artists in partnership with Cambo Institute with support from Cookie Mathieson Trust and Fife Council. www.heartwoodartists.com

Source: Fanny Lam Christie – 12 July 2012