A Little Bird Blown off Course

Created and performed by Fiona J MacKenzie

Musical Director, Donald Shaw; Dramaturg, Bart Capelle; Video Designer, Colin Bell and Colin O’Hara, Design Associate.

Celebrating the life and Gaelic song collection of Margaret Fay Shaw, A Little Bird Blown off Course is a new piece of music–theatre by Fiona J Mackenzie, presented by the National Theatre of Scotland and Blas Festival in partnership with the National Trust for Scotland.

The production will open at the Culloden Battlefield Centre on 06 September and then tour the Highlands of Scotland. There will be a special final performance at Camus Arts Centre on the island of Canna on 14 September.

Margaret Fay Shaw was one of the most notable and important collectors of authentic Scottish Gaelic song in the 20th century, even though her name may not be well-known outside of traditional music circles.

Born in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania USA, Margaret came to Scotland as a teenager and spent a year at school in Helensburgh. She went on to study music in Paris and New York, but returned to Scotland and eventually settled on South Uist. Whilst living there, she met the Gaelic scholar John Lorne Campbell and they married in 1935. For the rest of their lives, the couple were to dedicate themselves to the collecting and preserving of Gaelic songs and folklore for future generations.

Lifting extracts from Margaret’s autobiography, letters, personal photography and previously unseen film footage of island life, A Little Bird Blown off Course will cast fresh light on the importance of this collection to Gaelic culture past and present, and examine the role new Gaelic speakers play in reinvigorating the language. The production will feature live music and song, including extracts from the Gaelic song collection that Margaret and John created and preserved and that form the rich legacy they have bequeathed to Scotland.

The production promises to be an intimate but ambitious new piece of contemporary theatre that melds music, text and video with installation, to highlight the importance of new Gaelic speakers to the survival of Gaelic language and culture, for generations to come.

The creation of A Little Bird Blown Off Course has been led by Fiona J Mackenzie, the BBC Scotland Traditional Music Personality of the Year (2004) and winner of the Burnsong International Songwriting Competition (2009).

This production marks the end of Fiona’s year long attachment to the Company as an Associate Artist (Gaelic), and is the Company’s second Gaelic drama production, following the commission and presentation of bi-lingual play Somersaults by Iain Finlay Macleod in 2011.

Fiona J McKenzie says

“Margaret’s book “Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist” was my first contact with Gaelic song many years ago and has remained my ‘bible’ ever since and having the privilege to work on the original material with Magda Sagarzazzu, the Canna archivist, has been one of the most enlightening and exciting experiences of my life. It is very heartening to see major national bodies such as the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland working together with the Blas Festival, to produce a piece of work which will hopefully increase awareness and develop new audiences for Gaelic cultural events. I’m very much looking forward to touring the show throughout my own home, in the Highlands.”

Caroline Newall, Director of Artistic Development says

“The National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to be working together with the Blas Festival, in partnership with the National Trust for Scotland, to present Fiona J MacKenzie’s new music theatre production. As a national performing arts company, the National Theatre of Scotland is committed to developing and presenting Gaelic work of the highest quality, to provide for, and build, audiences for Gaelic performance. We are thrilled by the possibilities for incorporating traditional Gaelic arts into contemporary theatre performance, and A Little Bird Blown Off Course, is our first foray into this type of cross artform collaboration”

TOUR DATES

Wednesday 4 September – St Peters Hall, Daliburgh – South Uist at 7.30pm

Friday 6 September – Culloden Battlefield Centre at 7.30pm

Saturday 7 September – Arainn Shuaineirt/Sunart (strontian) at 7.30pm

Monday 9 September – Ardgay Village Hall at 7.30pm

Wednesday 11 September – Torridan Village Hall at 7.30pm

Thursday 12 September – McPhail Centre, Ullapool at 7.30pm

Friday 13 September – Strathpeffer Pavilion at 7pm

Saturday 14 September – Camus Arts Centre, Canna (NTS) at 4.15pm

Booking: all performances (aside from the South Uist performance on 4 September) can be booked via Eden Court Theatre.

Ticket Prices: £12 – £15 (performances from 6 Sept)

Box Office: 01463 234234 Online: eden-court.co.uk

Full info on Blas Festival programme: blas-festival.com

Please check the National Theatre of Scotland website for further information and booking info for the South Uist performance

Source: NTS

Catriona Lexy Campbell, a published novelist and poet from Lewis, will join Rosemary Ward from the Gaelic Books Council (Comhairle nan Leabhraichean) to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with Gaelic writing and publishing. Topics will include getting started on a book, how to approach publishers, the publication process and digital developments.

The talk, which will be delivered at Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula, later this month, is the last in a series of free Gaelic lectures taking place this year. Organised by the University of the Highlands and Islands, the series marks the 60th anniversary of Lews Castle College UHI, a partner of the university.

Based on the theme of Gaelic in modern life, the lectures recognise Gaelic as an integral part of Scotland’s heritage and national identity. Head of BBC ALBA, Margaret Mary Murray, spoke about Gaelic media in Glasgow in January and a lecture on Gaelic in education took place in Stornoway in May.

The talks also tie in with courses offered by the university, which include degrees in Gaelic language and culture; Gaelic with education; Gaelic and development and a higher education certificate in Gaelic and communication. All of these courses are offered through Lews Castle College UHI as well as Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, where Catriona Lexy Campbell is the current writer in residence.

Speaking about the lecture, Catriona Lexy Campbell said: “Through my work with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, I have had many opportunities to meet people who are interested in writing in Gaelic and I’m very happy to be taking part in this project and building on that experience. I’m sure it’ll be a great day.”

Rosemary Ward said: “I am delighted to have been asked to participate in this important series of lectures that highlight the contribution the media, education and literature and publishing have made to the revitalisation of Gaelic. I am particularly pleased to be invited to deliver the lecture in Benbecula in front of a ‘home’ audience having, myself, been brought up and educated in South Uist.

“Comhairle nan Leabhraichean is committed to increasing the number, range and quality of Gaelic publications and our development strategy focuses on supporting Gaelic authors, editors and publishers to produce accessible, new and exciting Gaelic books. The upsurge in digital developments presents challenges and opportunities for us in our efforts to address the demands of readers to have Gaelic literature available in a variety of formats.”

James Fraser, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, welcomed the lecture, saying: “We are delighted that Rosemary Ward and Catriona Lexy Campbell are speaking about Gaelic in publishing as part of this lecture series and that they are doing so in Benbecula. The University of the Highlands and Islands is spread across the Gàidhealtachd and, through Lews Castle UHI, offers a number of important programmes in music and art in Uist and Benbecula. Adding this lecture to the other activities underlines our commitment to the whole of our region.”

The Gaelic in publishing talk will take place from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 19 June at Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula. The lecture will be delivered in Gaelic and simultaneous interpretation into English will be available through headphones. To book a FREE place, contact the university’s events team on 01463 279 344 or at events@uhi.ac.uk

To find out more about the university’s lecture series or Gaelic courses, visit www.uhi.ac.uk

Source: UHI

There are some new updates and additions to the website which we hope is of interest.

The new interview section contains some cracking pieces contributed by Ally White, Karine Polwart, Paddy Callaghan and the most recent from Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher. We’ll be adding more every week so keep checking for these. Read more here http://www.hebceltfest.com/festival/interviews

An overview of the complete Hebcelt programme can be viewed at http://www.hebceltfest.com/festival/glance.

Stage splits / timings are now available from http://www.hebceltfest.com/festival/times.

And finally important information about our ongoing efforts at greening the festival and a fantastic new project that we hope you all help us out with on the day. We are the only festival in Scotland to be hosting these Recycle & Reward machines http://www.hebceltfest.com/backstage/greening, your assistance in helping us recycle as much as we can will be rewarded by some fantastic prizes.

Enough reading for one day.

We will be open on Church Street on Saturdays, 15th and 22nd June, and then open fulltime from Monday, 24th June. Please come in and collect your tickets if you stay locally or check out our merchandise. We aim to have this available online shortly.

You can also book online from http://www.hebceltfest.com/booking or by calling us on 01851 621234.

And finally keep up with us on Facebook and / or Twitter for all the latest news in the run up to the event.

For all local area information remember to check out http://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk

Source: Hebridean Celtic Festival

The quartet, which was made up of University of the Highlands and Islands’ students, performed a selection of traditional Scottish and Gaelic music as well as their own compositions. Amy is a keen fiddler and Jamie specialises in whistles as well as fiddle.

The musical performance was part of a University of the Highlands and Islands and University of the Highlands and Islands Development Trust event to thank existing donors and supporters and connect with other key individuals and businesses with strong links to the Highlands. Over 60 guests attended the event which was hosted by HRH The Princess Royal. HRH was installed as the first chancellor of the university in June 2012.

Amy and Jamie travelled to Buckingham Palace from Lews Castle College UHI’s Benbecula campus on Uist where they study the university’s HNC in music. Delivered by tutors with backgrounds in the music industry, the applied music course encourages participants to gain as much live performance experience as possible. The students have already played for the BBC TV programme Landward, Swiss Radio and the Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow this year.

Speaking about the event Amy MacAulay said: “It was such an honour to be chosen to represent the university at an event in Buckingham Palace. The music was a success and a lot of people came to talk to us after the event to give thanks. It was a once in a lifetime experience I definitely won’t forget.”

Anna-Wendy Stevenson, programme leader for the applied music degree, said: “Our students were very excited to be representing the university at this important event and they practiced hard. They showcased their talents as well as the Gaelic song and traditional music of the Highland and Islands region. The performance highlighted the success of the university’s innovative music courses like our applied music degree which is available all over Scotland.”

Nuala Boyle, head of development at the university, said: “The event was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our talented students as well as illustrate the diversity of our university offering.”

To find out more about the University of the Highlands and Islands music courses visit www.uhi.ac.uk or call the course information line on 0845 272 3600.

You can read about the University of the Highlands and Islands Development Trust at www.development.uhi.ac.uk

Source: UHI

Peter Ferguson, who is in the second year of the course at Lews Castle College UHI, submitted a portfolio of three images on the theme of “Winter Machair” to the 2012 Scottish Nature Photography Awards.

Speaking about his portfolio, he said: “I didn’t have far to look for the photos as they were all taken from my garden, though at different times of the year! They show the machair land of North Uist: a strip of flat, fertile, sand-blown crofting land which runs along the west coast of the island, with long views down to the sand dunes on the horizon.”

The winning images in the 2012 Scottish Nature Photography Awards showcase Scotland’s nature in its diverse and fascinating forms. Some were captured as a result of arduous and ambitious expeditions and others practically on the photographers’ doorsteps, but they all share the qualities of photographic excellence combined with an appreciation of our natural environment.

The judging panel selected their winners from over 2300 entries from around the world to the Scottish Landscape, Scottish Wildlife, Scottish Botanical, Natural Abstract, Environmental, Student and Junior categories.

Lorne Gill, a photographer for Scottish Natural Heritage who was on the judging panel, explained why Peter’s work stood out: “Anyone that has been to the Outer Hebrides will have been struck by how flat the western seaboard and machair grasslands of these islands are and how the sky totally dominates the scene. Peter Ferguson submitted three striking images with mood and contrast that convey that feeling perfectly and that transport the viewer into another world where the land meets the sky.”

James Fraser, University of the Highlands and Islands principal and vice-chancellor, welcomed the news, saying: “The University attaches enormous importance to its fine art courses in the Western Isles and Elgin, and is justifiably proud of Peter for his magnificent achievement.”

Sophie Morrish, Peter’s course leader, added: “On the fine art BA course based here in North Uist, we actively encourage students to engage creatively with the unique and inspiring environment of the islands. We are really pleased that one of our students work has been acknowledged at a national level and congratulate him on his achievement.”

An exhibition of the winning images from all the competition categories will tour Scotland from July 2013 and will be published in a Portfolio Yearbook. A full list of winners is at www.scottishnaturephotographyawards.com

Source: UHI

AN ANNUAL installation by the students on the Art, Space and Nature masters course at Edinburgh University has now become part of the An Lanntair calendar.

COURSE tutor Donald Urquhart established the Western Isles connection. It is possible this will alternate with course visits to Orkney. The pattern is that a group of students first visits as a field trip. They then have a period to continue their investigations and research.

When they return to the Island, they install a group show, exploring responses to what has struck the individual artists and sparked off further work. The first installation, three years ago, was in the corridor and bar area but the quality of work led to last year’s offer of installing in the main gallery. I felt it was a show brimming with ideas so was not surprised to see the space offered to this year’s students. Sadly it is only on show for a week.

It’s fortunate that Northings is still active, just long enough to draw attention to a body of work that might otherwise hardly be noticed. And I’m glad to be able to sign-off from a happy long-term relationship with this excellent forum, on a positive note. But where will we find its like – a skillfully edited and well presented Journal, fairly presenting comment across all the arts, as they relate to the Highlands and Islands?

This is a body of work brimming with a sense of adventure. Pieces vary from provisional expressions of a developing idea to pieces which seem to me to have already found a satisfying form for the ideas behind them. The range of media is wide but all works do home-in to our small geography. But there is an implicit sense of comparison – our context in a wide world.

Take Stephanie Getta’s Dic | Seanphacail | Sayings. It is a work in three languages. A simple but well-designed pamphlet gathers the proverbs of an area in the Dolomites and those of the Isle of Lewis. The work is the gathering and comparison, diligently researched, quietly presented and likely to be ongoing. A small group of plastic cups for the ear are suspended as an offer to listen to the languages of Gaelic and Ladin.

Tanja Geis represents the luxurient sea-foam which has been such a feature of recent storms. The meeting of ocean and shore is recorded in photography but this becomes two large scale long rectangles, inviting comparison. They are like positive and negative images, richness come from sheer energy. She sets this by a “haleidoscope” where salt crystals turn inside a hand-shaped cylinder carved from a piece of discarded shipyard oak. The timber, from a decommissioned fishing vessel, has been giving a new life. Both pieces are beautiful objects but are also part of an exploration.

Sara Ockland - Walk Away

In contrast, the exploration of possibility seems more to the fore than a finished presentation in the work shown by Sara Ockland. She continued the group’s relationship with the traditional boat society, Falmadair. The whole group sailed the last of the original north Lewis lugsail boats, sgoth Jubilee, during their field trip. Sara was taken back out into the approaches to Stornoway harbour by skipper Jim McWhir. A series of like discs were painted with a fairly wild shade of red to enter the water, but tethered together so all could be recovered. Although they did not present enough surface area to be affected by wind, the drift induced by tidal current and small waves sent them drifting in divergent lines.

For me, this is an idea that could continue to be explored. The discs themselves looked startling on the grey gallery floor and led you to a small, simple image of their distribution on the sea. But it’s surely part of a Masters Degree course that there is room to set an idea in motion. Perhaps some artists work by forming the idea and thinking out its practical representation in advance and others have to try this and try that till it all seems right. It’s interesting too that some artists on this course come from a background in architecture or in landscape architecture and others from fine-art. For some it may be the first time they have exhibited a made work, outside a formal commission.

Luskentyre beach has proved a draw on all the course field-trips. It’s character is caught by Javier Vidal Aguilera, who exhibits 99 small prints. They are derived from photographs of seaweed traces. It reminded me of Helen Douglas’s work, gathered in one of Alec Finlay’s pocketbook series in the sense that it is a subtle, sustained study of a simple but beautiful found thing. But something mysterious happens here, in the translation from digital photograph to monochrome print on semi-transparent paper. The whole series taken on one day (another number 9 in the date) adds a shamanistic element. The observed natural debris has become a mysterious calligraphy.

Sandra Teixera - 32000 Folds

This work naturally chimes with Sandra Teixera’s “32,000 folds”. It is a prayerful commitment – representing 1,000 salmon, in small origami models. These are suspended on monofilament line and allowed to move to any air-currents. They ask more then they tell – perhaps there is a native North American parallel to the Gaelic tradition of the salmon of knowledge. Perhaps there is an implicit comparison with the free-swimming wild fish and its densely-farmed, genetic cousin.

Flavia Salvador has observed what Robert Livingston once called “the zen of passing places” in a Northings blog. You look ahead and show courtesy, guaging your speed so perhaps you might not even need to stop. The idea uses the space offered by the particular gallery to meditate on an observed tradition of passing a waved greeting across the space outside the nearly-meeting cars. One text is carefully painted on one wall and you look twice to see how it corresponds with the answering phrase, opposite. The work is a poem. It is gentle but depends on wit to express the observation.

Flavia Salvador - The Passing Place

A direct quotation catalogues the work of Zhongying Ren: “Man is ruled by land, land is ruled by heaven, heaven is ruled by Tao, and Tao is ruled by nature.” In one sense this work relates to the seafoam wall, round the corner of the L-shaped space. Crumpled metal foil replicates the strange natural phenomena in a contrasting material. It’s like a metaphysical conceit in poetry – where an extravagant or daring metaphor brings you to study one thing by likening it to another. I had to stoop low to see the foil reflected in a floor-level band of uncrushed foil on the wall. Perhaps this is another work where the present visual form is not the final result of a developing idea.

There is a turning point in any L shape and Jonathan Hemelberg probably unwittingly follows his tutor, Donald Urquhart, in carrying a work around that corner. Urquhart’s last show here, really did play music with the opportunities of the space. Drawing has returned, big time, to the art world. This artist draws a simple, alternative map. Significant features – a lighthouse, a broch, are placed in a landscape of swirls that could be contours. Written diary-like comments note a personal reaction to our landscape. But you could argue that any phrase in common use was someone’s personal reaction once. To quote from the lore of a region in the Dolomites:

“Då lå Madònå dei Chèrmin i òrjes doveså ˘spièr.”

“On the day of our Lady of Carmel the barley should start to spike.”

It’s good to know there’s a summer of some kind coming.

© Ian Stephen, 2013

Links

• An Lanntair
• Art Space and Nature Programme
• Ian Stephen

THE NAME ‘six degrees west’ fixes a group to a measured distance from the prime meridium which goes right through Greenwich but it gives you quite a bit of latitude.

SIMILARLY, this group exhibition, INCH KENNETH, curated by Alicia Hendrick, stems from limiting the scope to one particular island, west of Mull. There’s no shortage of islands that way, from the iconic line of the Dutchman’s Cap in the Treshnish islands to the basalt of Staffa or the sickening jagged nature of the Torran Rocks. But the more pastoral Inch Kenneth has a significant history in its own right, layered over centuries.

David Faithfull (photo Shannon Tofts)

If you take Murdo Macdonald’s approach that ancient artifacts can’t simply be sidelined as historical objects but can be seen simply as made things, just older ones, then the carved stones I witnessed, reclining on Inch Kenneth some thirty years ago, are important works of art. There was a tradition of burying the noble dead here if conditions prevented reaching Iona. Equally iconic now is the layer of history linked to the once grand house on Inch Kenneth where the residency actually took place.

The house was owned by the Mitford family during the second world war. The society daughters chose varying paths. Diana went on to marry Oswald Mosley, founder of the British fascist party. Unity corresponded intimately with Hitler. And Jessica thought uncle Joe Stalin was just fine and communism was the road to the future.

Veronica Slater - Map Shadow, the house on Inch Kenneth (photo Shannon Tofts)

The family tension must have come to a head when Unity attempted suicide, on the mainland, but returned as an invalid to live out some more damaged years, on the island. It’s a script you couldn’t write, for fear of being thought theoretical or sensational. But that’s part of the history of this house.

It’s picked up directly by David Faithfull in his bound folio of digital prints with a screen-printed cover. The colour background alludes to both Nazi and Communist sympathies. The print medium and its presentation in this bound folio lends itself well to presentation of a body of work made in response to being a resident artist’s group in this place. I spoke in depth to Veronica Slater, who attended the opening in An Lanntair with David.

She explained that some work in the show came, as you might expect, as a spontaneous response and other pieces came later, as a hard-won body of work. There is a range of styles and favoured media in the show and this seems a healthy thing in bringing together such a residency. I suggested to Veronica that there could be parallels with the ethos of the Triangle Trust international artists’ workshops which led to a pilot project in North Uist then a series of three Scottish Island workshops.

The difference is that there is no exhibition or product in mind in the Triangle ethos – a deliberate policy. You might say there’s a risk of a possible lack of focus but a gain in that artists, both early in their careers and established, are encouraged to think, experiment or interact – or all of these – and possibly arrive at something which could be outside or extending the scope of their usual working practice.

No doubt thanks to a range of factors, the 6° WEST concept has resulted in a very worthwhile exhibition. These factors must include sensitive curatorial input, including choice of artists, management of challenging logistics and support of the galleries the show will be linked to. But most of all, the commitment of the individual artists has to be the crucial element.

Mhairi Killin (photo Shannon Tofts)

Mhairi Killin takes a more minimal approach than the others. In An Lanntair, a wall is built so a corridor is simulated. The sort of tag you might find on vintage luggage, hints at more clues to elusive lives. There is a particular mirror, with layers of allusion, but you have to look for clues. Outside, there is the most delicate assemblage which is so striking it revitalizes a possible cliché in the art of working with things found – a Gaelic/Japanese aesthetic seems present. There is also an editioned print which combines some of these elements as motifs.

Anne Devine (photo Shannon Tofts)

Anne Devine’s work is cleverly placed adjacent. This is drawing essentially, though colour is used too – it is discovery by doing. The fluency and energy of the drawing provides the interest as opposed to the delicate balance in her neighbour’s pieces. The figures in the drawing suggest folklore and mythology. Many elements are gathered in a large scale vibrant work, oil wax and resin on linen. It’s a bit like placing a more sprawling but energetic novel beside a tight series of short-stories. Again, a print has also been produced, this time in stone lithography.

Veronica Slater has gone for one telling thing – the porthole-type window. Then she repeats it, expands, plays with it. So windows are contained within windows. She has taken a colour swatch from the interior décor and painted a large circle on the gallery wall. Within that are circles which could either be looking out, through weather, towards a mainland or looking within the rooms of the house.

Veronica Slater (photo Shannon Tofts)

I have been within these walls but more than thirty years ago. A friend was invited by the then caretakers and brought me along. I’d been expecting something more opulent. Instead there was a consistent arts and crafts look and feel to the quite spare but elegant furnishings. Veronica Slater is clearly an artist who loves her materials as well as her subject. She has observed how damp has affected the fabric of walls and reproduced its effect with a wide range of media, orchestrated within her large circle. On an opposing wall, a group of smaller circles uses similar techniques.

You could say that her vision sees ageing and weathering as a gradual enrichening.What might have been once quite spare has become opulent. Similarly her Giclee print – a straightforward photographic means of reproduction which I must say doesn’t excite me the way the slightly uncertainties inevitable in other print media does – has an additional layer imposed by screenprinting.

David Faithfull takes us back outside to the tidal regions where bleached cetacean bones can be found amongst whitened driftwood. He shows a whole body of work, enough for an exhibition in its own right, linked to a 20th century literary reference to a leviathan – a text from William Golding’s Pincher Martin. The list of materials reads like poetry. A central large-scale drawing, on paper and linen is made in “gouache, meteorite and oak gall ink”. Although the drawings are mainly monochrome and the subject matter is exterior, the allusions are as often literary classics as family-history. The overall effect is again rich.

Shelved and floor-mounted sculptures reproduce the beautiful bone shapes in cedar-wood – a transformation from the bible. This is an artist who loves the book as a form in itself. I’m sure one day soon artists will make work from the dead shells of Kindles, but right now I find that difficult to see.

Shannon Tofts documented the process of the workshop and the acts of making in still and moving images, installed to make good use of the busy An Lanntair foyer and to lead custom into the show. Veronica also shows an intriguing attempt to draw the moving shadows cast by a tenacious small tree, in pebbles or shells. I loved her title for a video piece focusing on this strange, tall, island house –‘Home’ Movie.

Veronica Slater’s printed works were made at Highland Print Studios (David Faithfull is a master printer and printed his own prints; Anne Devine worked with master printer Elspeth Lamb to produce her stone lithography, and Mhairi Killin worked with Edinburgh Print Studio). The idea of using HPS as a mainland hub is one seen before at An Lanntair in their touring exhibition Is A Thing Lost?, exploring storytelling in mainly visual terms. It’s inspiring to see this excellent facility continue to take traditional and contemporary printmaking techniques to such a level of excellence.

Ian Stephen is assisting Christine Morrison this week at Highland Print Studios, making a series of four prints, derived from voyages to outlying islands. Each uses the photo-polymer process (monochrome) and screen-printed texts in colour.

© Ian Stephen, 2013

Links

• 6° WEST Artists Collective
• Ian Stephen

They would very much like to know if there are there any short courses that would particularly interest you?

Any ideas will be considered so please feel free to contact them directly by email or telephone 01478 614833.

Many thanks in advance for your time.

Katrina MacLeod

(Administrative Assistant/LC Mentor)

West Highland College UHI

Portree Learning Centre

Àrainn Fhinn

Portree

Isle of Skye

IV51 9ET

Tel no 01478 614833/614834

katrina.macleod@whc.uhi.ac.uk

West Highland College UHI (formerly Skye & Wester Ross College)

Colaiste na Gàidhealtachd an Iar OGE

www.whc.uhi.ac.uk

Now in its second year, 5 Latha will take place between April 8th to 13th and give pupils the opportunity to immerse themselves in a community where Gaelic is used naturally and in which crofting, fishing and the Harris Tweed industry play an important part in the lives of its residents. Each day participants will have the opportunity to gain a hands-on experience of traditional works, spending time with experienced individuals who will show them what is involved in their daily routines from lambing, looking after cattle, fishing, peat cutting to producing Harris Tweed. The participants will also have the opportunity to learn some traditional recipes through practical cookery sessions using locally sourced ingredients.

Though a musical ability is not essential to attend 5 Latha, there will be music and song workshops throughout the week which will be delivered by two of our finest musicians; well known fiddler Iain MacFarlane (Blazin Fiddles) and Gaelic singer Norrie MacIver (Mànran).

Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science, and Scotland’s Languages, visited the project during its first year. He said: “5 Latha is a fantastic opportunity for fluent Gaelic speakers, offering pupils from across Scotland the chance to learn new traditional skills whilst spending a week living on a island steeped in Gaelic heritage and culture. Where better to learn these new skills than in a Gaelic speaking community where such traditions are still so prevalent today?

“It was wonderful to see how much the first group of pupils enjoyed 5 Latha last year and I would like to congratulate Fèisean nan Gàidheal on the ongoing commitment to the project. It shows how our investment in Gaelic is creating exciting opportunities for people of all ages and is helping to secure a sustainable future for Gaelic while recognising the importance of Gaelic speaking communities.

Arthur Cormack, Chief Executive of Fèisean nan Gàidheal said: “This is a great opportunity for young people to use their Gaelic language skills and develop them further in an interesting, creative and fun environment at the same time as they will pick up skills from experts based in a Gaelic community. The community in the West Side of Lewis was extremely supportive of the event when it was established last year and we are looking forward to returning to Gearrannan where we got a great welcome.”

As Calum Alex MacMillan, Fèisean nan Gàidheal’s Development Manager explained: “Our idea was to give young people the chance to get involved with a Gaelic-speaking community and to learn about the activities which were, and still are, important in Highland life, using Gaelic all the time. This worked out very well for us last year and we had applications from many more people than we could accommodate. So we are expecting a good response this time round.

The call for applications to take part in 5 Latha comes ahead of a summit in Edinburgh on February 20th looking at Gaelic Medium Education.

Fèisean nan Gàidheal is grateful to Bòrd nan Gàidhlig and Highlands & Islands Enterprise for assistance with 5 Latha.

For more information please contact Calum Alex Macmillan on 01463 225559 or calum@feisean.org.

An application form is available here http://www.feisean.org/downloads/Foirm%20Iarrtais%20-%20Application%20Form%205%20Latha.pdf

5 Latha a’ tilleadh a Leòdhas

Bidh cothrom air leth air ògridh a tha fileanta sa Ghàidhlg an cuid sgilean a leudachadh tron tachartas 5 Latha aig Fèisean nan Gàidheal. Bidh seo a’ dol air adhart a-rithist am-bliadhna aig Na Gearrannan, Eilean Leòdhais eadar 8 agus 13 Giblean 2013.

Gheibh suas ri sia-deug com-pàirtiche, aois àrd-sgoile, a tha fileanta sa Ghàidhlig an cothrom còig latha a chur seachad ann an coimhearsnachd Gàidhlig far a bheil obair chroitearachd, iasgach agus obair a’ Chlò Hearaich na phàirt mhòr de bheatha muinntir na sgìre. Gach latha bidh com-pàirtichean a’ tadhail air daoine aig a bheil sàr eòlas air an obair aca ‘s gheibh iad an cothrom ionnsachadh mu na diofar ghnìomhan a tha an sàs annta, bho chaoraich aig àm breith nan uan, buain na mònadh, ag iasgach aig mùir, trusadh maorach agus beagan mu chòcaireachd, ag ionnsachadh fad na h-ùine bho dhaoine sa choimhearsnachd.

Ged nach fheum comas ciùil a bhith aig com-pàirtichean airson 5 Latha a fhrithealadh, bidh sinn a’ tabhann cothroman sònraichte ceòl is òrain ionnsachadh bho shàr luchd-ciùil na Gàidhlig cuideachd, nam measg am fìdhlear ainmeil Iain MacPhàrlain (Blazin Fiddles) agus an seinneadar Gàidhlig Norrie MacÌomhair (Mànran).

Thadhail An t-Oll Alasdair Allan, Ministear airson Ionnsachadh, Saidheans agus Cànain Alba air an tachartas an-uiridh. Thuirt e: “‘S e cothrom air leth a th’ ann an 5 Latha do luchd-labhairt na Gàidhlig, ‘s e a’ toirt cothrom do sgoilearan bho air feadh Alba sgilean traidiseanta ùra ionnsachadh ‘s iad a’ fuireach ann an eilean a tha air a bhogadh ann an dualchas na Gàidhlig. Chan eil suidheachdh nas fheàrr na coimhearsnachd Gàidhlig airson nan sgilean ùra seo ionnsachadh, far a bheil iad fhathast am follais san latha an-diugh.

“Bha e air leth tlachdmhor fhaicinn cho math ‘s a chòrd cùisean aig 5 Latha ris a’ chiad bhuidhinn an-uiridh agus bu mhath leam meala-naidheachd a chur air Fèisean nan Gàidheal airson an tachartais seo a chumail a’ dol. Tha seo a’ dearbhadh mar a tha maoineachadh Riaghaltas na h-Alba airson na Gàidhlig a’ cruthachadh chothroman do dhaoine de gach aois agus aig a’ cheart àm ag aithneachadh àite nan coimhearsnachdan Gàidhealach ann a bhith a’ coileanadh seo.”

Thuirt Art MacCarmaig, Ceannard Fèisean nan Gàidheal: “‘S e cothrom anabarrach math a tha seo do dh’òigridh an cuid sgilean Gàidhlig a chleachdach agus an leasachadh ann an suidheachadh inntinneach, cruthachail, spòrsail aig an aon àm sa tha iad a’ togail sgilean eile bho eòlaichean ann an coimhearsnachd Gàidhlig. Bha muinntir Taobh Siar Leòdhais air leth taiceil dhan tachartas nuair a stèidhich sinn 5 Latha an-uiridh agus tha sinn a’ dèanamh fiughair a dhol air ais dha na Gearrannan far an d’ fhuair sinn fàilte chridheil roimhe.”

Mhìnich Calum Ailig Mac a’ Mhaolain, Manaidsear Leasachaidh Fèisean nan Gàidheal: “Bha beachd againn cothrom a thoirt do dhaoine òga a bhith mar phàirt de choimhearsnachd Ghàidhlig agus a bhith ag ionnsachadh mu na h-obraichean a bha, agus a tha fhathast, cudromach ann am beatha nan Gàidheal, a’ cleachdadh na Gàidhlig far an t-siubhail. Dh’obraich cùisean uabhasach math an-uiridh le barrachd òigridh ag iarraidh àite na b’ urrainn dhuinn a ghabhail. Tha dùil againn ri tuilleadh iarrtais am-bliadhna.”

Tha an gairm gu 5 Latha a’ tighinn air thoiseach air co-labhairt mu Fhoghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig a bhios a’ dol air adhart ann an Dùn Èideann air 20mh Gearran.

Tha Fèisean nan Gàidheal taingeil do Bhòrd na Gàidhlig agus Iomairt na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean airson taic le 5 Latha.

Source: Fèisean nan Gàidheal

Fonn: The Campbells of Greepe (subtitled Music and a Sense of Place in a Gaelic Family Song Tradition) tells the story of a Hebridean family with a gift for music which goes back generations – and pays tribute to the place and culture that allowed them to flourish.

A quick glance at their family tree reveals seven Mod medallists, including several winners of that prestigious ‘double’ in traditional Gaelic singing: the Gold Medal and the Traditional Medal.

Many of the Campbells, who hailed from Skye and latterly Glasgow, are household names throughout the Highlands and Islands and in the world of Scottish music. One of them, Kenna Campbell, famously sang the 23rd Psalm at the memorial service for the late Labour leader, John Smith.

Kenna, honoured with a doctorate from RSAMD in 2009, was part of folk group Na h-Eilthirich (The Exiles) in the 70s, along with her sister Ann and brother Seumas, while, in more recent years, other members of the family have sung together in Cliar.

The first of the Mod Gold Medal winners in the Campbell family was Kenna’s aunt, Seonag, who won in 1957. Other winners were Kenna’s sister Ann, Ann’s daughter, Maggie MacDonald, and Kenna’s two daughters, Mary Ann and Wilma Kennedy. They were both double medallists, just as their uncle Seumas was in in his day.

Fonn, which is being launched at Sabhal Mor’s 40th Anniversary Festival Concert in Glasgow’s City Halls, tells the story of the family in their own words and those of their friends.

The main part of the book is recollections based on interviews by journalist and broadcaster Morag Stewart. There are also pictures from the family albums, family trees, maps of the area of Skye they came from, press cuttings and record cards.

Fonn is completely bilingual, being presented in Gaelic and English throughout, and also features a large collection of traditional songs from the family’s repertoire, transcribed by Mary Ann.

There is also an accompanying CD featuring rare recordings of older family members, including some from the archives at The School of Scottish Studies dating back to the 50s.

A CD of the same name, Fonn, is available separately and features new recordings of the family together. It was produced by Jerry Boys to coincide with the book and is available from Watercolour Music.

A large number of people were involved with Fonn. The book’s introduction was written by Dr John Macinnes, formerly of Edinburgh University, while the project was initially co-ordinated by Skye-based photographer and broadcaster Cailean Maclean. The photographic images used for the cover designs were by Phil Gorton from Skye.

The idea itself came from the former manager of Lewis-based publishers Acair. Norma Macleod, who is now retired, also edited the book in close co-operation with members of the family. She described the finished product as “a magnificent record of a family who contribute such an amazing amount to Gaelic tradition, music and song”.

Acair manager Agnes Rennie said Fonn was “for anyone with an interest in Gaelic music and heritage”, adding: “It pulls together a lot of things that we, as a company, value and work to promote.”

Mary Ann Kennedy said: “If it weren’t for Norma Macleod at Acair, this would never have happened. We are incredibly grateful because various people have taken an interest in our music and our story.

“We really don’t regard ourselves as being special. The reason the family are who they are and do what they do is because of the community that they grew up in.”

Fonn: The Campbells of Greepe (Music and a Sense of Place in a Gaelic Family Song Tradition) is available from Acair – www.acairbooks.com – and all good book shops, priced £30.

Source: Acair

THE title really does say what this bright, light, winter-solstice show in an Lanntair’s main gallery is about – “the sea that’s within me”.

THE tapestry-maker Fiona Hutchison points out that there is no spot in Scotland more than fifty miles from the sea. But she is also a sailor and therefore one who who has no option but to look closely at the surface of water for clues as to the forces which are acting upon it at any time. A sailing vessel can’t just disregard eddies if forward momentum is to be maintained. And I’d say the subject of this celebratory exhibition is the interplay of warp and weft, seen as cross-currents.

"warp and weft, seen as cross-currents" - work from the exhibition (Ian Stephen)

But the artist, trained as a tapestry weaver, takes her craft into a huge range of variations. Her materials do not simply criss-cross a chosen format but at times seem barely contained within the scheme. You get a sense of energy in all the diverse works. This is an artist who loves her medium as well as her subject. She is inventive in her range of different scales, in presentation and in materials. But restricting the palette to one dominated by the blue-grey-turquoise and whites range, gives a strong sense of unity.

There are two large-scale tapestry works, both of which seem to have found their own dimensions for the subject. One is simply called “wave”, but you get a sense of the sweep of a whole shoreline – the complex geography which results in the shape of a particular wave. It is balanced by another, more conventional woven work, “dark sea”, where wisps of reds suggest the extraordinary force of bright colour you often see in the natural world, shocking and near garish.

Diptych from the exhibition (Ian Stephen)

Elsewhere, several diptychs, sometimes boxed in acrylic glass, house woven objects which give close scrutiny to the results of turmoil in the natural world. There is also a triptych of harmonic pieces but with significant variations between the individual items. “The work is not a literal translation or a representation of the sea but something remembered, a metaphor for our lives.”

So the ‘tapestry” could be only a few inches square and could contain a shard of glass to represent a section of ice-flow. Monofilamemt netting can have a mind and memory of its own and leap into its own shape, known universally by fishermen as “a bundle of bastards”. But Hutchison harnesses phenomena, or rather she observes and represents. She doesn’t fight against the currents.

Floor show (Ian Stephen)

Part of the pleasure in this show is from the musical balance between the elements. The artist brought more work than she hung – the L-shaped gallery does not have the linear space you might think it does, at first glance. Instead, a floor-mounted installation, takes you round the corner. A series of paper scrolls, laid in salt, suggest a Paisley pattern swirl to sweep you through the space. Fiona reported a very good partnership with an Lanntair, in selecting the works and balancing them out.

I might have been tempted to make it a shade more spare still, but on the other hand would have found it difficult to decide which of the treasures to edit out. There is for example a series of five square format open box-frames. Each contains a small tapestry, not quite uniform in size and nowhere near uniform in the orientation of the form within it or in the way the materials comprise a made thing.

This fine winter exhibition is thus its own single tapestry, made out of individual tapestries.

© Ian Stephen, 2013

Links

• An Lanntair
• Fiona Hutchison
• Ian Stephen

DO YOU NOMI? is a dynamic new production by award-winning director and actor, Grant Smeaton and seminal Scottish choreographer, Alan Greig.

It is the story of Klaus Nomi, a man with a unique singing talent and his rise to fame in the New York avant garde scene of the 1970s and 80s. It is also the story of a world which would be transformed by the new and much misunderstood AIDS virus.

An interdisciplinary performance weaving together dialogue, dance and theatre, DO YOU NOMI? will take its audience on a humorous, dark and sensual journey. Four male performers will shine a light on the life of Nomi, combining an emotionally driven narrative with the power and athleticism of dance.

This vibrant and visual production will leave the audience in no doubt as to the importance of this forgotten icon.

DO YOU NOMI? is performed by a company of dancers and actors – Jack Webb, Darren Anderson, Drew Taylor and Laurie Brown.

www.alangreigdancetheatre.com

Age Guidance: 14+ due to adult themes.

Tue 5 Mar at 8pm

An Lanntair (Stornoway)

£10/£9/£8

01851 708480 / www.lanntair.com

Thu 7 Mar at 8pm

Macphail Theatre (Ullapool)

£8/£6 (schools: £2)

01854 613336 / www.macphailcentre.co.uk

(part of Ullapool Dance Festival – www.ullapooldancefestival.org)

Source: Alan Greig Dance Theatre

AS ALL the commissions were advertised together and artists selected by the same panel, you might expect to see evidence of a policy. There are of course many different possible approaches to this often controversial field.

The artist might reasonably be expected to engage in a genuine investigation into cultural aspects of the locality. He or she might be seen as part of a team with the architects and indeed with the staff and pupils of the building. The pitfalls often are that the process of engagement has come too late in the project for the consultation to be meaningful. You can often see evidence of this in public artworks which do not result in a sense of ownership by the community they serve.

A view of Donald Urquhart's installation

I’ve recently had the great pleasure of being able to take a close look at a work which has been made in consultation with the architects of the Nicolson secondary project in Stornoway, but with a genuine input from the pupils of the school. I do have some ‘inside knowledge’ of the process and not because I was a pupil of that school. The artist, Donald Urquhart, is a mate. I can claim that this does not at all affect my ability to be objective because we have also been rivals in applying for commissions.

Let’s get the negative out of the way first because I can say right away that the Nicolson commission seems to me a completely successful work. But how can you judge that, with regard to art which is part of a public building rather than in an exhibition where you can take it or leave it? As always, only by comparison. I know of two other examples of public works made in the Western Isles as part of the umbrella scheme of commissions.

One is pretty much what you would have expected the artist to make. There is no contesting that this is an artist of great skills but often the idea of community involvement is ticked as a box with no real sense that it has significantly influenced the essentials of the work in question.

The installation

Another is a pre-formed idea, made to the budget and installed with no sense of the cultural implications of the representational icons mounted at the approach to the school. As a storyteller I was asked to justify one work by finding a relevant island story for it, after the rather sinister image was already produced. Now as a poet, I would have to question that such a retrospective process could meet the requirements of the words “consultation” or “dialogue”.

So why do I think that the Nicolson work works? Donald Urquhart is vastly experienced in this field and it shows. His installations in Stobhill hospital have been an integral part of the international regard the Reiach and Hall project is held in. Then there are the painted timbers installed at Dysart, an intervention on the shoreline which encourages an altered focus on the seascape but with allusion to the human heritage of the place.

A closer view

The cornfield wall and the painted towers at the redeveloped Eden Court Theatre in Inverness are quiet in one sense, but a large part of the aesthetic of the building visible to the outside world. In all of these, colour is the essential element. A draughtsman and painter by trade has carried his obsessions and skills into the multiple dimensions of the public works, interior and exterior.

As a mate and one with a head for heights, Donald asked if I’d give a hand touching up some minor post-installation damage to the paintwork of the abstract three dimensional work, newly installed in the Nicolson. This makes use of the high open hallway in the now occupied building. As one of the labouring team, following Donald’s instructions, to touch-up some minor scuffs to the paint finish, I gained an insight into both the final form of the work and the process which greatly influenced one aspect of it.

What do you see when you walk in? A closely hung grouping of painted three-dimensional shapes suspended from the roof structure to continue below the line of a mezzanine area, into the void space below. They are a bit like Toblerones, but a lot skinnier, in proportion. The bottom ends are not in line but slightly staggered, though not in a uniform way. Instead, you immediately get a sense of a connection with landscape, rather than with the more logical shapes of a designed building.

A longer view

The range of colours is on the point of being shocking and yet it is also harmonic. Donald had brought 120 plastic bottles, each carefully numbered to match a plan. Each ‘Toblerone’ has a different shade on each facet. There is some chance for the works to swing very slightly from a single-point suspension on a tensed wire. But this will be more like a very subtle shift of light in landscape than anything like a kaleidescope effect.

So where did the colours come from? If you’re familiar with Donald Urquhart’s work you’ll know there’s a reason for the choices. This is the link to the locality. The artist commissioned a former student of his, now living in the Western Isles, to conduct a series of workshops at the school. These generated great interest, due to enthusiastic participation of the head-teacher, the art-department and other staff. Thus a significant proportion of the school population went out on field trips to identify particular shades in the flora and fauna of the natural environment.

The artist acting as assistant but also with a passion for colour, worked with the pupils to produce a large panatone palette of observed shades which could be reproduced. These might come from the beak of a puffin or from a frond of the complex shading roughly summarized by the word “moor”.

These then gave Donald the basis for his eventual choices of which shade to paint on which face of which of the many suspended shapes. And yes, a measure of chance occured, as when lighting-tracks were not fixed exactly where the plans said they would be.

So the original idea of creating a flush lower line by exactly matching the lengths of suspension-wire to the pitch of the roof, could not be achieved. Donald then chose to go for a random grouping which of course is in sympathy with an inevitable random element in the colour selection. So the work suggests landscape and the asymmetry in much of the observed natural world.

To make it work, he had to consult with the architects to change their choice of colour-scheme for the surrounding area. Its present subtlety is calming and throws focus on the abstract work.

Another angle

I feel that the process has led to a sense of ownership in the work but don’t take my word for it. Ask the cleaners, the staff and the pupils. More than once, in the few hours when our squad was dabbing paint from the said range of bottles, someone came up to say how much they liked the piece and how it contributed something to the space though they couldn’t say quite what.

There we go. To make successful public art, I think the process of commissioning the artist has to allow a space for the factor which is very difficult to score. I’m reminded of a local crofter’s reaction to a temporary installation of painted marks in the landcape during Comhla, the first Triangle Trust artists’ workshop in Scotland. He couldn’t quite say why but somehow he didn’t mind that being there. He looked up again at a place he saw most days. Somehow his line of sight was temporarily altered, that little bit.

I do know that Donald Urquhart would welcome a further dialogue with the wider community which surrounds the school building. It would be a fine and fair thing if all the artists, involved in this series of commissions were invited to a public event where they could each present their work and the experience behind it’s finished form.

The work, COLOUR LINES, takes as its starting point the Hugh MacDiarmid poem, Scotland Small ? ( 1943 ). In this work MacDiarmid urges a way of seeing in the landscape which allows the appreciation of detail and colour. The pupils at the Nicolson Institute were asked to adopt that way of seeing in the development of the work.

Through a series of workshops conducted by the Stornoway based artist, Christine Morrison, a range of over 70 pupils, from across all the year groups, went on visits to the Castle Grounds to photograph and record colour in the landscape. Further computer-based workshops looked at extracting colour samples from digital images.

Each pupil was then asked to think about their favourite colour from a detail of the natural environment of Lewis and to suggest these for the work. The pupils sourced imagery from the photography archive of Scottish Natural Heritage to select individual images of their chosen subjects – from waxwings to puffins and ladybirds to sea campions. Individual pixels were then extracted from these images to form the final pallette for COLOUR LINES.

Urquhart discussed formal options with the pupils for how these colours could be introduced into the space in an appropriate form. The work is intended to form a cluster of colour within the atrium space and if of a scale appropriate to the height of the ceiling from which it is suspended. The triangular section of each element of the work is intended to allow the visible colours to change as the work is viewed from different angles. The forty elements were fabricated to Urquhart’s specification by Inscape Joinery

With forty individual triangular elements this allowed one hundred and twenty colours, selected by the pupils, to be used in the work. Each colour was mixed to match the pixels’ colours before Urquhart hand painted each face of each element. One hundred and twenty colours from the landscape of Lewis brought together by the pupils in one work at the heart of the Nicolson Institute.

© Ian Stephen, 2012

Links

• Nicolson Institute
• Ian Stephen

Gloidhcean was written by Fèisean nan Gàidheal staff themselves, and tells the story of a young lad who neverfulfils his potential as a carpenter. Full of songs, laughs and jokes, it is performed by three members of the organisation’s staff – Angus Macleod, Christine MacIntyre and Dougie Beck. They are joined by Rachel Kennedy, whorecently graduated from the University of the West of Scotland with a degree in Drama.

According to Dougie Beck, Fèisean nan Gàidheal’s drama officer: “Meanbh-chuileag, our drama-outreach project, has always had as an aim that pupils in Gaelic-medium education should have the chance to see plays in their own schools if it’s not possible for them to travel, and that is what we are aiming at with Gloidhcean.”

Information about tickets for the following public performances can be had on 01478 613355 or from moreen@feisean.org.

3 December, 7.30pm: Acharacle Primary

4 December, 7.30pm: Talla Dhonaidh Chaimbeul, Sleat

5 December, 7.30pm: Carinish Hall

6 December, 7.30pm: Clan MacQuarrie Community Centre

7 December, 7.30pm: Spectrum Centre, Inverness

Gaelic-medium schools will be visited on the following dates:

3 December, morning: Fort William Gaelic Primary

3 December, afternoon: Rockfield Primary School. Oban

4 December, afternoon: Portree High School (with Skye primaries)

5 December, afternoon: Sgoil Dhalabroig, South Uist

6 December, afternoon: Sgoil Lacasdail, Lewis (with Lewis primaries)

7 December, afternoon: Dingwall Primary

10 December, afternoon: Tolcross Primary, Edinburgh

—

Tha e air do chùlaibh!

Bidh luchd-obrach Fèisean nan Gàidheal air an rathad eadar 3 is 10 Dùbhlachd leis a’ phanto ùr Ghàidhlig aca, Gloidhcean agus na Dèideagan Briste. Airson a’ chiad uair bho thòisich a’ bhuidheann a’ cur air dòigh panto gach bliadhna, bidh cothrom aig a’ mhòr-shluagh am panto fhaicinn gach oidhche a bhios an sgioba air an rathad, agus taisbeanaidhean poblach air an cur air dòigh air feadh na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean.

Chaidh Gloidhcean agus na Dèideagan Briste a sgrìobhadh le luchd-obrach na buidhne. ‘S ann mu dheidhinn balach òg nach eil uabhasach sgileil a thaobh obair shaorsainneachd a tha an dealbh-cluiche, is tha e làn spòrs, fealla-dhà agus òrain. Bidh triùir de sgioba Fèisean nan Gàidheal a’ cleasachd ann an Gloidhcean – Aonghas MacLeòid, Christine Nic an t-Saoir agus Dougie Beck, agus còmhla riutha bidh Raonaid Cheannadach, a cheumnaich o chionn ghoirid bho Oilthigh Thaobh Siar Alba leceum le urram ann an dràma.

Thuirt Dougie Beck, oifigear dràma na buidhne, “Bha e riamh na amas aig Meanbh-chuileag, an iomairt dràma aig Fèisean nan Gàidheal, gum biodh cothrom aig sgoilearan ann am foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig dealbhan-cluiche fhaicinn sna sgoiltean aca fhèin mura b’ e ‘s gun robh e comasach dhaibh siubhal gu àiteannan eile, agus ‘s e sin an t-amas a th’ againn le Gloidhcean.”

Gheibhear fios mu thiocaidean airson nan seallaidhean poblach a leanas air 01478 613355 no moreen@feisean.org:

3 Dùbhlachd, 7.30f: Bun-sgoil Àth Tharacaill

4 Dùbhlachd, 7.30f: Talla Dhonaidh Chaimbeul, Slèite

5 Dùbhlachd, 7.30f: Talla Chàirinis

6 Dùbhlachd, 7.30f: Talla Bhuirgh

7 Dùbhlachd, 7.30f: Ionad a’ Spectrum, Inbhir Nis

Bithear a’ tadhal air sgoiltean Gàidhlig air na cinn-latha a leanas:

3 Dùbhlachd, madainn: Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig a’ Ghearasdain

3 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Bun-sgoil Rockfield, An t-Òban

4 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Àrd-sgoil Phort Rìgh (le bun-sgoiltean an Eilein Sgitheanaich)

5 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Sgoil Dhalabroig, Uibhist a Deas

6 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Sgoil Lacasdail, Leòdhas (le bun-sgoiltean Eilean Leòdhais)

7 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Bun-sgoil Inbhir Pheofharain

10 Dùbhlachd, feasgar: Bun-sgoil Tolcross, Dùn Èideann

Source: Fèisean nan Gàidheal

The five, who were the only Scottish representatives to make it to London, are now studying and performing all over the UK, performed at two events in the run up to the Albert Hall gig and were supported by the University of the Highlands and Islands Student Development Fund.

Anna-Wendy Stevenson, Course Director of the University of the Highlands and Islands new BA in Applied Music and tutor in Benbecula said: “They worked hard, and played to the Royal Albert Hall in London – Music for Youth Concert. They were interviewed by Classic FM and they brought the house down. I am so happy for them and proud of them for their motivation and hard work.”

The group played a variety of Scottish pieces including Gaelic song and pipe music, together with some more contemporary traditional material.

Band member, Robbie Greig added: “We felt privileged to be representing the University of the Highlands and Islands and even Scotland on such a globally renowned stage. The other performers and staff at the hall were very excited to hear the Highland pipes, and appeared to be impressed with our execution of the pieces. It was a great feeling playing on stage to all those watching, with music that so closely reflected our own culture and our studies at Lews Castle College UHI last year.”

Music for Youth is a national music education charity providing free access to performance and audience opportunities for young musicians across the UK.

Source: UHI

PAN Support world-class performance in the highlands and islands of Scotland. Promoters Arts Network (PAN) supports its members to promote events in communities from Bute to Shetland, from the Western Isles to Moray, using all kinds of spaces : arts venues and theatres, village halls and community centres, converted churches, schoolrooms and barns.

We are here to provide advice, networking and support to individuals and groups who want to bring some of Scotland’s best performances to their communities.

We are keen meet as many promoters of theatre, dance and music as we can – or those interested in bringing these type of professional events to their communities.

Most of our existing promoters are volunteers, although some are paid, and work from Village Halls, Community Centres, Arts Centres, Community Woods, Heritage sites and more.

We have LOTS of new announcements with regards to support, so if you simply want to find out how you might start bringing professional events to your community; or want to know how to be part of a strong, vibrant network of people doing the same – please do come along to one of our events in:

Ullapool 7th Nov

Stornoway 8th Nov

Mallaig 15th Nov

Oban 23rd Nov

Ardross 16th Nov

The events are free and you can easily register here

http://www.eventbrite.com/org/1606710794

Would be great to see new and old faces there!

You can contact Sam Eccles via email director@panpromoters.co.uk

Source: Promoters Arts Network

IN THE world of Contemporary Art Steve Dilworth is a rarity, an artist that defies classification in being uniquely himself.

WORKING since the late 70s with once living materials from land and seascape, his beautifully crafted works redefine our perception of sculpture and of the art world object. The ritual of making, with the inner construction and outer form as equal elements, is central to Dilworth’s practice. He’s an artist who consistently offers questions rather than answers in his transformation of materials and prodigious command of form.

Twenty years after his first solo exhibition at An Lanntair, Acts of Faith (1992), Mortal Remains presents a review of his extraordinary work, aptly coinciding with Faclan, Feis Litreachas Innse Gall/ The Hebridean Book Festival (31 October – 3 November) and its theme of Creideamh/ Belief.

Exhibition shot with Porpoise in foreground (John Maclean Photography)

Throughout his career the truth of making and the belief in art as a bridge between the physical and metaphysical have continued to define Dilworth’s unflinching and visionary work. Like an explorer bringing back artefacts from the depths of our collective unconscious, the artist reinvests power and meaning in creative process:

“I want to retrieve that moment of understanding, not by describing but by making. Of course I’ll fail, but in that chemistry of making another moment will appear. These objects are drawn from an internal landscape of shifting sands, connections are constantly being discovered.”

The transformation of material as part of the artist’s creative process and the idea of illumination through darkness, with the artist and viewer as protagonist, are an integral part of the interior life and psychology of Dilworth’s art. Archetypal narratives and collective folklore permeate his choice of “materials as sources of power” and “construction as ritual”.

The Hanging Figure (1978-79) (courtesy Steve Dilworth)

Crafted from a human skeleton, bovine meat, heart, liver, horsehair and sea grass, The Hanging Figure(1978-79) is represented

Hanging Figure Under Construction (courtesy Steve Dilworth)

in the exhibition as a photographic triptych in black and white with a further sequence of 16 colour photographs recording its making. Sold to the Richard Harris Collection in the United States in 2011, the departure of this seminal work from the UK in the context of world Art History is a national disgrace. In Dilworth’s oeuvre and in the history of art in this country it represents a significant point of departure, an initial exploration of the energies of raw materials, their histories and origins that has shaped all subsequent work.

Unlike the work of many contemporary artists, Dilworth’s work presents art as an offering, creating objects greater and more expansive than themselves or the egos of their makers. The artist introduces the idea of altruism into an art world that falsely presents cultural value and monetary value as equal. The elaborate inner structure of many of Dilworth’s works, often containing precious objects or elements hidden from sight, place imagination at the centre of human experience as a core value and an agent of transformation.

In its use of materials The Hanging Figure brings the viewer into visceral contact with many of society’s taboos. The reanimation of human bone with sea grass and blackthorn, which binds and articulates the figure, displaces raw decaying material from mortal time. In the mind’s eye it becomes something else, a timeless ritual of creation; a moment of understanding for all eternity. The artist embodies life, death and transformation in a single object; a bridge between the physical and metaphysical akin to shamanic practice; in full knowledge of the responsibility of making, the artist becoming a channel.

Woven into the spine of the Hanging Figure is the same genesis of craft and intent consistently present in later work such as Porpoise (Bronze, Sterling Silver 2004). Here the hollows and contours of the sculpture, form within form, are dynamically fluid, encouraging the viewer to move around the work to contemplate from every angle the embryonic nature of becoming. The outer form conceals and reveals the silver vertebrae of a creature turned in on itself. Like the conception of The Hanging Figure as part human, part animal, there is a strong figurative association in this work expressed in its craftsmanship, presenting human perception in malleable form, shape shifting before our eyes.

Sea Chest (courtesy Steve Dilworth)

This sense of power and human vulnerability is also conveyed in Sea Chest (Driftwood, Driftrope, Sand eel 2010), seemingly dredged from the ocean of our collective unconscious. Found materials drawn directly from the land and seascape of Harris are transformed by the artist into an object of individual and collective contemplation. There is a profound feeling of loss held in the interior mindscape of the object, it feels as though it has travelled incalculable distance , a timeless archetypal human mark on landscape and memory.

Like many of Dilworth’s objects it contains that which we cannot see, a kist of precious things held within; a vessel and an enigma. Hidden inside is the bronze cast of a sand eel revealing an essential relationship between living and decaying matter, mortality inverted by the relative permanence of metal, held beyond sight. Dilworth is not secretive about the inner contents of his work; rather the inner and outer design of his sculptural objects makes a “physical connection to the mysteries” of life and death. The organic curvature of soft wood grain exposes closely bound fibres of rib-like rope and form powerfully directs our associations; open carapace, burgeoning seed or still beating human heart.

Mother and Child (courtesy Steve Dilworth)

Mother and Child (Bronze, Meadow Pipit 2008) is arguably one of the most beautiful pieces in the exhibition, a supremely elegant expression of creation, life and death. The inner golden patina of bronze is possessively guarded by avian claws, clasped around an egg with the real “sculpture” of a bird held inside. The form itself folds inwards upon the idea of nature or nurture, the gentle maternal instinct suggested by the title evolving into a more complex reality of instinct.

The complexity of its inner workings is its freedom both for the artist in the act of making and the viewer in the act of seeing. Mother and Child creates connections between what we see, sense and feel; we are increasingly drawn towards the edge of our awareness as a potential core of expanded perception in powerfully tangible bronze. The superb finishing of this work is, like many of Dilworth’s objects, extremely tactile.

There are many fine examples of smaller throwing objects which whilst distanced from their function in the confines of a gallery space were created to be touched and held. Throwing Object (Wood, Bird, Rivets 2004), Swift (Harris Stone, Bird 2012) and Dolphin Tooth Rattle (Harris Stone, Ivory 2012) are examples of objects designed to be “cast into our internal landscape”. The scale of Dilworth’s work is both intimate and infinite, drawing on the geology and prehistory of the ancient landscape in its use of materials and archetypal form.

Lure I (Soapstone 2004) is a magnificent example, inspired by hawking lures and reminiscent of the Venus of Willendorf (24,000-22,000 BCE) in the fecundity of its sensuous curves. Timeless in its “connection to the mysteries” and “independent of time and place” both the Willendorf Venus and Dilworth’s Lure I are steeped in rituals of human creation.

The powerful translation of form in this hand held object can be seen in the monumental scale of Dilworth’s Venus Stone (2008) installed at the Goodwood Sculpture Park, West Sussex. Whilst Venus Stone, its masculine companion piece Claw (2007) in 9 tonnes of polished black granite, the artist’s land-based works and other larger scale work such as Ark (Nickel Silver and Bronze, 2000) are understandably absent from this exhibition, a full scale retrospective acknowledging and celebrating Steve Dilworth’s work nationally by an institution like Tate Modern is long overdue. Mortal Remains draws acute attention to the remarkable scope, continuity and integrity of the artist’s work which is of international importance.

Cat and Rat (John Maclean Photography)

Although much is made of Dilworth’s dark materials the presence of Cat and Rat (Bronze, 2007) in the exhibition further defies classification of his work in delightfully humorous fashion. Of course the comedy is resoundingly black, but there is nursery rhyme joviality in predator and prey forever locked in an eternal dance upon a moon like disc of bronze. Exquisitely balanced upon their tails the two figures have curious elegance, like drawn marks of calligraphy or music. Although their mummified bodies are immortalised in metal, on closer inspection the delicacy of decay makes the viewer feel as if a single touch would cause the entire form to disintegrate. A lively and comic Momento Mori, Cat and Rat cause the viewer to reflect on the macabre joke of the human condition.

Fledglings (courtesy Steve Dilworth)

Rook (Rook, Bog Oak, Nails 1980) preserves a once living body in a sarcophagus of its own mythology. Dilworth’s materials are “equal in presence”; the alchemy of the rook, 10,000 year old bog oak and iron an act of poetic distillation, the beginning of a series of objects creating deepening hollows for the mind to wander into. Fledglings (Fledglings, Yew, Bronze 2011) is a more recent example, a poignant embrace of sharpened curves sculpted in the light and shadow of bronze patina. Although Dilworth claims to have left figurative art behind with the Hanging Figure, there is a sense in which every work is humanely figurative. Where nature is depicted it is our own nature that is implicated by design.

Detail from Moonstone (photo Georgina Coburn)

Moonstone (Harris Stone 2002) feels like an entire world in a single piece of stone. A precursor to the megalithic scale of Claw (2007), the concave hollow of the moon utilises pure light and positive/negative space in its abstract design. Hewn from Harris stone millions of years old, Moonstone digs deep into our collective psyche, an enduring fragment of the earth’s geological forces and the human mind perceiving the landscape through ancient ritual. The ebb and flow of organic cycles and geometric lines of force create a play of light on the object bringing the sculpture to life from every conceivable angle.

Also screening in the gallery space the relationship between the artist and his chosen environment is explored in Paul Cox’s insightful short film, Steve Dilworth, A Portrait, featuring commentary by Ian Sinclair and Robert Macfarlane. (Cox’s film will also be screened in Inverness on 9 November as part of the Inverness Film Festival.)

Mortal Remains is an important survey of the artist’s work including many pivotal works drawn from private collections. A cross disciplinary festival like Faclan presents a great opportunity for Dilworth’s works as enduring, universal acts of engineering, perseverance and faith to be discovered and appreciated by a growing audience. Whilst it is a travesty that this exhibition will not be touring to other centres, An Lanntair are to be congratulated in continuing to acknowledge, celebrate and champion Steve Dilworth’s remarkable work.

© Georgina Coburn, 2012

Links

• Faclan
• An Lanntair
• Steve Dilworth

The Gallery is open to the public in

• Benbecula – Thursday 11th October at Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula HS7 5PJ. Open to the public from 3.45 to 4.15pm
• Lochmaddy – Friday 12th October – Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy HS6 5AA. Open to the public between 10am and 4pm
• Portree – Saturday 13th October – Somerled Square, Portree IV51 9EH. Open to the public between 11am and 5pm

The Travelling Gallery will also be visiting schools across Lewis, Harris and the Uists. For more details on the Travelling Gallery’s itinerary and the ‘We Form Geology’ exhibition please check our website at www.travellinggallery.com.

WE FORM GEOLOGY, by artist Ilana Halperin, explores geological and mineral phenomena formed inside and outside the body, from Scotland to Iceland and beyond. The interior of the Travelling Gallery is transformed into a miniature hall of gems and minerals incorporating geological specimens from National Museums Scotland, many of which relate to the geographical locations visited on the Travelling Gallery tour. Visitors to the installation will be able to discover Cairngorm Quartz, Lewisian Gneiss, Haggis Rock, and Ballachulish Slate alongside geologically inspired films, prints, drawings and sculptures by the artist. The installation also includes a new publication commissioned by the Travelling Gallery and featuring a new story, The Hard Stuff, by Nicola White.

The Travelling Gallery is a custom-built, mobile, contemporary art space inside a big beautiful bus. Supported by Creative Scotland, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Museums and Arts Division of the City of Edinburgh Council, the Travelling Gallery brings high quality contemporary art exhibitions and events to schools and communities throughout Scotland.

The Travelling Gallery, City Art Centre, 2 Market Street Edinburgh EH1 1DE
Email: TravellingGallery@edinburgh.gov.uk
Website: www.travellinggallery.com
Tel: 0131 529 3930

Source: The Travelling Gallery

Workshops carried out with schools in the Western Isles were based on three key stories:

The Bag of Winds – from The Odyssey of Homer; The Three Knots – a tradition form the Monach islands; and Kingsfish – Ian’s story based on a tradition recorded in the J F Campbell collection of folklore. These resulted in a huge number of drawings. A selection of these images was bound with short texts into a hand-printed and hand-bound book.

The two artists would like to thank all at Western Isles Libraries who were involved in the project, the school teachers who gave such strong support and the pupils themselves who produced their own versions of the stories. Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre first commissioned Ian to tell a section from the Odyssey as part of an ambitious re-telling of the whole work by tellers from Mediterranean islands, Ireland and Scottish islands.

“We were also privileged to be there when Sheila Stewart was presented with the lifetime achievement award. She accepted it on behalf of the wider community of travelling people who have been the holders of so much of our culture of songs and stories. Sheila sang a g enerous and humane song of friendship to end the official(ish) part of the evening and we were conscious of the happy ghost of Hamish Henderson in the company.

Warm thanks to everyone who voted for the project –

there was a huge number of votes cast but we were told that the voting was neck and neck in our category so every single vote really did count.

Please have a look back at the BASE page and have another look at some of the other projects described –

such as Marion Kenny’s wide-ranging work with Celtic Connections and many musicians, also available as a double CD.

Another Scot, Michael Kerrins won the male storyteller of the year award.”

Source: Ian Stephen

8mh an Damhair – 17mh An Samhainn.

8th October – 17th November.

20 years on from his seminal ‘Acts of Faith’ exhibition, Harris-based sculptor Steve Dilworth returns to An Lanntair with a major show. Fittingly it will form part of the Faclan Book Festival, which this year is themed on Belief.

Dilworth’s dark, intense works can be hard to categorise, wrought as they often are from the once-living and the never-living. A dead bird will form the kernel of a bronze sarcophagus:  An amalgam of core and husk, an extinct seed reborn as the ghost offspring of its former self.

Whether hosting a vial of still water, storm water, the North Wind, seal’s teeth, or “designed to be thrown into an internal landscape” his totemic objects are vehicles, caskets, containers, crucibles for personal mythologies and purposes. They each seem to exert a compelling gravitational force from their hidden centre.

His studio – the theatre in which they are created – has as much in common with a mediaeval apothecary or an alchemist’s laboratory as it does an artist’s.

He says, “I want to retrieve that moment of understanding, not by describing, but by making.  Of course I’ll fail, but in the chemistry of making another moment will appear.  These objects are drawn from an internal landscape, of shifting sands.  Connections are constantly being discovered”

Director Roddy Murray said, “We have assembled an important range of Steve’s work from the past couple of decades and I am confident that this exhibition will further cement and enhance his reputation and show us – if we didn’t know it already – what a unique creative force we have in our midst”.

An Lanntair website

Faclan website

Source: An Lanntair

With a wink to Charles Bukowski’s cult character Henry Chinaski, Australian choreographer Kylie Walters coaxes seven testosterone-crazed men to live through an evening of debauchery and revelation. Trapped in a rock-band’s home studio as they try to finish their new album, this live concert collides the virtuoso Belgian rock duo I Love Sarah’s scorching math rock with five superb Scottish based performers amongst copious amounts of bravaderie and chaos.

In a halfway house for low lifes, where a band, their mates and their fans hang out, play, dance and dream, the live sessions become a playing field for old grievances, one-upmanship and reconciliations. Vicious drumming, cutting wit, frenzied theatre and a myriad of visceral choreographic skirmishes form a microcosm of manhood stretching from juvenile misbehaviour to sublime creative insight.

For The Chinaski Sessions David Hughes Dance Scotland has brought together a diversely talented group of Scottish based performers. Matthew Foster, Martin Lindinger, Michael Sherin, Jack Webb and Rob Heaslip seamlessly merge their individual dance styles (contemporary, breakdance, ballet, Irish) with dynamic physical theatre, surreal humour and live music on stage from Belgian musicians Jeroen Stevens and Rutger De Brabander.

Unplugging the force of the body and coaxing the movements from their most recognizable anthropologic beginnings to the most accomplished technique, the dancers wildly romp over the stale ground of contemporary dance as they emulate the frank expression and shameless inventiveness of rock.

Choreographer, Kylie Walters, said: ‘My challenge for The Chinaski Sessions was to create a true hang-out on stage which would allow for all sorts of possibilities – be they humorous or sinister. From there, I wanted the energy to be free to surge into both moments of formal beauty and of high chaos – to discover personalities without the ball and chain of ‘character’. I hope that The Chinaski Sessions brings the federating energy of live rock music, the rapture and fierce elation that it inspires in people, through into the realm of dance.’

The creative team behind The Chinaksi Sessions includes Kylie Walters, a European-based performer, director and choreographer working across theatre, dance and music, creative producer David M Hughes and lighting designer and production manager Simon Gane.

The Chinaski Sessions is supported by Creative Scotland and the Traverse Theatre, in addition to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Listings Information:

Premiere – 13th October: Brunton Theatre, Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA 7:30pm

£11/£9/£6.50 Box Office: 0131 665 2240 www.bruntontheatre.co.uk

15th October: Paisley Arts Centre, Paisley PA1 1EZ 7:30pm

£10/£6 Box Office: 0141 887 1010 www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/onlinebooking

17th October: Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield HD1 2SP 7:30pm

£10-14 + £2 off concession/dance saver/ £6 under 26 Box Office 01484 430528 www.thelbt.org

19th October: Craignish Village Hall, Ardfern PA31 8QN 7:30pm

£10/£8 Box Office: 01852 500746 www.craignishvillagehall.org.uk

22nd October: The Grand Theatre, Blackpool FY1 1HT 8pm

£10/£7 Box Office: 01253 290190 www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk

25th October: Lemon Tree, Dance Live 2012, Aberdeen AB24 5AT 7pm

£7.50+booking fee Box Office: 01224 641122 www.boxofficeaberdeen.com

26th October: Universal Hall, Findhorn IV36 3TZ 8pm

£10/8/£6 under 16 Box Office: 01309 691170 www.universalhall.co.uk

27th October: Pulteney Centre, Wick KW1 5BA 8pm

£12/£10/£6 Box Office: 01955 641434 www.lytharts.org.uk

31st October: Malvern Theatres, Malvern WR14 3HB 7:30pm

£12/£8 under 26 Box Office: 01684 892277 www.malvern-theatres.co.uk

1st November: Pavilion Dance, Bournemouth BH1 2BU 7:30pm

£10/£8/£6 Box Office: 01202 203630 www.paviliondance.org.uk

2nd November: Howden Park Centre, Livingston EH54 6AE 7:30pm

£12/£10 Box Office: 01506 777666 www.howdenparkcentre.co.uk

3rd November: The Byre Theatre, St Andrews KY16 9LA 7:30pm

£12/£10/£8 Box Office: 01334 475000 www.byretheatre.com

6th November: An Lanntair, Stornoway HS1 2DS 8pm

£10/£9 members/£8 Box Office: 01851 708 480 www.lanntair.com

8th November: Macphail Centre, Ullapool IV26 2UN 7:30pm

£8/£6/£3 school students Box Office: 01854 613336 www.macphailcentre.co.uk

9th & 10th November: The Arches, Glasgow G2 8DL 7:30pm

£11/8 Box Office: 0141 565 1000 www.thearches.co.uk

Source: David Hughes Dance

YOU KNOW the story of the emperor who paraded through the streets in his new invisible clothes. You’ll also know, for sure, about blank or apparently blank canvases. And most of us have heard of the timed period of silence – a work for any performer on any instrument, by John Cage, born a century ago.

BUT THE famous or infamous work, 4.33, is only one example of the inventive proposals of a man who also wrote and painted. I remembered that I possessed a work by Cage – part of Alec Finlay’s astonishing “Folios” series. You subscribed and, for a fiver a time, received a white envelope every few months. Inside, it could be a folded map, a booklet, or indeed just about anything that would easily fit. Once, it was some pages of language by Cage. And this centenary performance included storytelling with a difference, as well as the timed period where anything but silence happened.

John Cage

I work with Peter Urpeth – an inventive improviser on piano and percussion as well as a writer. He’s also a friend. I declare that standpoint and the fact that I have no real background in John Cage’s work, or indeed contemporary music at all.

But this probably puts me in line of the majority of the local audience for the centenary event. Looking around An Lanntair on Thursday (20 September) I could see many new faces, and suspect that some people travelled many miles to experience what would happen. The whole work has also been recorded and will be part of an international relay of the celebration. But I could also recognize many people, who had come, like me, because they were curious. If someone is passionate enough to make the links needed to carry-through an event on this scale, there must be something that got under their skin.

I trusted the An Lanntair website for the start time but it started half an hour earlier. You might think that this was part of the script – staggered arrival of people to an arts event – but I’m afraid it wasn’t. But somehow this random factor fell into the spirit of the night

There’s a lot of humour, implicit throughout. OK, I missed the silence that wasn’t. But Peter’s description of it, later, told of a relationship between him on stage, as a performer with the expectations and reactions of the audience, also players. He said there was more than one wave of laughing.

So what seems to have happened is a willingness to allow the inclusion of chance.

As I’m typing and thinking, I look up now and again to see the two large drawings installed in my living room but also made as a series of three for a publication. These are by the artist David Connearn who had a show in the old An Lanntair, that was like an installation of music.

Publication by David Connearn

He draws one line after another, within set parameters, with different thicknesses of pen or in different materials. Connearn also made a drawing, in gravel, in a courtyard in Dublin. This could only be documented from the air before it was raked to something that was nearer nothing – a less-designed fall of the stones. As each line of these very fine ink drawings, in my house, follows the one before it, there is a chance difference – that could be the result of tension in the artist’s hand or it could be a tendency suggested by the paper itself.

The same artist has also made a print by blind-embossing, which looks like nothing on paper, until you catch an angle to see that again it is a meticulous and brave attempt to follow a proposition in line. I feel that this is significantly different from the minimalism in the recent show of works on paper by Calum Innes at Ingleby Gallery. (And why, by the way, have we not seen the work of either artist in the suitable gallery space of An Lanntair?)

Innes is known for removing the paint he has placed on his medium. However, there seems to me a common element though one artist is concerned with line and one with colour. That is the allowance of chance to enter. There could never be complete control in the removing of paint from a page and the ability to work, responding to the movement of these substances, seems to me a bit like a musical improvisation. The titles often suggest sequences – numbered variations.

Chance re-occurred all through the John Cage performance. Five performers tune five radios to pre-determined frequencies, but, according to Peter’s very clear and detailed notes, the score permits additional variations, left open. And of course there is no control over what arrives, along the frequencies. I thought of the radio-hams I’ve known, with dreams of transmitting from Rockall or simply noting the call-signs come from afar. These guys are attuned to the static or interference or other sounds which occur between the morse blips or the spoken voice.

So why could you not do this at home? Just listen to the tuning of a radio or sit to watch paint dry on the boat-parts I’ve just coated. Well, I could, but there’s always something else to be done.

Before the concert, I’d asked Gerry Loose, one of said tuners and a poet and writer by trade, to tell me why he’d come a long way to take part. He said he thought Cage was very playful. One of his pieces was scored for “toy piano”. Gerry said he shared Cage’s fascination with the relationship between control and chance.

Raku landscape by Alison Weightman

This suggestion brought me back to a workshop led by the ceramic artist Alison Weightman. She has adapted the meditative process of raku firing to use of a blowtorch and oildrum. But the timeless and placeless works also involve an element of chance. She is never completely certain how the chemistry of the glaze will fall.

Gerry described an exhibition of Cage’s paintings, where again, there were variations in the way they were displayed so you approached from different angles. Cage and Loose also share a passion for collecting wild mushrooms. When once asked if this could be dangerous, Cage replied that statically there was more chance of being killed by a lion.

So you could see the work as an incentive to look rather than see and to listen rather than hear.

And this indeed give me a way into interpreting the experience of the celebration. My only slight discomfort was that it seemed a bit serious when the men on stage were glancing at their scores and turning the dials. This was broken for a moment when a very fine piece of fiddle playing came through just when we were all ready for a cheery note.

And when John Cavanagh read, this was indeed a performance. A bit of a coup – engaging a vastly experienced broadcaster used to striving for the continuity that suggests a completely dependable professional and calm broadcasting corporation. But John later said how challenging it was, to read the stories of Cage, with a huge variation in the number of words, to the same timing of one whole but single minute. Later, he alternated readings from the current Stornoway Gazette and Fishing News between the contributions from the radio-tuners. Here, you really did get a sense of a playful though thoughtful proposition. Each page was cast aside and fell where it did.

Peter Urpeth and Ian Stephen in a previous project at An Lanntair (photo Mhairi Law)

Just when my concentration was being tested, we were given a piece which placed the entertainment factor up front. Peter had been paying regular visits to the Bethesda charity shop and buying LPs to a formula which will ensure that the playing of them, to Cage’s score, is indeed random. The first performance was over in our neighbouring city, New York, in 1952, with of course a different range of recordings available for sampling. It was performed with a dance-piece by the choreographer Merce Cunningham. In this performance Andy Mackinnon contributed a film, assembled without hearing the piece of music.

“The score is block-graph, where each square equals three inches of tape. In total there are eight tracks, made from the 42 selected records.” Cage used the I-Ching to create a chart for the original work. It was astonishing how often it all appeared to be synchronized.

And there were thee short bursts of energy and skill when Urpeth on piano and Stuart Wilding on percussion, betrayed the fact that they have a long-standing working relationship – responding to each other but in a way that could never be exactly replicated. With all that experience and skill open to the musicians, it really is an act of dedication to keep it all under restraint, to serve the purpose of the evening.

That purpose was indeed a celebration – a little bit of an exploration and a bit of an adventure. I can’t remember feeling bored but I do remember being ready for something pleasing or humorous – and usually that arrived.

An Lanntair are to be congratulated on trusting Urpeth and his team to carry out their vision and one of their own staff, Jon Macleod, took part. Balanced programming has to transcend personal taste. Even if I had not found something to engage me, I think I’d be glad that Stornoway was playing a key role in an international programme to celebrate a guy who has provoked so much discussion.

© Ian Stephen, 2012

Links

“The work produced is graced with an apparent simplicity and a deep sophistication.” It also has integrity and reflects the context from which it arose, including the culture from which the stories grew and the communities grew.”

Donald Anderson

“The children who took part in Ian’s workshops in Western Isles Primary schools in his role as Reader in Residence were transported. They made a connection with stories that was unique.”

Western Isles Library Service

There were over 5,000 responses to the call for nominations and ‘Acts of Trust’ has been short-listed in the multi-arts category.

Online voting is now up and running, but only until 9am on 28th September (winner announced on 29th). To vote click this link:

http://www.storyawards.org.uk/vote

You can read more about the awards here

http://www.storyawards.org.uk/about

If you feel this has been a worthwhile project, please vote for it. You have to register your name and set yourself a user name and email. Then you get an email with a link to vote (after setting a password) it sounds complicated but it isn’t really.

You might also consider voting for Liz Weir in the “Trailblazer” category. Liz has helped forge strong links between storytellers in Scotland and Ireland as well as between Northern Ireland and the Republic. She is also no stranger to the Outer Hebrides and a continuing exchange of stories is a legacy of her last visit.

Source: Ian Stephen

Cuairt nam Bàrd is a long-standing exchange between Scotland and Ireland and Fèisean nan Gàidheal recently took over its organisation from Comhairle nan Leabhraichean.

Arthur Cormack, Chief Executive of Fèisean nan Gàidheal, said: “Cuairt nam Bàrd, or Turas na bhFhilí, is a long-established cultural events featuring writers, musicians and singers from both sides of Sruth na Maoile and we are delighted to have been able to include the Scottish leg of the exchange in this year’s Blas festival. There brings a great line-up of poets, storytellers, singers and musicians as a very welcome addition to the festival programme.”

Brìd is now a full-time writer, having taught languages previously. She has won several awards for her poetry, and also for her prose when her M. Litt thesis was published. Ciarán is a professor of language, literature and civilization in St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Dublin, and with many publications to his name in the field of poetry, novels and academic works. Caoimhín is studying for an MA in Irish at Cork, and was TG4’s Young Musician of the Year in 2012. Naisrín is a medical doctor, and the daughter of Treasa Ni Cheannabháin and native Egyptian Dr Saber Elsafty. Naisrín has won many competitions for seann-nòs singing and has appeared on several albums.

Scottish-based poets and musicians will include Calum MacLeod (Inverness), Peter MacKay and Rody Gorman (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig), Tarmod MacLeòid (Leòdhas), Lisa MacDonald (Ullapool), and Ronnie Campbell (Roy Bridge), with music from such Highlandluminaries as Rona Lightfoot, Angus Nicolson, Roddy-John “Rodaigean” Martin, Iain-Gordon MacFarlane and Sgoil-chiùil Loch Abar.

Cuairt nam Bàrd will visit the following venues:

Tuesday 11 September – MacLean Room in Eden Court Theatre @ 7.30pm [01463 234234]

Wednesday 12 September – Talla Dhonaidh Chaimbeil in Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Sleat @ 7.30pm [01471 888000]

Thursday 13 September – Clan MacQuarrie Centre in Borve, Lewis @ 7.30pm [01851 850397]

Friday 14 September – The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool @ 8.30pm [01854 612103]

Saturday 15 September – Roy Bridge Memorial Hall @ 7.30pm [01397 712371]

For more information about the full programme of events visit www.blas-festival.com

Èirinneach agus Albannaich còmhla aig Blas 2012

Fhad sa tha fèis Blas 2012 a’ dol air adhart am bliadhna, bidh Cuairt nam Bàrd, le taic bho Cholmcille, air fhilleadh dhan phrògram – cliar air a’ chlàr mar gum biodh. Bidh na Bàird Èireannach Bríd Ní Mhóráin agus Ciarán Ó Coigligh còmhla ris an t-seinneadair seann-nòs Naisrín Elsafty agus am pìobaire Caoimhín Ó Fearghail, agus sgrìobhaichean is luchd-ciùil à Alba a’ tadhal air Inbhir Nis, Slèite, Borgh (Leòdhas), Ulapul agus Drochaid Ruaidh.

Tha dlùth-cheangal agus co-luadar làidir air a bhith eadar Alba agus Èireann fad ghrunn bhliadhnaichean tro Chuairt nam Bàrd agus tha e nis air a fhrithealadh le Fèisean nan Gàidheal, a th’air a’ chùis a ghabhail os làimh bho Chomhairle nan Leabhraichean.

Thuirt Art MacCarmaig, Stiùiriche Fèisean nan Gàidheal: “Tha inbhe agus seasamh aig Cuairt nam Bàrd, no Turas na bhFhilí, air a bheil e airidh agus tha an Turas gu math soirbheachail ann a bhith a’ cur air adhart sgrìobhaichean, luchd-ciùil agus seinneadairean bhon dà thaobh de Shruth na Maoile. Tha sinn air leth toilichte gun d’ fhuair sinn cothrom meur na h-Alba dhen cho-luadar a thoirt a-steach gu Fèis Blas 2012. Tha a’ Chuairt a’ cur gu mòr ris a’ chlàr de thachartsan a tha sinn a’ tairgse, le bàird, sgeulaichean, seinneadairean agus luchd-ciùil a’ falbh mar chliar, fad is farsaing.”

Tha Brìd a-nis na sgrìobhaiche làn-ùine an dèidh a bhith a’ teagasg chànan. Tha i air grunn dhuaisean a bhuinnig airson a cuid bàrdachd agus cuideachd airson a cuid rosg nuair a chaidh treachdas M.Litt a sgrìobh i fhoillseachadh. Tha Ciaran na Àrd-Ollamh cànan, litreachas agus sìobhaltachd ann an Colaiste an Naoimh Pàdraig an Drumcondra, am Baile Ath Cliath, agus tha e air mòran fhoillseachadh mu bhàrdachd, nobhalan agus ann an raointean acadaimigeach. Tha Caoimhín an dràsta a’ leantain ceum ann an Gaeilge ann an Corgaigh agus chaidh ainmeachadh mar neach-ciùil òg na Bliadhna le TG4 ann an 2012, a-measg dhuaisean is tachartasan soirbheachail eile. Tha Naisrín na dotair meidigeach agus is i nighean Treasa Ni Cheannabháin agus an Dr Saber Elsafty a bhoineas dhan Èiphit. Bhuinnig Naisrín grunn math dhuaisean airson seinn san t-seann-nòs agus tha i air a bhith a’ seinn air iomadach clàr.

A-measg nan sgrìobhaichean agus sgeulaichean ionadail a bhios a’ cur ris a’ chuairt tha Calum MacLeòid (Inbhir Nis), Peadar MacAoidh agus Rody Gorman (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig), Tarmod MacLeòid (Leòdhas), Lisa NicDhòmhnaill (Ulapul), agus Ronnie Caimbeul (Drochaid Ruaidh), le taic bho shàr luchd-ciùil bhon Ghàidhealtachd leithid Rona Lightfoot, Aonghas MacNeacail, Ruairidh-Iain “Rodaigean” Màrtainn, Iain-Gòrdon MacPhàrlain agus Sgoil-chiùil Loch Abar.

Bidh Cuairt nam Bàrd anns na h-àiteachan a leanas:

Dimàirt 11 Sultain – Seòmar MhicIllEain ann an Cùirt an Aodainn, Inbhir Nis @ 7.30f [01463 234234]

Diciadain 12 Sultain – Talla Dhonaidh Chaimbeil ann an Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Slète @ 7.30f [01471 888000]

Diardaoin 13 Sultain – Ionad Chlann MhicGuaire ann am Borgh, Leòdhas @ 7.30f [01851 850397]

Dihaoine 14 Sultain – Ionad a’ Chèilidh, Ulapul @ 8.30f [01854 612103]

Disathairne 15 Sultain – Talla Chuimhneachaidh an Drochaid Ruaidh @ 7.30f [01397 712371]

Airson tuilleadh fiosrachaidh mu chlàr Blas 2012 airson a’ chòrr dhen t-seachdain, faicibh www.blas-festival.com

Source: Blas Festival

THE memory of a march through the village of Ballalan to mark the opening of a memorial, built in celebration of the Pairc Deer Raid is etched in the minds of hundreds of people.

I’M ONE of them, and I feel a strong sense of pride in the efforts of those gone before us, making a stand against injustices. The memorial, designed by Will Maclean and built by James Crawford, is a lasting reminder of a time when hungry people on Lewis were forced to take the law into their own hands.

The Balallan memorial designed by Will Maclean and built by James Crawford

Injustices, of course, continue. This contemporary exploration of the issues of land ownership in the Highlands reminds us that the statistics of land ownership which prompted “that play” and the name of the 7/84 Theatre Company have not changed radically. But some key buy-outs of land have happened, assisted rather than hampered by a legal process, and even helped by agencies of Government.

Are the battles all won? The play was commissioned by the Islands Book Trust, as part of a programme, analysing the Highland’s recovery from the Clearances. It’s very appropriate that the first performances were in Balallan, close to the area of that historic land-raid. I spoke to people from the Lochs district who attended the day’s discussions and they considered them wide-ranging and worthwhile.

Let’s start by commending the process of commissioning a new work in this context. Muriel Ann Macleod has assembled a group which includes regular performers from the Theatre Hebrides days and other theatre professionals who have taken specialised roles in the production. The clear programme-notes outline a process where the work is devised by the team and then tuned and worked into a script by the writer, and dramaturg, Toria Banks.

This is not a new idea in theatre, and is probably closer to the majority verdict these days. When a writer is commissioned to make a new play there is normally a process of interaction with director and perhaps some actors who may be in the resultant performance. This makes theatre a completely collaborative practice. And yet, the role of the writer is still crucial in lending a satisfying shape and purpose to the piece.

I wrote Brazil 12 Scotland Nil for the Birds of Paradise theatre company, about the time the buy-out on Gigha was taking place. I visited Assynt and North Harris as part of the research and looked for a feeling of the personal stories behind the politics. The title and the themes and several of the actors were all in place before I was commissioned. I was asked to bring a notebook rather than a script to devising meetings. The director, then initiated various scenarios. I took part and responded by noting what seemed to work well and sketching phrases which might capture the mood. It’s only after that, the details of the story come clear and the script develops, to be tuned again in rehearsals. It’s an interesting game.

I have no direct knowledge of the process used to link the writer with the cast and Muriel Ann as director of We Have Won The Land. But I would say from the beginning that the evidence is that it was a good working process and it’s been largely successful.

The actors all carry several roles, often providing fine entertainment in slipping from one to another merely by changing hats. Again, these are not new techniques and sometimes are indeed reminiscent of “that play”. But I was also reminded of the way Communicado theatre productions use very simple devices on stage to great effect. I’ve worked with both Gerry Mulgrew and Alison Peebles and observed their magic touches lift a simple scene to real poignancy.

In this production, there were several such moments. It’s possible that the freedom and time which comes from not being responsible for a company and an office and whole administrative structure has aided this production. I’d also suggest that the simple setting of a long-ish village hall room, without a raised platform has helped the staging. The design (by Philippa Thomas) is bold and strong. It does what it needs to do and there’s nothing to get in the way.

Just when I was thinking that there was a danger the staging was a bit cramped at the back – to allow for the packed seats of a near-full house – it came flourishing out into the aisle.

Let me mention one effective part of the production, before we move to the question of what the play is actually saying.

David Walker is an experienced actor with a skilful comic gift. He just outruns the danger of typecasting his stock of characters. But he is also capable of restraint. In one scene he conjures up the idea of a stoic islander in shaking oilskins shouting across a gale to another. There’s excellent live music (mainly guitar and sampling by Hector MacInnes) as there was all through this production, but the effect is carried simply by skill and concentration.

Then a blue cloth is enough to suggest rippling sea. The need to keep a touring production simple has been turned to advantage. I must say that the last Theatre Hebrides production I saw did not seem at home in the more elaborate staging of an Lanntair. But, further back, productions in a mill-shed or the transit-shed on the Stornoway pier, were effective.

I came out of the first half, entertained but not exhausted, and looking forward to seeing how the many issues of group-dynamics could be resolved. Instead of taking a documentary or historical standpoint, this play proposes a group of imagined characters on an imagined island. I did have a touch of anxiety though, that the pace of sketches, and the development of the characters could be maintained.

And sadly, I do have to make the proviso that it was not really possible to bring it all to a satisfying dramatic conclusion. I’d also say that’s better than tying everything up in too neat a bow. The play caught the enthusiasm of a group working together for common purpose, the questioning and disillusion and the sheer hard slog of fund-raising and negotiation which are in marked contrast to the tactics open to the land-raiders of Lewis.

The story really does fairly reflect a common pattern in political activism. There is the euphioria which comes from uniting disparate people, for a time. Then there is the long-haul, with less drama, after a battle is won. I felt that this excellent evening’s entertainment needed a stronger storyline to make full use of the committed performances of every single one of cast which also included Ruth Tapp, Hazel Darwin Edwards and Cameron Mowat. I’ve nothing against whimsy – the gentle elements in Whisky Galore and Local Hero have lasted well. But the timing of a certain discovery which saves the day for the islanders made me sigh rather than laugh.

Yet, to be fair, a stronger story is not really available yet. There have been fine victories, in Eigg, North Harris and Galson for example. But then there is the steady work of building partnerships and pursuing sustainable development. This play caught the personal notes behind the politics of land ownership very well.

Poster, catalogue and publicity were very much to the fore in strong bold designs, with useful notes. These are also strong signs of a continued commitment by The Islands Book Trust and by Rural Nations.

The extensive tour begins this week with performances in Leverburgh and North Uist.

I’d recommend this play as an entertainment which also raises some questions well worth asking.

© Ian Stephen, 2012

Links

• We Have Won The Land

Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis are just some of the great names in jazz to whom the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra will pay tribute, bringing their fabulous and unique sounds to the Highlands and Islands during their 10th anniversary tour. The orchestra, directed by leading Scottish saxophonist, Tommy Smith, celebrates with an exciting programme that offers foot tapping favourites, infectious swing, mellow mood and contemporary jazz to inspire and entertain all – do not miss!

Macphail Centre, Ullapool

Thursday 13th September 7:30pm

Tickets 01854 613336 send email to book

An Lanntair, Stornoway

Friday 14th September 8:00pm

Tickets 01851 708480 www.lanntair.com

Lyth Arts Centre, Wick

Saturday 15th September 8:00pm

Tickets 01955 641434 www.lytharts.org.uk

— with the Caithness Big Band

Seall at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye

Sunday 16th September 7:30pm

Tickets 01471 844207 www.seall.co.uk

Plockton High School, Plockton

Monday 17th September 7.30pm

Tickets available on door

Source: TSYJO

Run by Voluntary Arts Scotland, Make a Splash! is an information and training event aimed at any organisation which takes part in the arts for the love of it, and would like more people to join them. The next Make a Splash! sessions will take place at:

Shetland Museum, Hay’s Dock, Lerwick, Shetland, on Saturday 22 September, 2-4pm

High School, Sgoil Lionacleit, Linaclate, Benbecula, Western Isles, Thursday 4 October, 5-7.30pm

A free buffet will be available at both events. To book your free place at either event, please visit www.voluntaryarts.org/makeasplash

or tel: 0131 225 7355.

Source: Voluntary Arts Scotland

Scotland's Culture

Each year the Scottish government conduct a Scottish Household Survey that gives us an insight into the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of Scottish households and individuals. The research is used by the government to support their work in transport, communities and local government policy areas and allow for the early detection of national trends. The Survey covers a range of topics including housing, communities, economic activity, finance, education, transport and travel, the internet, health and caring, local services, volunteering and culture and sport.

I’ve been looking over the last three published reports going back to 2007 to see what trends we can detect about cultural attendance and participation in Scotland. I’ve picked out some of the things which caught my attention and I’ll let you interpret the facts in the way you want. However this type of information can help you to identify either how big a potential local or national audience you could have, or help us to identify areas that we need to grow, develop and support.

Sian’s Top Insights into the Scottish Household Survey

I’ve been looking at the reports from 2007/2008, 2009/2010 and the most recent report 2011 to see what patterns or trends I can see. These are some which stood out.

Participation and attendance

• 63% of the population read for pleasure, by far the most popular cultural activity to participate in (the second most popular activity is dancing with 17%). There are approximately 5.2 million people living in Scotland, so this means around 3.3 million people read for pleasure.
• When we then look at the cultural activities that people attend in Scotland it shows that only 5% of the population attend book or writing related events, that’s about 261,100 people. A fraction of the total number of people who read books.
• A similar trend emerged for dance – 19% of the population participate in dancing, however only 5% attend a live dance or ballet performance. It is not clear what the survey means by ‘participate in dancing’ and whether that refers to classes or dancing on a night out.
• However in music, art, theatre and cinema the behaviour shows the opposite trend.
• Around 11% of the population play an instrument, however 28% have attended a live music event (that’s around 1.5 million people).
• 9% of people actively create art or sculpture, while 17% have attended a gallery, and a further 17% have attended an exhibition or viewed an art collection (together that’s around 1.7 million people – although I would imagine that people who said they have visited a gallery are likely to be the same people who say they attend exhibitions).
• And in cinema, 53% of the population have been to the cinema to see a film (the most popular activity attended in Scotland), however only 2% of people in Scotland actively make film or video’s.

Age

I noticed three possible trends in the data around age and attendance.

• There has been a small rise (2%) of the number of 16 to 24 year olds in attending cultural events in the last 5 years (2007-2011).
• Similarly for people aged 25 to 34 there has been a 2% increase in attendance.
• Together that’s about an extra 25,000 people under the age of 34 attending cultural events.
• However, this is compared to a 3% decrease in the number of people aged 75 and over attending cultural events – this equates to a drop of around 10,970 people.

 Frequency of Attendance

• A quarter of people go to the cinema once a month in Scotland (that’s about 705,000 people), while 42% of people go 3 or 4 times in a year (around 1.1 million people).
• On average 27% of the population have attended the theatre in the last 5 years (1.4 million people), of these less than a third have been 3 or 4 times a year (approximately 469,990 people), just over a third had been twice a year and less than a third once a year.
• Similar patterns emerged from museum attendance, live music attendance, exhibition and gallery attendance. Around about a third of people will attend 3 or 4 times a year, a third twice a year and a third once a year.
• In Crafts, although the survey does not clearly outline what a craft exhibition is and whether that includes craft fairs or visiting craft shops, approximately 11% of the population (574,430 people) have attended a craft exhibition. Around 23% go 3 or 4 times a year, 35% go twice a year and 36% go once a year.
• There has been an increase in the frequency of craft exhibitions people attend in the last 5 years – we can see a 5% increase from 21% of people attending craft exhibitions 3 or 4 times a year in 2007 to 26% in 2011 – that’s an increase of approximately 28,700 people in 5 years.
• In opera and classical music 6% of the population attend these events (that’s around 313,330 people). Of these 40% attended one event per year, 30% saw 2 events per year and 22% saw 3 or 4 events, which is approximately 68,930 people.
• We can also see some rises and falls within opera and classical music attendance over the last 5 years. In 2009/2010 there was a big rise in the number of people attending classical and opera events. In 2007/08 27% of people saw 2 events per year, and then in 2009/10 34% of people had seen 2 events. However in 2011 only 29% of people went to see 2 classical or opera events – that’s a drop of 5% – approximately 21,932 people from the previous two years.
• A similar fall can be seen in the number of people who see opera or classical music once a year. In 2007/08 44% of people went to see at least one classical or opera concert (that’s around about 137,863 people). While in 2011 this dropped by 5% to 39% – which is a fall of about 15,666 people.
• Finally dance showed a different trend, of the 5% of the population who attend live dance or ballet performances, over 50% go to see a show once a year, 25% go twice a year and 15% go 3 or 4 times a year.

Rural versus Urban

For the first time in 2009/2010 the survey distinguished between urban and rural attendance and participation. Although we only have two reports worth of data to compare there are some interesting trends to be brought to your attention.

• Attendance of live music events in urban areas and accessible rural areas has increased by 5%.
• Theatre attendance across urban and rural areas has stayed the same since 2009.
• Museum attendance has increased by 5% in remote rural areas.
• Gallery attendance has increased in remote small towns by 5% and 4% in rural areas.
• Nearly twice as many people in rural areas attend craft exhibitions as they do in urban areas. While 10% of urban populations go to craft events, 19% do so in remote rural areas and 17% in accessible rural areas.
• 8% of large urban populations attend dance performances compared to 7% of people in accessible rural areas; only 5% attend dance performances in remote rural areas.
• Of course there are individuals who do not attend any cultural events during the year, and the report shows us that 22% of people in urban areas do not attend, while 30% of people in remote rural areas do not attend.

There is a lot more information available in the reports which you can download directly from the Scottish Governments website (all links made available below). And if you would like any advice on how to use and interpret this kind of data then you can get in touch with me.

Scotland’s People

Scottish Household Survey 2007/2008

Scottish Household Survey 2009/2010

Scottish Household Survey 2011

The production ‘We Have Won the Land’ will be launched in September at Balallan School, Isle of Lewis, at a four-day conference being organised by the Islands Book Trust. It will then tour the Highlands and Islands as well as central Scotland.

It’s hoped the production will stimulate debate in the same way that the iconic musical drama ‘The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil’, and its telling of the story of Scottish economic change, has captured the imagination of audiences since the 1970s.

The project, which aims to celebrate, inform and promote discussion on the significance of community land ownership in its wider historical setting has been developed by the Islands Book Trust in association with Outer Hebrides based company Rural Nations. It is being supported by Creative Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

John Randall, Chairman of the Islands Book Trust, a social enterprise which promotes appreciation of the history of the Celtic and Nordic culture of Scottish islands, said: “This will be a high quality performance created for rural communities showing the significance of community land ownership today and reflecting on recent successes and the continuing challenges.

“This year sees the 125th anniversary of the Pairc Deer Raid where hundreds of landless residents of the Pairc region staged a deer raid in protest of their treatment by the landlord – adjacent to where the current-day community has been seeking to buy the Pairc Estate. The play is being developed by the actors with input from the local community using the very room where the Pairc Deer Raid was planned by schoolmaster Donald Macrae and the crofters in 1887.”

The bi-lingual production will tour thirteen communities in the Highlands and Islands. Many are the same communities whose achievements and aspirations have inspired the content of the play. Performances will also be held in Glasgow and Edinburgh, raising awareness of the cultural heritage of the land ownership movement and the regeneration opportunities for communities. After-performance discussions with the production team and actors will provide an opportunity for the audience to explore issues raised in the play.

Laura Mackenzie Stuart, Portfolio Manager for Theatre at Creative Scotland, said: “Creative Scotland is delighted to support We Have Won The Land – the multimedia format and use of humour will engage audiences in a positive way both locally and nationally. By working with local communities to source the content the production will encourage debate amongst those directly affected by community land buy-outs. More widely the production will raise awareness at a national level of these issues.”

Pam Noble, Development Manager at HIE, said: “This project will stimulate national interest in the social and economic opportunities which land buy-outs and asset ownership create for ambitious communities. HIE, which has a long history in supporting communities develop these assets, is now working with the Big Lottery Fund to administer the Scottish Land Fund. This £6m investment over three years by the Scottish Government will create new opportunities to assist rural communities to buy local land assets.”

The production will be premiered on Thursday 6 September. The experienced theatre performers from Rural Nations include actor David Walker from South Uist and Director Muriel Ann Macleod from Stornoway.

Source: Creative Scotland

AN LANNTAIR have just installed a summer exhibition which presents images of Scottish landscapes along with a complex, puzzling series of allusions to Scottish culture, expressed in English Gaelic and Scots.

HELEN MacAlister was commissioned to make the exhibition, which will move on to a commercial gallery in London. This helps re-establish a pattern where work originated or gathered by Scottish island arts centres then travels to the mainland as an export. It’s clear that the artist has been given scope and time to follow through areas of research and experiment. The art has been allowed to find its own form.

Helen MacAlister - Ben Dorain

The process allows a measure of risk but gives the chance of producing something innovative. The evidence here is that MacAlister has responded to the trust with a thorough and diligent investigation and a sustained series of experimentations with the aim of arriving at an exhibition which will be challenging but rewarding. Both the artist and an Lanntair are to be commended on permitting this journey. Care has been taken in the presentation of the results. The L-shaped gallery and the foyer which is a continuum of the exhibition are are fully used and the works are well-spaced. Framing and presentation standards are high.

The accompanying notes are absolutely essential – and even on the first day of a preview, everything was in place. Laminated files list the references and notes. A print-out of the well-designed on-line catalogue is to hand. The impression is of a determined effort to provide a contemporary exhibition with access by way of landscape icons and resonant phrases.

Helen MacAlister - 'Bastard' Affairs

If the claims and expectations are well nigh impossible to live up to – that’s no bad thing. Better to aim for a wide range and fall short than limit the scale to an easy competence. Take Roddy Murray’s introduction: “This exhibition penetrates deep into language. In so doing, it creates a new medium of itself that leaps gaps and generations, fuses ideas and influences and transcends, resolves and reconciles them.”

Let’s go out and meet the work as displayed now, in the light of this background.

The landscapes are painted in monochrome on an off-white linen. There is a group of large scale paintings. Three of them have a smaller canvas, in the same format, hung close, presenting a short text. But several of the same body of images are also presented again in a line of framed drawings, pencil on paper. It is possible that photographs of the landscapes have been projected and made new in paint and pencil respectively.

Helen MacAlister - Bealach nam Ba

Whatever the method, the visual presentation already accepts deliberate restrictions – a bit like a poet accepting the discipline of schemes of rhyme or metre. Both the paintings and the drawings remind me of some of the work of Donald Urquhart, where moving branches or grasses become fixed for observation. This is not an immediate, personal response to landscape. The selected scenes are viewed through complex prisms of previous responses. Thus, this body of work seems to me more about culture than landscape. I was reminded of the exhibition Turner And His Contemporaries, in Tate Britain, a couple of years ago. The arrangement of work revealed how Turner made no attempt to hide his way of building on arrangements or viewpoints taken in previous paintings. Similarly, later artist’s borrowed from Turner’s own interventions, without guile.

This classicism is of course a main aspect of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s body of work, exploring many fields from the French Revolution to the culture of the Scottish Fishing vessel. MacAlister’s way of selecting short phrases which suggest huge landscapes of thought behind them, follows on from Finlay. But it also nods to multiple layers of Scottish discourse. It’s not simply a quote from Hamish Henderson but a context where the editor Alec Finlay’s approach to Henderson is also referenced.

Thomas A Clark’s practice of recalling walks and expressing the experience, in spare language, is also in the index. There is an echo of Marvell’s use of language, borrowed knowingly by Clark’s nod to that. In the same way, Macdiarmid’s translation of Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill by Alasdair Macmhaighistir Alasdair is alluded to. In this case, there is a sense that a bilingual commentator sees the version as looking at the stained-glass windows of a cathedral from the outside in. Macalister’s visual expression of such propositions, in the form of engraved glass postcards, is witty but again multi-layered.

Helen MacAlister - Cold air in the nostrils

You have to keep your own wits about you and be prepared to spend time, chasing the riddles. For me it was time well spent and I’m resolved to return. It seems to me as much an exploration of Scottish philosophical propositions as much as a visual art exhibition. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I am however going to raise some questions.

Let’s accept that any exhibition, outside production of work for a known market, is a measure of exploration and a measure of exposition. This show is very far along the exploration line. But could the artist give the audience a bit more help? If you set up a proposition like a line of postcard-sized glassworks, all on a named type of dimpled glass, then there is already some sense of pattern and a framework. So you can look for the particular detail of the proposition in each. But the last two are a different size and one of these also has a reference to the use of the panatone blue recently approved as the saltire colour. Is there not a risk of just too much going on?

Helen MacAlister - And I bleer my een wi' greetin (detail)

There are already variations within the series, in size and style of typefaces and one clever little work juxtaposes red and white to emphasise that the Gaelic words have another layer of meaning from a previous use.

This is a lot to take in and it would be easier to give it the time and focus it needs if there were a few less puzzling visual variations. Why is the font size of the title quote, “At the Foot o’ Yon Excellin’ Brae” so much larger than that used in the two similar works presented in the same format? It might be that it is exactly because it is the title or that the quote from Hamish Henderson is indeed the driving force of the whole exhibition. But a little more apparent logic in the patterns made by the hung works would have allowed me to sit and ponder the layers.

In the same way a long line of similar frames give the expectation that this is really one work. But it seems to me that the pencil versions of the scenes can’t be tied too closely to the separate text works which follow them.

Is it possible that this is exactly the type of exhibition which calls for a trusting but two-sided relationship between artist and curator? My own conclusion is that this is a brave and braw show. Well done the artist for taking us deep into her journey.

© Ian Stephen, 2012

Links

• An Lanntair
• Ian Stephen

The Monster in the Hall by David Greig, directed by Guy Hollands

Music and Sound Design by Nigel Dunn and Stephen Wright, Choreography by Andrew Panton

and Yellow Moon by David Greig, directed by Guy Hollands

Music by Nigel Dunn

Opening at the Citizens Theatre on the 6th September 2012 and then touring UK until 17th November

Supported by Bank of Scotland Pioneering Partnership

Cast: David Carlyle, Keith Macpherson, Beth Marshall, (The Monster in the Hall and Yellow Moon), Keshini Misha (Yellow Moon) and Gemma McElhinney (The Monster in the Hall)

The National Theatre of Scotland is re-staging the Citizens Theatre’s critically acclaimed productions, The Monster in the Hall and Yellow Moon by David Greig for autumn 2012 with a UK-wide tour of both plays, performed by an ensemble cast. The hit shows, are touring to theatres, arts centres, community venues and school halls and will be visiting Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Crieff, Kinross, Aberdeen, Fife, Cardiff, Pontardawe, Bath, Oxford, Kilmarnock, Rutherglen, Renfrew, Isle of Harris and Isle of Lewis with a double bill of opening performances on Saturday 8th September at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. This is the first time that the productions will have toured together.

Yellow Moon is a modern day Bonnie and Clyde tale about two teenagers on the run. They never meant to get mixed up in murder…but now they need a place to hide. The Monster in the Hall is a wildly imaginative musical comedy about a teenage girl trying to protect her world from the terrifying prospect of change. Both productions are performed in the round, with minimal props and no sets with the stripped-back production style creating an up close intimacy with the audience. Both of David Greig’s plays tap in to the heart- breaking emotional highs and lows of the lives of young people. The original ensemble cast for The Monster in the Hall are reunited for this tour. Keith Macpherson, David Carlyle and Beth Marshall are also in Yellow Moon and are joined by newcomer Keshini Misha.

Yellow Moon and The Monster in the Hall were created for, and resonate with, an older teenage audience. The tour includes daytime performances in schools for secondary pupils and is accompanied by a special workshop programme for young people, supported by Bank of Scotland Pioneering Partnership. Some of the evening performances take place in school halls enabling young people to attend a performance within their local community with their friends and family. The productions are touring as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s tfd programme; which presents productions and events throughout the UK, designed to bring young audiences to theatre.

In The Monster in the Hall teenage girl Duck Macatarsney cares for her biker dad whose MS is getting increasingly worse. Her Dad – Duke – is a spliff-smoking, bike-riding, heavy metal and horror movie loving, pizza eating widower who’s brought up Duck since the death of her mother. The two of them are just about surviving when one morning the Duke wakes up blind and the Duck hears that Social Services are coming to take her away. The Monster in the Hall follows Duck as she tries to protect her world from the terrifying prospect of change. The Monster in the Hall won The Stage Award for Best Ensemble in 2011.

Yellow Moon is a modern Bonnie and Clyde tale of the fortunes of two teenagers on the run. Silent Leila is an introverted girl who has a passion for celebrity magazines. Stag Lee Macalinden is the deadest of dead end kids in a dead end town. They never meant to get mixed up in a murder. The play follows Leila and Lee on a roller-coaster quest to find out who they really are. Yellow Moon won the TMA Award for the Best Show for Young People in 2007.

Both productions were developed and are directed by Guy Hollands for the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, where they premiered before touring schools and venues. Both shows had successful runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and are acclaimed in the UK and internationally, having previously toured to the USA, the Netherlands and Germany.

David Greig was born in Edinburgh and is a highly-respected playwright and theatre director. David’s work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (currently touring internationally), the forthcoming musical, Glasgow Girls, Dunsinane (RSC), Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland) and The Bacchae (Edinburgh International Festival). Other recent theatre productions include Midsummer (Traverse Theatre and Soho Theatre), Creditors (Donmar Warehouse and BAM), The American Pilot (RSC, Soho and MTC) and Tintin in Tibet (Barbican and The Playhouse). He is currently working on a new Broadway production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Guy Hollands’ theatre credits include The Crucible (TAG/National Theatre of Scotland ), Meep and Moop, Museum of Dreams, Liar, Yellow Moon, Ice Cream Dreams, The Visit, A Taste of Honey, Knives in Hens, The Birthday Party and The Monster in the Hall (TAG), Othello, Hamlet, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Waiting for Godot, Nightingale and Chase, The Fever, Nightschool, The Caretaker and Hansel & Gretel (Citizens Theatre), Woyzeck (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh/KtC), Pinocchio (Visible Fictions), Earball (Tosg) and Factory Girls (7:84).

The support of this small scale tour is one element of the National Theatre of Scotland and Bank of Scotland’s Pioneering Partnership – a sponsorship connecting Bank of Scotland and the National Theatre of Scotland in a relationship across a wide range of National Theatre of Scotland programme elements over two years. The partnership offers geographic spread and reach across productions, initiatives, workshops and events particularly in the area of supporting creativity and emerging talent. In Year 2(2012) the elements of Bank of Scotland Pioneering Partnership include support of Appointment with the Wicker Man by Greg Hemphill and Donald McLeary; The Guid Sisters by Michel Tremblay in Scots translation by Bill Findlay and Martin Bowman – a co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and the Emerge Programme supporting flourishing artists and directors.

Tour dates include:

The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, Friday 28 September

Yellow Moon & The Monster in the Hall (double bill), 7pm

Tickets: £12/£7.50

Box Office: 01224 641122 www.boxofficeaberdeen.com

Leverburgh Village Hall, Isle of Harris, Thursday 15 November

The Monster in the Hall, 7.30pm

Tickets available from: 01859 520267 /margaretmacdonald2@yahoo.co.uk/www.wegottickets.com

Ionad Na Seann Sgoil, Shawbost, Isle of Lewis, Saturday 17 November

The Monster in the Hall, 7.30pm

Tickets available from: www.wegottickets.com

Source: National Theatre of Scotland

Over 100 guests are expected to attend the event which will feature performances from Rachel Sermanni, Lau and Manran. The showcase is part of a series of events hosted by Creative Scotland and its public sector partners at Scotland House

Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said;

“Scotland House and the Olympic Games present an important platform to showcase the wealth of talent that Scotland has to offer to key industry professionals in London during the London Olympic Games, in this the Year of Creative Scotland 2012.

“Scotland boasts professional strengths across all genres of music – with many well known musicians enjoying national success and international acclaim. Scotland‘s music sector generates an annual turnover of £10 million in Scotland and our traditional music is celebrated and enjoyed across the world.”

Creative Scotland’s Scotland House programme has already seen performances from Scotland’s Makar (national poet) Liz Lochhead; young traditional musicians from Feis Rois; and a Scotland Re:Designed Fashion Showcase to packed audiences.

Key London industry contacts from education, media, designer development and manufacturing support bodies attendedthe stylish fashion show. Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development said of the showcase:

“Scotland’s textiles industry supports over 7,000 jobs in Scotland and generates an annual turnover of £678 million. Showcasing 10 of our top fashion and textile designers in London is a brilliant opportunity to get that talent more widely known.”

“Our presence in London has been an important way for us to shout about our creative talent and has presented an opportunity for our creative talent to develop new relationships with London and international contacts that we hope will have a lasting impact to their development and Scotland’s cultural economy.

The Scottish Music showcase will feature:

One of Scotland’s rising young stars Rachel Sermanni. Rachel will be appearing on the BBC Introducing stage at this year’s Leeds and Reading Festivals and is getting set to perform in Norway, Germany and Paris.

Scottish folk band Lau who has been crowned the ‘Best Group’ at the BBC radio two folk awards for three consecutive years. Their new album ‘Race The Loser’ which was recorded with American producer Tucker Martine (Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, R.E.M., Laura Veirs) is set to be releases on Reveal Records October 1st and will be followed by a tour in Autumn 2012. Further information is here: http://www.lau-music.co.uk/about/index.php

Mànran have quite literally rocketed to the top of the Scottish music scene with their powerful combination of Gaelic/English songs underpinned by driving Accordion, Fiddle, Flute and a backline of drum and bass to make any mouth water.

Source: Creative Scotland

Director Annilese Miskimmon (newly appointed Artistic Director of Danish National Opera) gets right to the heart of the story in a production that centres on the turbulent relationships at its core.
 
Violetta, a famed escort, leads a seemingly charmed existence amidst the cream of Paris society. But, in fragile health, she is tired of living an empty life and when Alfredo introduces himself she finally sees a way out of her tawdry lifestyle. Deeply in love, all is blissful contentment until some home truths convince her to leave Alfredo and head back into the arms of another…

The sheer concentration of drama makes La Traviata the perfect piece to present in more intimate settings, and Verdi’s music only heightens the spectacle. It encompasses an astonishing range of moods and emotions, from Alfredo’s fresh-faced charms to Violetta’s vivid effervescence, which is perfectly captured in ‘Sempre libera’, a vocal showpiece to rival any other.

20 Sep to 24 Nov 2012 (piano-accompanied)

Touring to: Giffnock, Stirling, Fort William, Plockton, Portree, Strathpeffer, St Andrews, Aboyne, Drumnadrochit, Ellon, Lerwick, Kirkwall, Thurso, Ullapool, Stornoway, Nairn, Easterhouse, Galashiels, Pitlochry, Greenock, Newton Stewart, Langholm, Largs, Musselburgh and Perth.

7 to 23 Mar 2013 (chamber orchestra-accompanied)

Touring to: Dundee, Kelso, Dumfries, Elgin, Oban, Dunfermline, Hamilton and Troon.

Tickets on sale 30 July 2012

Source: Scottish Opera

Nonfiction is a success story for Scotland’s writers and publishers and we’re looking for new, unpublished, nonfiction books – or simply great ideas – for development for the commercial and mainstream book market.

The projects submitted can be memoirs, self-help guides, cook books or any other type of commercial nonfiction for adults or children.

For Scotland’s emerging and unpublished writers this is a great chance to pitch their work directly to a partnership of Scotland’s leading talent development agency for writers and Scotland’s leading Literary Agency – and through HI~Arts’ Talent Development project authors can get the professional assistance and advice they need in developing their book or idea – and have all the benefits of a leading literary agency behind them!

HI~Arts Talent Development Manager for writing, Peter Urpeth, said:

‘We are very excited to be able to launch this project at a time when nonfiction remains one of the strongest and most successful sectors in Scottish writing and publishing. But we know that the book market in general remains very difficult for writers looking to get an agent or publisher for their work.

‘This project combines a chance for writers to pitch their work to an agent with the chance to receive professional advice and support and from a leading talent development agency for writers.

‘Where appropriate, Jenny Brown Associates will work directly with writers whose work or ideas they like, and if we find promising work that needs the kind of nurturing that we can provide, then we will be offering that support.

‘HI~Arts has very considerable experience in assisting writers in developing their nonfiction projects, and in nurturing talent, and I’m sure that we are going to uncover some real unpublished gems of nonfiction through this project.’

The criteria for qualification are simple: writers must be resident in Scotland; the work or idea they plan to submit must be unpublished and all their own original work.

The application process is very straightforward. Writers complete the online form to tell us about their work or ideas for a nonfiction book, and send us the first three chapters. For those proposing an idea for a book, that’s fine, too, use the same form and if we like what we read, then we’ll be in touch either to receive a copy of the work as it is developed or to assist in further developing the idea or proposal.

HI~Arts usually offers talent development services only to writers living and working in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, but for this project we’re offering writers from across Scotland the chance to take part in one of our projects.

We cannot guarantee that all of our services will be available to writers outside of the Highlands & Islands, but we can certainly guarantee that through the partnership of HI~Arts and Jenny Brown Associates, work that’s has commercial promise will receive the kind of advice that really makes a difference – and both the application process and development support are free!

The application process is open throughout August and September 2012, and we will be reading work and contacting applicants right through until the end of October 2012, to ensure that writers have time to fully develop their pitch before submitting it to us for consideration.

HI~Arts Talent Development (Writing) is funded by HIE and Creative Scotland.

Full details can be found at HI~Arts website:

http://hi-arts.co.uk/services/talent-development/writing/services/

Source: HI~Arts

WITH ticket sales up by 7% on last year, and merchandise by a whacking 38%, the 17th Hebridean Celtic Festival was rated by many regulars as one of the best yet, bucking the recessionary trend not only in financial terms, but with a significant expansion of its programme.

WHERE previously the main-arena concerts took place only in the evenings, this time the music also ran throughout Friday and Saturday afternoon, building further on 2011’s addition of a smaller second stage to the original giant marquee in Lews Castle grounds. Total attendance was slightly over the 15,000 mark, roughly half from the Western Isles themselves, plus visitors from 19 different countries – at a conservative estimate, Stornoway’s population must have at least doubled over the four days.

The Proclaimers (photo Leila Angus)

The largely dry weather, too, was in marked contrast to other festivals’ mud-swamped fate this summer, with plentiful sunshine on Saturday encouraging the crowd to take their ease on the grass between bands, many quaffing from pitchers of Pimms – who must have seen a major spike in their Highland sales figures over the weekend – while kids dressed as pirates (that being the day’s designated theme) ran merrily around.

It’s not that the Heb Celt didn’t already feel like a fully-fledged festival – it was, after all, on the strength of its 15th outing in 2010 that it won Best Large Festival at last year’s Scottish Events Awards, beating both Celtic Connections and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay to the title. Nonetheless, the choice of stages and all-day programming – together with the indoor concerts and late-night Festival Club at An Lanntair, the village-hall shows outside Stornoway, the street entertainment around town and a fast-growing array of independent fringe events – added a substantial extra dimension, putting it even more firmly on a par with other top gatherings in its field, from Cambridge to Tönder.

This heavyweight clout was once again reflected in the Heb Celt’s choice of headliners, including both those who’ve gained mainstream media exposure – The Proclaimers, The Waterboys, Kassidy, Admiral Fallow – and such leading Celtic/folk names as Mànran, Heidi Talbot, Beoga and Skerryvore. Mànran’s presence, though, along with Mod Gold Medallist Isobel Ann Martin, Brave soundtrack star Julie Fowlis (performing her multi-media Heisgeir show), young Skye piper Angus Nicolson’s trio and the even younger three-piece Muran, who won their slot in a open pre-festival competition, simultaneously reaffirmed one of the Heb Celt’s unique founding signatures, its commitment to and celebration of the local Gaelic culture, in both traditional and modern guise.

The show must go on - Sketch arrive by RIB (photo Leila Angus)

Sketch, the new line-up led by ex-Peatbog Faeries drummer Iain Copeland, fall emphatically into the latter camp, splicing fiddle/pipes-led tunes and Maeve MacKinnon’s Gaelic vocals with live electronic beats and programmed soundscapes – and if the main buzz about them over the weekend wasn’t to do with their music, this was no reflection on the exhilarating calibre of their closing Stage 2 set on Saturday night: quite the opposite, as it turned out.

After word came through on Friday that the band were stuck in Canada, following visa glitches en route back from gigs in Winnipeg and Vancouver, further flight delays saw them arriving in Glasgow too late to make the Stornoway ferry from Ullapool, and ultimately having to cross the Minch in an open rigid inflatable. This epic two-and-a-half hour journey, complete with stiff breeze and lively swell, is already inscribed in the Heb Celt annals of heroism, along with their straight-from-boat-to-stage performance, still drenched and frozen as they were.

Most of the new six-piece band led by firebrand Scottish/Irish pipers Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson, by contrast, had chilled out ahead of their main-stage gig on Saturday with a couple of days’ fishing over in Uig – and thus were in ideally fresh fettle to unleash a veritable firestorm of thrilling instrumental virtuosity, with the frontmen’s intrepid duelling expanded three ways by fiddler Adam Sutherland’s brilliantly adventurous agility, their densely-layered panoply of tunes taking flight from powerful, precision-honed rhythm work, courtesy of guitarist Ali Hutton, bassist Duncan Lyall and drummer Fraser Stone. Created almost by accident after a Festival Club encounter between the pipers’ respective trios at Celtic Connections in January, this is a band set to take the scene by storm.

The Waterboys (photo Leila Angus)

Friday’s main-stage double whammy of Admiral Fallow followed by The Proclaimers proved a tremendously winning combination to round off the night, with the former Glasgow indie-folk outfit – having warmed up with a pub gig in Ullapool the previous gig – demonstrating exactly why they continue on such an accelerating roll, following the release of their second album, Tree Bursts in Snow. From minimal acoustic balladry to grand-scale power pop, heartlifting singalong hooks to obliquely barbed lyrics, they encompassed a boldly diverse spectrum of new material, older favourites and unrecorded gems, complementing Louis Abbott and Sarah Hayes’s piquantly blended vocals with arrestingly distinctive instrumentation, including flute, clarinet, accordion and vibraphone.

Unlike Abbott, and despite receiving their full due of the Heb Celt’s famously warm reception, the Reid brothers weren’t in much of a mood to chat, but otherwise gave their all unstintingly throughout a 90-minute set, highlighting both the classic catchiness of their best material and the intricately twinned vocal prowess that underpins it, reinforced by an exuberantly tight and punchy band.

Kassidy, making their Heb Celt debut at the top of Thursday’s bill, may have been a lesser-known quantity in a folk-based context, but by the end of the night had won hordes of new fans – and been bowled over themselves by the atmosphere – after showcasing the impishly unpredictable yet richly musical variety of styles they’ve evolved from their original four-guitars/four-vocals format. Excitement over The Waterboys’ appearance may have derived more from past glories than present quality, with the big hits rarely approaching the magic of yesteryear, and their recent Yeats-based material receiving a relatively polite response, while ending their main set, excluding encore, after barely an hour seemed decidedly stingy by Heb Celt standards – but by this point on Saturday night, nothing was going to mute the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Among the newer names mixed throughout this year’s programme, highlights included the aforementioned Angus Nicolson Trio, cooking up an impressively big, diverse and original sound for such a compact line-up, and the frighteningly talented young Canadian brother/sister duo of Qristina and Quinn Bachand – she’s 21, he’s just 16 – reminiscent of a young Liz Carroll and John Doyle on fiddle and guitar, and a young Cathy Jordan on vocals.

Edinburgh singer-songwriter Adam Holmes, with his band the Embers, potently affirmed his one-to-watch status, combining huskily melancholic vocals with heart-on-sleeve lyrical economy, while back on the main stage US sibling-led combo Larkin Poe – formerly the Lovell Sisters – delivered an exhilarating, stormy display of bare-knuckle blues-rock. All in all, thanks to a cannily adroit balance of continuity and innovation, there’s no disputing that the Heb Celt’s onward and upward progress continues – and if it can do so during current straitened times, the years to come look bright indeed.

© Sue Wilson, 2012

Links

• Hebridean Celtic Festival

The economic impact study was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Creative Scotland, Skills Development Scotland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. It forms part of a wider study that aims to capture Scotland-wide understanding of the economic impact of the arts and creative industries.

The research identified direct employment in the arts and creative industries in the Outer Hebrides to be around 390. Of these, the vast majority are employed in TV and Radio, fashion and textiles (including Harris Tweed), the heritage sector, publishing and architecture.

It also identifies high numbers of micro-businesses and sole traders working in the arts and creative industries, suggesting the total number of people employed in the sector may exceed 500. When indirect contributions (through the supply chain) and induced effects (spending by those working in the arts and creative industries) are considered, the total impact of the sector is over £33m gross value added (GVA) and £67m in turnover.

The report says that many of those working in the arts and creative industries report the value of community and related cultural associations, and of professional networks. A number of events and facilities contribute to the distinctiveness of the islands, including the Hebridean Celtic Festival, the An Lanntair and Taigh Chearsabhagh arts centres, and Stornoway’s new Creative Industries and Media Centre.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland, said: “This report confirms the strength of talent in the Outer Hebrides, already recognised for world-famous brands such as Harris Tweed, or the hugely successful Hebridean Celtic Festival and now, for the first time, its impact on the islands’ economic well-being can be set alongside the joy that a vibrant cultural life brings to those communities. It is further proof that all of Scotland thrives on creativity.”

The study is available at: http://www.creativescotland.com/resources/research

Caroline MacLennan, director of HebCelt, which opens in Stornoway tomorrow (wed) said: “We welcome this very interesting report which highlights the importance of events like HebCelt to the islands’ economy and the tourism industry.

“HebCelt, which is now in its 17th year, attracts over 14,000 people to the area annually and is worth around £1.5 million annually with spin offs for many local businesses. This year we will have visitors from 19 different countries attending and hopefully that kind of pulling power will continue to be embraced and supported in future.”

The festival runs from 11-14 July and is headlined by The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy.

Source: Hebridean Celtic Festival

The £11.3 million additional funding for “shovel-ready” projects announced today will not only will boost the Scottish economy, but will also bring social and community benefits across Scotland.

Ms Hyslop said:

“Scotland is known around the world for its rich culture and heritage. These sectors attract thousands of visitors to our shores each year, supporting jobs and generating billions of pounds for the Scottish economy.

“This Government is focused on maximising the value of every public pound as we take forward programmes to support economic recovery – including further investment in the maintenance of our cultural assets.

“Creative Scotland’s capital programme invests in facilities, refurbishments and equipment, improving access, presentation and enjoyment of the arts and culture all round Scotland. Additional funding of £3 million over the next three years will help Creative Scotland to support even more projects that bring real economic benefits to communities and deliver better facilities for artists and audiences.

“Funding of £1.6 million over two years is also being provided to Historic Scotland to support the completion of repairs to Lews Castle in Stornoway, including the external stonework and the roof, and the fine plaster and timber work inside. The Castle, which has been empty since 1998, has had long term problems of water ingress and structural instability.

“This investment is enabling the Castle to be developed as a hotel and museum, maintaining public access while allowing the main rooms of the Castle to be used as reception rooms, and in a financially sustainable way.

“A further £2 million funding for Historic Scotland will ensure the agency’s heritage assets continue to be maintained effectively and reduce the need for extensive and costly repairs in the future.

“This funding for shovel-ready culture and heritage projects will inject growth into the economy, demonstrating how this Government – in the face of Westminster economic neglect – is using all the powers we have to create new opportunities for our people.”

Support for cultural projects also covers an energy-saving maintenance project at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, the internal and external maintenance of National Library of Scotland premises, and roof repairs at the National Records of Scotland building in Sighthill, Edinburgh.

Source: Scottish Government

Peace Camp is director Deborah Warner’s commission for the London 2012 Festival, created in collaboration with actor Fiona Shaw. The installation artwork will appear from dusk until dawn, 9.30pm until 5.30am over four nights, 19-22 July, at eight of our most beautiful and remote coastal locations around the UK, from the Outer Hebrides to the tip of Cornwall. Visitors to the glowing encampments of some 2000 tents in total, will hear a soundscape of love poetry and sounds of the natural environment, created by composer Mel Mercier featuring the voices of actors, poets and members of the public.

Peace Camp is a co-commission by the London 2012 Festival and City of Culture 2013. Produced and delivered by creative company Artichoke, It is part of the London 2012 Festival, the spectacular nationwide celebration running from 21 June until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK. Partners include the National Trust, Arts Council England, Arts Council Wales, and Creative Scotland.

For the soundscape, Fiona Shaw has directed and recorded actors, writers, poets and members of the public from around the country reading the love poetry of our islands and talking in all our accents and languages about what and whom they love. Their voices will become part of a multi-layered work composed by Mel Mercier. Contributors include Edna O’Brien, Seamus Heaney, Anne-Marie Duff, Andrew Motion, Jane Horrocks, Cillian Murphy, Alun Armstrong, Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce, amongst many others.

The work will be set against some of the most breathtaking scenery of the UK coastline, including five National Trust sites. The locations are: Cemaes Bay in Anglesey, Wales; White Park Bay on the North Antrim Coast, and Mussenden Temple and Downhill Beach, Borough of Coleraine, Northern Ireland; Cliff Beach at Valtos on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, and Fort Fiddes, Cullykhan Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland; Cuckmere Haven near Seven Sisters in Sussex; and Godrevy in Cornwall.

At Godrevy in Cornwall, visitors will be invited to download the soundscape onto personal devices before they arrive at the site, where they will view the installation across the water at Godrevy Island while listening to the sound through their headsets. Additional headsets with a pre-recorded soundscape will also be available to loan on-site.

Deborah Warner’s commission is inspired by the United Nations Olympic Truce, which calls on countries worldwide to lay down their arms for the duration of the Olympic Games. As dusk begins to fall, the artworks will flicker to life, encircling the UK in a symbolic call to peace.

Peace Camp Locations

Peace Camp is a quiet and contemplative artwork. A limited number of visitors will be allowed at any one time, and booking is therefore recommended. www.peacecamp2012.com

Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, Wales

Cradled in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cemaes sits at the heart of the country’s Welsh-speaking region, overlooked by the oldest church in Wales, Llanbadrig, or the Church of St Patrick. Gravestones in the churchyard in both Welsh and English bear witness to this community’s stormy relationship with the sea below.

White Park Bay, North Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland

White Park Bay is a spectacular beach forming a white arc curving between two headlands on the North Antrim Coast. At the eastern end of the sweeping bay lie the many rocky volcanic islands that surround Ballintoy Harbour, while the western end leads to the tiny fishing village of Port Braddon, home to St Gobbans, allegedly the smallest church in Ireland, and used as a cowshed until the 1950s. These days cows graze on the wild flowers that grow on the beach.

Mussenden Temple and Downhill Beach, Borough of Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Mussenden Temple is located in the beautiful surroundings of Downhill Beach near Castlerock in the Borough of Coleraine, County Derry-Londonderry. Built in 1785 by the extraordinary Frederick Augustus Hervey, Bishop of Londonderry and Earl of Bristol, the temple is set on a 120ft cliff top. The temple was built as a summer library and its design is inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, near Rome.

Fort Fiddes, Cullykhan Bay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

The rocky promontory of Castle Point reaches out into the Moray Firth with its crystal clear sea and vast red sandstone cliffs. It is a site of huge archaeological importance: the ruins of this 18th century fort the latest evidence of habitations that stretch back to 700BC. From the end of the Fort, views across the coast reveal the tiny fishing village of Pennan, made famous through the 1980’s film Local Hero, while the Moray Firth is home to hundreds of thousands of seabirds including puffins, fulmars, shags, kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills, and for the North Sea’s only known resident population of bottlenose dolphins.

Cliff Beach, Valtos, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

The white shell sand of the beach at Valtos forms a perfect teardrop shelter from the incoming might of the Atlantic Ocean. Set in bleak terrain that leads from Stornoway past the enigmatic 5000-year old Calanais/Callanish standing stones, the historic presence of ancient peoples is as pervasive here as in the rest of island of Lewis and its native Gaelic language. With its population of 35 inhabitants, the village of Valtos is the largest in the parish of Uig, where the 12th century Lewis Chessmen were found following a storm in 1831

Dunstanburgh Castle, Craster, Northumberland, England

Built in 1313 by the Earl of Lancaster as a symbol of his rebellion against the King, Dunstanburgh Castle was once one of the grandest fortifications in all England. Today it the UK’s largest ruin, defended on two sides by a sheer cliff and the crashing sea. The artist J.W.Turner was so inspired by his only visit to the castle that he returned to it again and again in his paintings.

Cuckmere Haven, near Seven Sisters, Sussex, England

For many, this stunning landscape epitomises the very essence of the English coast. The river Cuckmere winds its way through wide flood plains, twisting and turning before emerging onto the pebble beach at Seaford Head. With its clutch of iconic coastguard cottages perched high above the sea, the site provides far-reaching views along one of England’s most famous white chalk cliffs. Its peaceful picture-postcard perfection conceals a murkier history of smugglers and conflict, while in a nearby field a poignant WWII memorial quietly remembers the troop of Canadian soldiers who were annihilated by German bombers making their way to London using the huge river estuary as a navigational aid.

Godrevy, North Cornwall, England

Godrevy Head sits at the north end of St Ives bay with its vast and Atlantic rollers pounding into the white sand beach. Only three miles further out to sea, Godrevy Island takes the full force of the gales sweeping in from the Atlantic. The beach is one of the most popular in Cornwall attracting surfers and walkers as well as literary pilgrims. Although Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse was set in the Outer Hebrides, Godrevy lighthouse is believed to have provided the inspiration for the book during Woolf’s many family holidays in Cornwall. Just as the Ramsay family never make their picnic on the island, Godrevy provides an unattainable destination for visitors to the Peace Camp installation.

The use of all locations is subject to the permission of landowners, tenants and other interested parties. Artichoke reserves the right to make changes if necessary.

Source: Artichoke

Angus was a crofter from Uist who spent almost 50 years in a Highland psychiatric hospital. During this time he chose not to speak – instead he wove a series of incredible costumes out of grass. These he hung on trees in the hospital grounds.

The theatre company now return to the Highlands and Islands with the first theatre show about Angus’s life using incredible visuals including replicas of Angus’s original work made by Highland fibre artist Joanne B Kaar and the sounds and images of the Outer Hebrides. The show will also feature the gorgeous Gaelic singing of Mairi Morrison. The show will tour throughout the summer taking in VENUE on the DATE & TIME (before OR after) a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Sealladh as boidhche na chunna sibhse riamh? Aonghas Mac-a-Phi a’ fighe le feur.

Have you ever heard a stranger sound than Angus MacPhee knitting with grass?

“… A theatrical spell, which is quite unique… And accessible to everyone.” (The Guardian)

The Company Background

Horse + Bamboo Theatre Company have been making and touring high quality visual theatre for over 30 years. To sustain the company for this long we have had to stay responsive and keep our work fresh whilst also still providing Horse + Bamboo’s distinctive visual impact. Horse + Bamboo’s audiences leave with a mind full of lasting images that can rarely be compared to anything seen before or after.

Horse +Bamboo’s theatre space in Rossendale, is the northern mask and puppetry centre and a hub for presenting other renowned puppetry companies and story-tellers.

In 1984 the company toured the Outer Hebrides with Seol meaning ‘sail’, or ‘quest’. Commissioned by the Scottish Arts Council to tour the Outer Hebrides, the story combined traditional themes (foretelling, and odyssey) with current issues (militarisation of the islands, and pollution of the waters by nuclear waste). While he was there Artistic Director, Bob Frith, found the wonderful story of Angus MacPhee. In late 2010 the company decided to take his story further.

This show has been a long time in the making and is all the better for it. Most of the company have travelled up to the Hebrides and other parts of Scotland in the process and the release of Roger Hutchinson’s book The Silent Weaver in September 2011 gave added depth to our knowledge along the way.

The Angus MacPhee Background

The tale of Angus MacPhee has been much told; a song, The Weaver of Grass by Runrig’s Donnie Munro; a recently released book by Roger Hutchinson, The Silent Weaver – The extraordinary life and times of Angus MacPhee; a documentary, Hidden Gifts by Nick Higgins; even a tapestry. Now for the first time Horse + Bamboo present a theatre show about him.

Angus was born in 1915 and raised in a crofting family on South Uist. At that time grass was commonly weaved to make ropes which were used to tie all kinds of things from the roof to the cows. In a period where time was more common than money or man-made fibres and grass was plentiful these weaving skills were very valuable.

In 1939 Angus rode off with the Lovat Scouts and was posted to Faroe during WWII. Whilst there he became ill and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was then incarcerated for 50 years at Craig Dunnain hospital in Inverness, for 43 of those years Angus was on no medication. To keep himself well during those ceaseless years Angus would pull the grass from the grounds and weave it making coats, trousers, boots which are now in the Collection de l’Art Brut in Switzerland and hats which were “stunning like a sunburst” according to one of his nurses.

Angus’s work was discovered in 1979 by the art therapist Joyce Laing when she was sent out by Tom McGrath of Glasgow’s Third Eye Centre (now the CCA) with 1 weeks’ petrol money to find him some Art Brut! Since that discovery Angus’s work has been shown and discussed around the world. Previous to Joyce discovering the work Angus had left the work hanging on trees and under the bushes of the hospital grounds and the would periodically get burnt by the hospital staff along with the rest of the dead leaves. Angus would watch this with little reaction. It was a restorative process for him; the final works were not something he ever expected the wider world to be interested in.

The 2012 tour

11^th July Tiree Feis

14^th July CEOLAS, South Uist

17^th July Mull Theatre

19^th July The MacPhail Centre, Ullapool

20^th July Rosehall Village Hall, Sutherland

21^st July Resolis Arts, Cromarty

24^th July Aultbea Hall

26^th July An Lanntair, Stornoway

28^th July AROS, Skye

30^th July Raasay Hall

31^st July SEALL, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye

2^nd Aug Eigg Community Hall

4^th Aug Universal Hall, Findhorn

5^th Aug Pittenweem Arts Festival

16^th–26^th Aug The Scottish Storytelling Centre – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

10^th Sept Lyth Arts Centre

13^th Sept Dornie Hall

14^th Sept Craignish Village Hall, Ardfern

15^th Sept Ceol’s Craic, CCA Glasgow

www.horseandbamboo.org

Source: Horse + Bamboo

PAINTERLY responses to the West Coast and the Hebrides are the focus of Tore Gallery’s latest exhibition.

THE show includes works by Clare Blois, Gwen Black, Linda Smith, Isabell Dickson, Michael Stuart Green, Margaret Cowie, Fiona Matheson, Edward MacMillan, Helen Robertson, Gillian Pattison, Elaine Davis, Jane MacRae, Janis Mennie, Elizabeth Joss and John Nicholson.

Land and seascapes of the Highlands and Islands are undoubtedly popular subject matter for both recreational artists and professionals, and Tore Art Gallery has a high concentration of both on every available surface! What separates the wheat from the chaff in this genre is arguably the artist’s ability to reveal more than just a pleasing view. The best work in the exhibition is by artists equally invested in both the art of painting and their chosen subject matter. It is especially pleasing to see evolution in the work of individual artists in this show, pushing the boundaries of their own practice, expanding their vision of the Highland landscape and that of the viewer in the process.

Isabell Dickson - Breakers

Isabell Dickson’s work has developed significantly in recent years, especially in relation to her rendering of seascapes. In Breakers (Oil), the artist engages with the rich fluidity of her chosen medium in a turbulent composition of greys and steely blues. There is a burgeoning sense of movement between sky, sea and rocky shore communicated in her paint handling which conveys an immediate, visceral response to this ever changing environment.

While the artist’s mountain scenes are more static and less convincing, an adjacent work, Tide Out, Munlochy Bay, gives another tantalising glimpse of promise in a composition as contemplative for its plastic elements – Dickson’s treatment of pigment and mark making – as it is a serene image of the shoreline. The subdued palette and scratched marks in oils retain the freshness and immediacy of a drawing, encouraging the viewer not just to look at a view of the landscape but to feel it texturally, communicating not just optically but emotionally. The artist’s investment in her craft and attitude to her subject is positively reflected in her increasingly confident paint handling.

Edward MacMillan - Rainclouds Over Rodel

A spirit of experimentation can also be found in Edward MacMillan’s works in watercolours. Although this is not yet a leading element, it will be exciting to see how the essential dynamic between design and intuitive or accidental mark will shape future work. Images such as Northern Beach, Harris are well executed in vibrant, robust colour with details such as the striated seaweed sensitively rendered. Similarly The Old Lighthouse, Harris is a densely layered and technically adept design, particularly in the handling of natural textures such as stone and lichen. It is however the introduction of less deliberated marks in the composition that frees the image from being purely illustrative and allows it to become more interpretative.

In Rainclouds Over Rodel the artist introduces a violent splatter of raincloud in contrast to the more formal handling of the stone wall and cottage, introducing accidental marks into the creative process. MacMillan clearly understands his chosen medium and to his credit does not rely on tried and tested technique to depict the scene, allowing the viewer to feel the weather through his handling of watercolour, expanding the parameters of his individual practice as a result.

Edward MacMillan - Luskentyre Shoreline

Similarly, Luskentyre Shoreline, Harris, with its delicately bled pigment operates in counterpoint with more formal elements of the composition. There is a real sense here of the artist actively grappling with his own technique, ultimately the key to a change in perception both for the artist and the viewer. MacMillan’s selection for exhibition at the Royal Watercolour Society’s Open exhibition at the Bankside Gallery in London in 2011 and the 132nd Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour exhibition at the RSA in Edinburgh earlier this year, reflects ongoing development of his work in this challenging medium.

Linda Smith - Far Island

Linda Smith has contributed a series of beautifully atmospheric paintings to the exhibition exemplified by Far Island and Archipelago (Oils). In Far Island, Smith leads the viewer into a psychologically charged landscape or dreamscape, achieved through heightened tonal contrast and a reduced palette, creating an almost mythic interior vision of landscape. The foreground of creviced rock and a lone tree with its De Chirico-like elongated shadows, red fruit or flowers fallen to the ground, is enigmatic and surreal. The dark territory of the ocean and shadowy landmass on the horizon give the image a distinct mood of unease, the tree itself like a lone figure on a precipice of knowing.

Linda Smith - Archipelago

Less conducive to associative narrative but no less potent is Archipelago, an island thrust out of the sea with a shadowy tower of rock behind it. The subject sits intriguingly between the world observed and imagined in the artist’s dream-like rendering of the subject, defined in shadows and ethereal light. Smith’s understanding of the emotional potential of chiaroscuro not just to define the subject but to explore layers of meaning within it is one of her core strengths as an artist.

Clare Blois - Sun on the Sea

Sun On The Sea by Clare Blois is one of the most resonant and joyous paintings in the exhibition, with its thick impasto of cadmium yellow against reverberations of intense blue. The spark of life is in the subject but also in the paint handling – both feel like affirmations in every mark made by the artist’s hand.

Although there is great variation of skills in the exhibition as a whole, there is also evidence of leading elements both within the work of individual artists and within the wider Highland Visual Arts community which is encouraging to see. The exhibition would have benefited from further selection in order to really showcase these qualities, allow them to breathe in the exhibition space and encourage further development of work by both recreational and professional artists alike.

© Georgina Coburn, 2012

Links

• Tore Art Gallery