Northings | Giles Sutherland | Activity

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, North Lands Creative Glass, on the site Northings

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:45:44 +0000

The Design Element
GILES SUTHERLAND looks back at proceedings at the Northlands Creative Glass 2005 Conference.
IN THE KEVIN COSTNER film ‘Field of Dreams’ a mysterious voice intones the enigmatic phrase – “if […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Visual Arts Sutherland, on the site Northings

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:27:59 +0000

Enriching the Visual Culture
GILES SUTHERLAND reports on a pilot project to bring an arts trial to Sutherland.
IT HAS LONG BEEN recognised that the particular geography and low population of the Scottish […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, 6 ° West — Inch Kenneth Installation, on the site Northings

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:42:44 +0000

St Oran’s Chapel, Isle of Iona, until 22 October 2011 IN June 2011, the four artists who comprise the collective 6 ° West – Anne Devine, David Faithfull, Mhairi Killin and Veronica Slater – completed a week-long residency on Inch Kenneth (Innis Choinnich), a small island in private ownership a few miles north-east of Iona at the mouth […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, The Erratics: Lotte Glob with Nick Evans and Ruth Barker, on the site Northings

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:27:05 +0000

Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, until 9 April 2011 IN GEOLOGICAL terminology an ‘erratic’ refers to a large boulder transported some distance from its original site by glacial movement. Here the term acts as a convenient metaphor for the work of Sutherland-based ceramist Lotte Glob, which finds itself translocated upon, literally, th…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Field Studies, on the site Northings

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:17:14 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, until 21 December 2010 THE term ‘field studies’ conjures up the idea of scientific investigation and observation — perhaps some aspect of natural history, geology or geography. Moreover, field is, in itself, a wonderfully multi-layered word which combines the idea of a specific — and usually academic — discipline with agricu…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Ruth Macdougall: Taking the Elephant Test, on the site Northings

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:00:46 +0000

GILES SUTHERLAND reflects on the work of artist Ruth Macdougall in Sutherland. “At the heart of my work is the engagement and participation of those communities amongst whom I live. As a primary source of information and guidance, I rely on evolving relationships and subtle collaborations to arrive at a work that not only tells a story […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, The Art of Progress, on the site Northings

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:17:06 +0000

Inverness Museum and Gallery, until 24 April 2010 IT WOULD be easy to miss this quiet, apparently modest and small exhibition but for one thing – it includes a magnificent, accomplished watercolour by John Mallord William Turner, painted in 1833 when the fifty-eight-year-old artist was at the height of his powers. Although Turner’s townscape of…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Ian Westacott - Trees on the Edge, on the site Northings

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:09:18 +0000

Browns Gallery, Tain, until 6 April 2010 THE DEPICTION of trees in the history of art has a long tradition, but careful studies of individual trees are much rarer. Dürer, Rembrandt and Van Gogh were sufficiently skilled and interested to focus on trees as subject matter – but rarely exclusively so. Rembrandt’s ‘The Three Trees’ from […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Alastair Cook - Sutherland / Caithness, on the site Northings

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:42:40 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, until 21 March 2010 ALASTAIR Cook’s black and white photographic images of Caithness and Sutherland – shot on 35mm film and hand-printed – repay close attention. What at first sight may appear as rather stark, unpeopled studies of landscape, geology and abandoned architecture slowly reveal themselves as carefully composed and…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Ann Davidson: North from Sutherland Exhibition, on the site Northings

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:40:52 +0000

Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale, until 20 December 2009 TO MOST of the population of these islands, the county of Sutherland, lying at the northern end of mainland Britain seems far off, remote and impossibly northern. But the north coast of Scotland was called Sutherland because those who applied the appellation – the Vikings of Orkney, Shetland…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Patricia Niemann - Where the Bones of the Earth Show Through, on the site Northings

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:59:35 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, until 25 October 2009 PATRICIA NIEMANN originally trained and worked as a goldsmith and ran her own free-lance design studio in Vilshofen, Bavaria, before relocating to Scotland where she became ‘hooked’ on glass, firstly as a post-graduate student at Edinburgh College of Art and later at North Lands Creative Glass in…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, COLOUR AND TRANSPARENCY: NORTH LANDS CREATIVE GLASS 13TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE (Lybster, Caithness, 5-6 September 2009), on the site Northings

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:16:37 +0000

GILES SUTHERLAND looks back on a stimulating Conference overshadowed by the death of a co-founder of North Lands Creative Glass. THIS YEAR’S annual North Lands Creative Glass Conference – the culmination of a year-round programme of workshops, residencies and other events – was overshadowed by the recent death of Dan Klein, one of North Lands’…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Anne Brodie and Yael Rosenblut: The Visitors, on the site Northings

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:30:56 +0000

Timespan Gallery & The Ice House, Helmsdale, until 2 August 2009 THE ICE HOUSE in Helmsdale has been described as the town’s ‘monumental deep freeze’. Owned by the Sutherland Estate, it once acted as a store for the salmon catch from the Helmsdale river and, as its name implies, as a storage facility for ice which was […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Sue Jane Taylor: Oilwork - North Sea Diaries, on the site Northings

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:25:08 +0000

Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, until 26 April 2008 SINCE it first opened in Aberdeen’s Maritime Museum in 2005, Sue Jane Taylor’s exhibition ‘Oilwork – North Sea Diaries’ has toured the country. The final venue before some of the work goes on permanent display in the new 20th Century Gallery at the National Museum of Scotland in […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Hamish Henderson, on the site Northings

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:59:12 +0000

An Extraordinary Life GILES SUTHERLAND considers the life of work of Hamish Henderson in the light of a new biography by Timothy Neat HAMISH HENDERSON was born on 11 November 1919 in his grandmother’s house, a small sandstone villa on the outskirts of Blairgowrie, in Highland Perthshire. Because his mother was unmarried and because of the still p…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Timespan Artists Residencies, on the site Northings

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:34:32 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, July 2007 AT A RECENT symposium entitled ‘Outreach/Reachout’ in Timespan a number of speakers discussed the highly successful series of artists’ residencies hosted by the organisation since 2005. The artists were Julian Meredith, Jonathan Macleod, Nigel Mullan, Gemma Petrie, Beatriz Pimenta Velloso, Catriona Murray and Janis…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, As Others See Us- Portraits From The Highlands , on the site Northings

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:58:49 +0000

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until 29 July 2007 IT WAS Robert Burns who, in his poem ‘To A Louse’, published in 1786 wrote: O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! The poem has been cited often enough (perhaps too often) as a plea against human vanity; but in the […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Highland: Visual Responses To Highland Scotland , on the site Northings

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:10:29 +0000

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until 20 June 2007 IN THE history of art of the Scottish Highlands (if such a neatly defined entity can ever be said to exist) it’s interesting to ponder on the various treatments of landscape; the land is an abiding trope for artists wishing to explore what ‘Highland’ means to them. Depending on […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Lotte Glob- Magma, on the site Northings

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:13:18 +0000

Watermill Gallery, Aberfeldy, until 13 September 2006 IN THE INTRODUCTION to her current exhibition at the Watermill Gallery, Lotte Glob writes: “My creative process involves a close, continuing and intense relationship with the landscape and wilderness of the Scottish Highlands, a part of which is long hikes into the mountains, bringing back m…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Visual Arts Sutherland 2006, on the site Northings

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:33:03 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, until 4 July 2006 NOW IN ITS third year, the Visual Arts Sutherland Open Studio Trail, which runs until the end of June, is an ideal way of meeting artists and seeing their work in situ. This is a popular and successful idea with similar models in other parts of the country where distance […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Tim Stead: With The Grain, on the site Northings

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:40:30 +0000

An Lanntair, Stornoway, until 1 April 2006 WHEN THE sculptor and furniture maker Tim Stead died in 2000 at the age of 48, Scotland lost one of its most important artists. This touring retrospective (which started at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in June last year) demonstrates both the range of Stead’s talents and the scale […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Sue Jane Taylor- Oilwork, on the site Northings

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 19:42:57 +0000

Maritime Museum, Aberdeen, until 15 October 2005 FOR THE PAST twenty years, the artist Sue Jane Taylor has recorded the life, on shore and off shore, of the men who were involved in oil production and the fabrication of structures for the Scottish oil industry. The majority of the works currently on display at the Maritime […]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Point Of Balance, on the site Northings

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:22:40 +0000

Timespan, Helmsdale, until 30 September 2005 THE TITLE OF the current exhibition at Timespan, ‘Point of Balance’, is highly apposite, and carries both a literal and metaphorical meaning. Each of the participating artists – Fin Macrae, Wendy Sutherland and Brodie Nairn – work in different media – photography, painting and glass respectively. Alt…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Teja- Tuulia Ahola/ Charles Sandison, on the site Northings

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 18:24:49 +0000

Skerray Museum, until 12 August 2005 FOR MILLENNIA GOLD has held a particular fascination for humanity; the metal’s density, light and colour and relative rarity made it a standard of exchange and currency. Legends and mythology are weighted with its magicality. It binds and symbolises marriages. The lust it provokes creates murderers and t…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, IAN WESTACOTT/RAYMOND ARNOLD: DOUBLE VISION (Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale, 4-30 June 2005), on the site Northings

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 08:25:16 +0000

GILES SUTHERLAND reflects on the artistic collaboration between Dornoch-based printmaker Ian Westacott and his fellow Australian Raymond Arnold. THE HISTORY OF artistic collaboration is long and illustrious and the current partnership between the Australian printmakers Ian Westacott and Raymond Arnold proves that the tradition continues to…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Pulteneytown Art Project, on the site Northings

Thu, 20 May 2004 15:21:19 +0000

New Media Meets Old GILES SUTHERLAND reports on a new project aimed at helping revitalise the historic Pulteneytown area of Wick through new building and a community arts project led by artist Sue Jane Taylor WHEN ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON visited Wick in September,1868 he wrote, in a letter to his mother: “Certainly Wick in itself possesses no b…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Joyce Gunn Cairns- Daughters Of Eve, on the site Northings

Mon, 03 May 2004 18:15:32 +0000

Inverness Art Gallery and Museum until 22 May 2004 “EVERYONE has the capacity for creative expression, but not everyone has the courage and support necessary to confront what must be confronted in order to allow their creativity to breathe.” So says the Edinburgh-based artist Joyce Gunn Cairns in conversation with Julie Lawson, a curator with t…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Landscape and Nature Conference 2003, on the site Northings

Mon, 08 Sep 2003 16:45:31 +0000

North Lands Creative Glass, Lybster, Caithness, 6-7 September 2003 FROM HUMBLE beginnings in the early 1990s North Lands Glass – based in the coastal village of Lybster, Caithness – has grown from strength to strength. As well as an ambitious year-round programme of workshops and artists’ residences, the centre also hosts an annual conference whi…[Read more]

Giles Sutherland wrote a new post, Ossian - Fragments of Ancient Poetry, on the site Northings

Sat, 21 Jun 2003 17:09:28 +0000

An Tuireann, Portree, June 2003 WHEN JAMES MACPHERSON published ‘Fingal, an ancient epic poem in six books’ in 1762 he claimed this was a translation from the work of a Gaelic poet called Ossian. This, along with ‘Fragments of Ancient Poetry’ from 1760, had taken the literary world by storm and Macpherson’s ‘translations’ were much admired by …[Read more]