FOR A few years in the late 1950’s and early 60’s, Bettyhill-based Elliot Rudie was “artist in residence” at The Beat Hotel on 9 Rue Git de Couer off the Boulevard Saint Michele in Paris, run by the irrepressible Madame Rachou, a veteran of the French Resistance, writes George Gunn.

HERE was a cheap refuge for the lost and the lonely, for artists, poets and writers in general, where for a few years the “heroes” of the American “Beat Generation”, Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs, lived and worked.

Elliot Rudie - William S. Burroughs

All of this bohemian energy is captured in many of the large and small paintings and drawings which dominate this retrospective exhibition. Elliot Rudie was there and lived amongst them, and along with the photography of Harold Chapman, both which are featured in the film The Beat Hotel, directed by Alan Govenar, which is being shown every day of the exhibition, chronicled this “resistance movement against all authority”, as Rudie describes it in the film.

Interesting as all this is, I cannot help but feel that the essential essence of Elliot Rudie the artist is not best served by the curatorial choices this exhibition has taken. For make no mistake: Elliot Rudie is a major talent, if only as evidenced by the two portraits in oil of his mother and father dating from 1958 and 1967 respectively, all deep cello greens, browns and yellows, and the two conte pencil and charcoal drawings, ‘Mr Scott’ (1958) and ‘Life Drawing’ (1994), with their confident purple atmospheres and blue grey settings. These works demonstrate an artist with an astute eye for human shape and form and a consistent and developed love of that media but this exhibition only offers us glimpses of these riches.

Elliot Rudie - Ferlinghetti and Murau at the Howl trial, 1957

Avizandum is a Scots Law term for “summing up” and, of course, it is difficult to “sum up” a career which began when Elliot Rudie was born in Broughty Ferry, Dundee in 1939. He trained at Duncan of Jordanstone and almost immediately he graduated he moved to Paris. When he got there the Algerian War was in full swing with regular bombings in the Parisian streets and along with the flowerings of the “counter culture” this period has left an indelible mark on his art and philosophy.

There are 34 works on display in the Swanson Gallery and its limited space is dominated by the large oil painting on hardboard, ‘Chameleon’, a group portrait of the Beat Hotel residents dating from 1968.

On his return to Scotland Rudie moved to Sutherland, first to Helmsdale and then to Bettyhill to teach art at the new Farr High School, and although there are markers of his devotion to that community in posters, book covers and photographs of arts projects with the school, there are only two works which offer a tantalising glimpse of the importance of the North Coast of Sutherland to his creativity – ‘Farr Point’, a tender acrylic composition, and the wonderfully vibrating ‘Red House’, both which date from 1992.

There is joy, colour, life and exhuberance bursting out all over the room, and herein lies the difficulty of this particular “Avizandum”: there are at least three exhibitions competing with each other here. The Beat Hotel work constitutes a strong entity in itself; it shows both the genesis and flowering of the artist’s style and the developing colour of his politics.

Then, secondly, there is a continuation of this in the magnificent and dedicated work he produced with the pupils of Farr High School, for example the Spectrum Playground and the various art work produced for the sequence of musical theatre projects he was involved with – not to mention the designs of the Tales Of The North Coast collection of stories.

And thirdly there is the relationship this highly charged and immensely gifted artist has with the culture and landscape of Sutherland itself. I literally pined from the lack of this.

One of the gifts of this exhibition is the number of artist’s notebooks and scrapbooks which are available for the gallery goer to look into and enjoy. Here is a fascinating door into the world view and thought processes of this great imagination and talent. But the vital work is not on the walls.

This is not a criticism of the exhibition – far from it: it is a lamentation for the lack in Caithness and Sutherland of a large enough and technically facilitating gallery space co-joined with the cultural knowledge and curatorial vigour necessary to allow the people to enjoy the work of Elliot Rudie, one of the most important artists working in Scotland at this present time.

Elliot Rudie - The Crowd at the Howl trial, 1957

Avizandum is not so much a “summing up” as a “prelude”, and The Swanson Gallery, Highlife and Caithness Arts have to be congratulated on going some way to counter the neglect Elliot Rudie has endured over the years. The exhibition, sadly, is not touring, but this only makes a visit to Thurso even more essential because as many people as possible should see this important display of irreverence and skill, technique and passion. If you want to give yourself a pre-Christmas present go to the Swanson Gallery.

© George Gunn, 2012

Pushing The Boundaries

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES does exactly that. Whatever your impressions of a basketmaker’s circle may be, this exhibition will challenge and expand your ideas about the art of working with willow.

The combination of age old techniques and contemporary exploration of natural materials successfully breaks down the popular divide between visual art and craft. The art of woven willow is convincingly merged with the disciplines of drawing, painting and sculpture.

Membership of the Scottish Basketmaker’s Circle extends beyond our borders, including artists from Scotland, England, Denmark and New Zealand.

My first impression of “Pushing the Boundaries” was the wonderful earthy smell of natural materials which hit you the moment you step into the exhibition space. There is something basic and sensual about experiencing an exhibition (at least in part) with your nose!

This sense also led me through the Brahan Estate to Patrick Dougherty’s large-scale sculptural work as part of the ‘Big Willow Project’. ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ also coincides with a series of classes and activities for school children at the Brahan Estate, led by artists in residence Caroline Dear and Tim Johnson, who are also represented in the exhibition.

Juliet Arnott’s creation of ‘Nests’ constructed from Norfolk willow prompts the viewer to consider the “simple beauty and genius in nature.” Awareness of nature and its cycles are central to harvest and work with a material such as willow. For me personally this show highlights the role of art as integral to life, something that earlier societies understood far better than our own.

Linda Soo’s ‘Arrow Basket’, constructed from white horse hair, Harris wool, willow and natural dyed sisal, pushes the boundaries of a loom-woven object into 3D form. As an object it connects with ancient systems of belief. Reverence for the earth and ritualised hunting practices created this kind of vessel / art which has both a sacred and practical function. The materials themselves when woven together in this manner have a purity which is quite beautiful.

Many of the artists of the circle have been influenced by the indigenous art of other cultures. Eva Seidenfaden’s ‘Sunshine I, II and III’ take their form from a spiral weave learnt in Africa and there are also references to Maori and North American traditional creative techniques and use of natural materials. The exhibition combines ideas of heritage, traditional craftsmanship and the origins of materials and their creative use in an innovative way.

this show highlights the role of art as integral to life, something that earlier societies understood far better than our own

Jane Wilkinson and Liz Rowley have created a screen of willow panels and fused glass. Introducing light-reflective materials into a densely woven solid structure, the wavy organic form of woven willow in deep green, ochre and brown is both functional and beautiful.

The biggest surprise for me was the way in which drawing, painting and sculptural processes merge with willow as a medium. The work of artists Tim Johnson, Caroline Dear and Lizzie Farey best sum up this approach.

Inspired by Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock’s assertion that “The painting has its own life. I try to let that life come out,” materials reveal themselves” in Farey’s ‘Currach Series I, II and III’. The progression in this series from a traditional floor weave into abstraction allows the materials to exhibit a life all of their own.

Tim Johnson’s ‘In Under’, ‘Snare’, ‘Shard’ and ‘For Hukwe’, a series of slabs made from experimentation with crushed chalk and scorched willow, create the effect of human marks emerging out of sediment. These scorched willow marks in low relief are part sculpture, part elemental drawing.

This idea of willow as a drawing material is carried further in Caroline Dear’s work. Her composition ‘From Square to Circle, Heather Triptych’, develops sequentially woven heather roots from formalised pattern into an abstraction.

‘Explosion;, constructed from birch trimmings, creates sweeps of line and points articulation from seed pods. It is a wonderful 3D object drawn with dynamism by simple lines of birch. Dear’s exploration of her materials leads to a new understanding of what constitutes a “drawn” image.

American artist Patrick Dougherty’s response to location, landscape and the ancient standing stones in the region have created an amazing group of large scale sculptures created for the Big Willow Project on the Brahan Estate. These sculptures are to be in place until they are deconstructed as part of a performance for the 2007 celebrations involving fire, dance and music.

I was fortunate to visit Brahan on a beautiful sunny day and was happy to meander along the walking trails that lead down to a small loch where the sculptures are situated. The path and route to the Big Willow Project could, however, be better signposted, with more information for the visitor on the range of activities taking place and information about the artists involved.

Along the way in a small clearing were examples of basketry and a circular wreath, signs of human activity amongst the sound of birdsong, wind moving through groves of trees and the smell of freshly cut grass. Fields of bluebells and the heavy sweet scent of honeysuckle line the woodland path. The loch itself is surrounded by fields of yellow rapeseed so vibrant and saturated with colour that it is impossible not to have your spirits lifted.

The site of these huge structures by water is a wonderful respite or breathing space. The forms themselves are grouped together like large standing stones woven in thick strong sweeps of movement. There is shelter in their cocoon-like structure, you can move within them and view the surrounding area framed by openings in their sheltering form.

The smell, texture and feeling of protection within them are intoxicating. Sunlight streamed through fronds of willow catkins against the blue cloud filled sky. The presence of birds, dragonflies and the way the wind funnels through the forms hitting your body as you stand inside them is living nature.

From the far side of the loch and at a distance the sculptures are like a magical gathering open to the elements and formed by them. I am sure that children would respond to the stimulus of this work in its natural setting and it is a great way of introducing them to environmental sculpturally based art.

Both exhibitions in the museum space and in the landscape are engaging on many levels, whatever the weather they beg further exploration.

© Georgina Coburn, 2006