EXHIBITIONS I ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE I SPECIAL PROJECTS I ARCHIVE
Exhibitions
Island Paintings
24th June 2023 - 15th August 2023
An exhibition of work by artist Jonathan Smith
Jonathan Smith’s family connections with the Westside of Lewis go back for many generations.
Trained at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, his work is held in private and public collections in the UK, Europe, the US and the Far-East and has been shown by the RBA and RA. He has been drawing the villages and coastline of Lewis since 1974.
The works in this exhibition have been completed within the last year, and reflect a continuing interest in weather, light and the particular nature of the Lewis landscape.
Website - www.jonathansmithart.co.uk Instagram - www.instagram.com/1958jonathansmith
(w)ORD:EBBE+FLOW
13th May - 17th June 2023
EBBE+FLOW is an exchange exhibition, touring in its own wooden chest filled with artworks and images connecting Norway and Scotland. It grew out of a four-year collaborative project between nine artists based in Norway and Scotland: Marit Tunestveit Dyre, Rhona Fleming, Sarah Jost, David Lemm, Jon Macleod, Randi Annie Strand, Calum Wallis and co-curators David Faithfull and Imi Maufe.
EBBE+FLOW is a (w)ORD Residency project and captures the essence of the drifting cultural and nautical exchanges between two lands across the North Sea, both historically and today; the ebb and flow of tides, people and objects between Norway and Scotland, following the weather and the tidal streams, back and forth, from east to west and from west to east.
STRANDLINES
11th March - 6th May 2023
A group exhibition by members of Open Studios Hebrides, featuring photography, print, fine art, textiles & ceramics.
‘Fulmar's nest’ Ed Lewis
The strandline is where the waves softly push debris, shells, pebbles to the furthest point on the beach before retreating as the tide goes out. The contrast between dry and sea-soaked sand or shingle is a beachcombers paradise and the resulting ripples and contours are different with each tide. Artists and photographers may interpret this more loosely, focussing on the larger picture of stretches of beach, wading or scavenging birds, pebbles and rocks, plastic debris and driftwood or the incoming waves that create such unique interfaces between land and water.
Ralph Tonge
Ed Lewis
Mhairi Law
Emma Mackenzie
Philly Hare
Fiona Simes
Lesley Mackenzie
Jane G Smith
Carol Burgis
Ralph Tonge
Jane G. Smith
Carol Burgis
Philly Hare
SEASONS
An exhibition by members of the Catch 23 artists and writers group
17th January - 4th March 2023
The beckoning of birds to one another fills the spring sky as
they busily build their nests in the budding branches of the
treetops.
Summer sunlight filtered through foliage appears speckled
scattered on the path.
Overhead (srs, srs, srs, srs) the birds (pirruck, pirruck, pirrulck) sound
(chirruck, chirruck, chirruck, chirruck) cheerfully.
Autumn winds bring rusting leaves which crunch as I crush
them underfoot.
Excerpt from ‘Sense of Season’, Chris Matheson
‘Autumn Colours’, Sarah Loveridge
Seasons change, they never stay the same. An exhibition pairing artists’ and writers’ evocative and personal work exploring the collective theme of ‘seasons’.
Western Isles Association for Mental Health (WIAMH) is a charity that works with adults experiencing mental health issues via its Catch 23 Support Services. As part of the weekly programme of activities they deliver they have thriving Artist & Writers’ Groups. The Arts Group is facilitated by local artist Ivor Mackay and the Writer’s Group is facilitated by local writer Spencer Woodcock. Both groups provide a safe, supportive space for people to explore their creativity regardless of previous experience.
ISLAND MOMENTS
1st November - 31st December 2022
An exhibition of work by artist and printmaker Gill Thompson
Gill lives on the Isle of Lewis and works from her studio overlooking the sea.
She is inspired by the organic interface between the ocean and the rocks, cliffs and beaches. This constantly changes with the tides and is varied by the play of light as the days progress and the year turns. Gill aims to incorporate the patterns, movement and layered horizons in her printmaking.
Much of her work is experimental, incorporating sand and found materials from the beaches to create her printing plates.
Gill prints using collagraph as her main method of work but also creates monoprint collages, building images with her hand-printed papers to reflect her love of the island colours, textures, moods and seasons.
A Bragar Arnol Timeline
Anne Campbell
July - early October 2022
Our summer 2022 exhibition looks at the archaeology of our villages using artefacts covering 6000 years of human occupation, combined with research into the history of the area from the time of the Norse occupation to the present day.
Each person’s idea of a timeline is different – we encourage visitors to leave comments on what they would like to see included in a timeline of the area.
‘These townships are very populous and would be difficult to clear, besides there would be no object gained as they are more suitable for small tenants than anything else.’ John Munro Mackenzie, estate factor, 19th February 1851.
Bho Bheul An Eòin.
From the Bird's Mouth
Derek Robertson
7th May - 2nd July 2022
A language holds its own traditions and treasures. In Scots Gaelic, the word dualchas encompasses the intimate bonds that exist between the natural world, the land and its people - connecting through language, tradition and culture from generation to generation. The Gaelic names of the animals and plants that inhabit that landscape are a part of that tradition and reflect aspects of these relationships.
In recent times, a number of wildlife species have appeared in Scotland as our climate changes, or otherwise helped there by human agency, and some are so new to Scotland they don’t yet have a Gaelic name, which is something this exciting project is beginning to address.
From the Bird’s Mouth, Bho Bheul an Eòin, is naming the new. Through a process of research and consultation, with advice from scientists, researchers and Gaelic writers, the project gives Gaelic names to these colonisers, and tell their story through poetry and prose.
This exciting partnership project features award-winning and highly-acclaimed wildlife artist Derek Robertson, with support from NatureScot (formally Scottish Natural Heritage) and Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The project advisors are from a wide variety of agencies and the names created will be submitted to their database archives.
The project will allow Scots Gaelic speakers and learners to give voice to the new nature around them and maintain Gaelic's rich, cultural link with the changing ecology of the landscape in which it is embedded.
More information can be found on the project website at www.fromthebirdsmouth.com
Bigger than us. Rebecca Styles
5th March - 30th April 2022
Passage. Rebecca Styles
‘Bigger than us’ is a celebration in paint of the unstoppable, ever-changing nature of the sea and its almighty power to move us. The beautiful, brute reality of nature untamed in this part of the world, the majesty of the rolling ocean, its powerful winds: all the forces of nature create an environment in constant flux. These paintings define and share the shock, terror and grace, push and pull, that has the strength to move us so forcefully.
Rebecca Styles works from her studio in Great Bernera, Isle of Lewis, where unique geology and dramatic vistas are a constant source of inspiration. Her paintings evoke a sense of the elemental and energetic whilst capturing the essence of human nature in its raw and poetic state.
‘My art practice has evolved to become a series of painted love letters between my emotional state and my surroundings. Constantly adapting and evolving. The landscape endlessly braves the onslaught. Surviving and sustaining in order to renew. Nothing wasted, just re-invented.’
insta - rebeccastylesart
website www.rebeccastyles.co.uk