ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [12 March 2010]

Voe, a small rural community of around 300 people, is named for its situation at the head of the Olna Firth, one of Shetland’s longest voes. (Voes are the Shetland equivalent of Norwegian fjords.) The school takes its name from the voe and has two classes, in total 33 pupils.

This commission, entitled Create Play Contemplate, is to create a sculpture that inspires play and is linked to the themes of interconnectedness, family and contemplation.

Prior to my arrival, I came up with ideas towards the themes and media of the piece. Since touching down last Sunday, my initial thoughts have consolidated as follows:

Knitting

Central to Shetland’s industrial and cultural heritage, I would like to pay homage to this whilst adding a contemporary flavour. Adults and older people from Voe will be invited to impart their knowledge and skills during the community and school sessions, demonstrating typical patterns and motifs, what they represent and how they are made. These motifs could be incorporated into the designs for the artwork.

Family and Interconnectedness

I propose to run an intergenerational project. Parents and grandparents will be invited into the school to work alongside the children, collaborating in skills sharing sessions and, subsequently, in contributing to fabrication of the artwork. Family groups will be encouraged to attend the community sessions in the community hall.

Play

The play element will be contained within the finished artwork. I intend to work together with the groups to design a piece of artwork that, if possible, is interactive and invokes play.

Media

Having assessed the site, the aim to create interactive pieces, and the time available for completion within the desired timescale, I have come to the conclusion that sculptural artworks constructed using mosaic and concrete/stone are the best solution. My objective is to design something contemporary and out of the box with a ‘wow’ factor, yet sensitively designed specifically and appropriately for the site chosen.

# 2 [12 March 2010]

TOUCH DOWN

I arrived on Sunday 7^th March after a gruelling 12 hour journey that started at 4am in the hubbub of Gatwick airport. The Glasgow-Shetland flight in a twin propeller plane afforded several incredible vistas when the clouds parted, including a unimpeded view of a cluster of low-lying islands, peninsulas, voes, cliffs and stacks that scattered as we descended into their midst; the runway a tiny strip of tarmac which stretches right to the water’s edge, engulfed by the winter green landscape and the ceaseless pounding of the north sea waves.

I jumped into my hire car and sped off to my lodgings. Well, it was worth the pain of the journey. I am staying in Gletness on the South Nesting peninsula in the cutest chalet with stupendous views overlooking the south and north voes of Gletness and the south and north islands of Gletness – not the most varied of names, however having scrutinsed my map of the area, I was delighted to find that the southerly part of the North Isle of Gletness (which is, by the way, about 200m across) is called “Aiplin”, let’s say a Shetland namesake, why not!

# 3 [12 March 2010]

MONDAY 8^TH MARCH

Frances Browne, my commissioner, met me for lunch at the restaurant in the most wonderful Shetland Museum and Archives. This building is relatively new, boasting a most interesting a thorough history of Shetland, extensive archives, a wealth of public art, and a fabulous restaurant serving tasty delights with gorgeous views across the water. I saw several seals dipping and diving in the space of a few minutes.

Frances took me on a whistle stop tour of Lerwick, Shetland’s capital town, and then we attended a meeting at Olnafirth Primary School with Madge Peters, the acting head teacher, where we discussed the inns and outs of the project.

# 4 [12 March 2010]

TUESDAY 9^TH MARCH

I spent the morning at the school undertaking a proper site survey. My brief is to create a sculpture in the playground, so I had a good look at all the possible spaces. Recently the school has acquired a strip of grassy land that is currently out of bounds and unused. It is, however, the warmest outdoor space, as it faces west and is relatively sheltered, and when the sun shines up here that is something to make the most of! It also has the best views over the voe and surrounding hills. I came to the conclusion that I could turn this forgotten but potentially promising space into a secret garden; a place where the children can play, hide, relax and enjoy the grass underfoot and whatever interactive elements I end up installing there. Having scrutinized the space, I would like to make something that is multi-purpose, with play/functional purposes that kids can run around, jump over, sit on, etc, as well as fulfilling an aesthetic requirement.

In the afternoon I went to visit Margaret Manson, our school knit teacher. Knitting is taught to all pupils in primary schools on Shetland. Margaret told me about the local knitting tradition and its history. Coincidentally my landlady, Jenny Bradley, also teaches knitting and has lent me a wealth of books and samples of Fair Isle knitting. Fair Isle is the most remote of the Shetland Islands, located half way between Shetland and Orkney and it is where the tradition of iconic, highly colourful knitted design commenced, becoming hugely fashionable in the 1930s. The choice of this as the guiding theme for my project lends itself perfectly to the medium of mosaic, as the knit patterns, fascinating as aesthetic designs in themselves, are composed of geometric patterns on a grid square base.

In the evening we held a welcome evening in the school, which parents and their children attended, along with members of the schools services team and community officers.

# 5 [12 March 2010]

WEDNESDAY 10^TH MARCH

I took myself off to the afore-mentioned Shetland Museum and Archives to immerse myself in Shetland knitwear, oh and many a book, pattern and essay on the subject. I am now fully versed in the tradition, social and fashion history of Shetland knitwear! I also have armfuls of documentation of the stuff!

# 6 [12 March 2010]

THURSDAY 11^TH MARCH

Today was the first workshop day. I ran four workshops; two with each class; Primary 1-4 and Primary 5-7. I prepared the workshops so that they could be repeated with both class groups and would work with such a range of ages.

The first sessions began with a presentation of my past projects to the children. I do this so that they gain an understanding of what public art is; what I have created in similar situations in the past, why I am there and what they can expect from my presence in the school. As my work is so colourful and tactile and is often likened to edibles such as sweets (just on Tuesday at the welcome evening a parent cried out, in response to a particular piece, “That makes me think of puddings!”) it is always a winner with children!

We then went outside and gathered in the space I have chosen for the project. We talked about the space and what could happen in it. I asked each child to come up with some ideas for what they would like to see in the space with the instructions that it had to be interactive and for play. Each group, after struggling initially with the concept (it’s an added challenge in rural schools to set tasks where the age range is so huge within classes), successfully came up with some fantastic ideas expressed through lovely colourful drawings.

In the second workshop I prepared a display of fabulous Fair Isle knit samples and photographs of patterns and motifs. Each participant selected a few images and created drawings of details within the patterns. They then progressed on to creating their own designs inspired by the photographs and eventually chose one design, which they rendered in a large colour format. In an evaluation -described as “our very own art gallery” by one of the teachers - of all the designs laid out for all to survey, it was clear that they had produced some beautiful work.

# 7 [16 March 2010]

FRIDAY 12^TH MARCH

Frances Browne, my project coordinator, very kindly invited me to the opening of an exhibition at the Bonhoga Gallery in Weisdale. The gallery is located in Weisdale Mill, which has been converted into a beautiful arts centre. Weisdale is located right in the centre of the main island, down a very dark, very windy road. Most roads in Shetland are single track with passing places, something that is quite nostalgic for me because it takes me back to my childhood and all the holidays in remote parts of Scotland. Driving in such conditions is a completely different experience to what I consider normal – 30 miles per hour is about the maximum one can safely navigate such terrain, so it’s impossible to rush and why indeed with breathtaking scenery at every glance. However, night-time driving requires concentration in the deep black dark!

The exhibition was delightful; five winners of various prizes had been invited to exhibit. Frances spent all the time introducing me to all the art bods, a gorgeous, friendly bunch. Friendliness is on another scale here, really. For example, I have discovered that when driving through the countryside it is de rigueur to wave at everyone you pass. How lovely is that?

# 8 [16 March 2010]

SATURDAY 13^TH MARCH

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP

One of the requirements of the commission is to run two workshops with the community, so the first one was in Voe Community Hall, between 10 and 3, as advertised on Shetland Radio and in various other places… On Friday I went to see potential accommodation in Sullom, a couple of voes away, and when my extremely hospitable hosts invited me in for a cuppa and inquired as to what brought me this far north, the easiest way to explain was, very conveniently, within the leaflet advertising today’s workshop, which had been enthusiastically thrust upon anyone entering Voe shop in the last few days and happily had landed in their hands too. One word from me and my maybe-landlady disappeared only for a moment to reappear clutching my photograph. If only successful publicity were always so simply far reaching!

For the workshop I had prepared a clay activity. When I found out that weaving had been an important industry in Voe, I decided to pay reference to that through weaving in clay. It is a very effective, manageable activity and it was well attended by various parents, children and a few more adults supporting the project. Everyone created texturized clay using a variety of materials to impress into the clay surface and then cut their slabs into strips, which I taught them how to weave. All were impressed with the end results. I promised to fire them, having sourced a local kiln, although they are very fragile.

# 9 [16 March 2010]

SUNDAY 14^TH MARCH

My first day off! I was determined to see something of Shetland beyond the view from the windscreen. I set off for Sandness, on the west coast. I took the same road for Weisdale, only this time I could see! Stunning (of course!). And trees! Trees cannot survive the fearsome winds in Shetland so there are practically none. I presume the valley of Weisdale is moderately sheltered so that it can support a few clusters of trees. Continuing west, I arrived at Sandness and the first thing I noticed was how fiercely the wind turbines were spinning. Great day to pick for a walk! Determined I was, however, and off I set facing the oncoming wind. Well, it did not let up for a moment and it was quite an experience, to be blasted relentlessly like that for three hours. It was also colder on Sunday than usual, and I reckon with the wind chill is was well below zero the whole time. But it was amazing. The sun came out and I was treated to stunning views of Papa Stour, an island famed for its rocky reefs and sea caves. Foula, one of the most remote islands, loomed mistily on the horizon and the most sensational part of the walk was the magnificent Hesti Geo, with its sheer cliffs dropping straight down into the sea and rugged stacks beyond.

# 10 [16 March 2010]

MONDAY 15^TH MARCH

The second workshop day. The wee bairns came in the morning, and the bigger ones in the afternoon. In the development of the Fair Isle knit theme, I had been to visit several outlets of modern knitwear. Most of the garments are fairly classic, albeit with different names – for example, gansey is jumper - but I have been informed by various sources that the in-thing are Fair Isle hoodies. Very nice they are reputedly too. In my wanderings, I had been eyeing up the berets. Given that I have decided to design circular “plinths” for want of a better word for the playground, and I plan to base the designs of the mosaics on Fair Isle patterns, the berets are perfect! So today I set all the children the task of designing their own beret-inspired circular designs. They produced with some beautiful work. The younger class also tried their hand at clay, having not done clay with me before (at my interview I had to run a workshop and I did a clay session with the older class). I worked them hard! But they had a lot of fun.