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Edwyn Collins | Alec Finlay | Edward Summerton

 

Edwyn Collins | British Bird Life

Edwyn Collins has been fascinated by birds for a long time. When he was 8 or 9 he found a fledgling greenfinch in his garden and kept it in a shoebox in his bedroom. Edwyn enjoyed long summer holidays in Helmsdale as a young boy and was excited by the wildlife he could get close to there.

In 2005 he had a stroke and brain haemorrhage. Edwyn had to learn everything again from scratch and in this time he started drawing. Firstly with ‘the guy’, then onto birds. Observe his work from the early drawings and see how the detail and definition grow with his ‘restoration’ and Edwyn starts to experiment with colour.

Edwyn is a musician, songwriter and artist. He was born in Scotland and now lives between London and Helmsdale with his wife Grace and son William.

At the age of 16 Edwyn sold his stamp collection, bought a guitar and has never looked back since. He set up the now legendary Postcard Records with his friend Alan Horne as a vehicle to release his early 80′s band Orange Juice records. With Orange Juice and as a solo artist he has released nine albums, with more in the pipeline. He is perhaps most famous for his worldwide hit ‘A Girl Lkike You’. His most recent album, ‘Home Again’, has been very well received by critics and fans alike.

In 2008, Edwyn exhibited his collection, British Birdlife, for the first time at the CCA in Glasgow. this year he exhibited alongside Donald Urquhart, Edward Summerton and Alec Finlay in Aviary at An Lantair in Stornoway, Lewis. This exhibition contains his most up to date work and his first experiments with colour.

 

Alec Finlay | Specimen Colony

Specimen Colony is the first series of works by Alec which were developed on the basis of a nest-box structure. Each box is decorated or camouflaged by the markings of a different bird. This series was selected for the Northern print biennale 2009.

Nest-box schema designs by Jo Salter

Digital inkjet print. Paper 42.5 x 26cm

Printed on innova smooth cotton, natural white (cotton rag), 315gsm by Jack Lowe; an edition of 3 with 2 additional Artist’s Proofs from the portfolio Specimen Colony: Six colonies for a European City, courtesy of the Bluecoat.

Alec is an artist, poet & publisher. Born in Scotland in 1966, ne now lives in the North-East of England, in Byker (Newcastle upon Tyne).

He has exhibited widely, including BALTIC (Gateshead), Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh), Yorkshire Sculture Park (West Bretton), Turner Contemporary (Margate), Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art ( Norwich), John Hansard Gallery (Southampton), Bickachsen 6 (Bad Homburg).

While artist in residence at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, he created a series of art projects on themes connected with nature and contemporary culture, AVANT – GARDE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE; at BALTIC, he created a series of publications and performances. More recently, he was at NaREC, the New and Renwable Energy Centre (Blyth), he has also completed recent projects for Milton Keynes Gallery, Kielder Partnership and Bluecoat Gallery (Liverpool).

Collaborative poetry and art projects with children, include WORDWOOD, Mesotic Laboratorium. Mesostic Curriculum and nine colours. Publishing includes the award – winning pocketbooks series, platform projects, bookscapes, morning star and web – books and poetry published in magazines and anthologies, including Island, Practice and Poetry Review.

Edward Summerton | The Empty Nests

The “Empty Nest” series is open to the interpretation of the viewer. Why no birds or eggs? Do they represent the fragile state of our vanishing ecology? Are the bird’s nests related or important at all? Why are there 12? Is the title “The Empty Nests” important? Has the artist’s child left home? Are they a bit Country and Western? Are they supposed to be serious, or humourous?

Edward Summerton has exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions as an artist whose work has expanded from the pratice of painting into photography, sound works, prints, objects and collaborations.

He co-curated Blind Sight where 50 visual artists were invited to submit sound works to be exhibited as a jukebox installation in Scotland and Finland; Doctor Skin, a unique public art event where artists designed temporary tattoos to be worn by the public; Bird of the Devil, a publication collaborating with 17 writers, and Digital VD, a one hour film work involving one minute films by 60 international artists.

Last year he collaborated with the writer Don Paterson on Delayed by Storm, a postal art project involving the design of the Summer Isles 2009 stamp issue and a boxed set of screen printed and hand stamped postcards, only available from the Summer Isles post office.

This year Eddie has exhibited paintings in exhibitions which include, the National Galleries Edinburgh, with the Travelling Gallery in “Klook Klook” visiting locations throughout Scotland and Aviary, in An Lanntair, Lewis. He has just supplied the artwork for the Glasgow based musician Alasdair Roberts for his new Drag City album Too Long in this Condition and has co-curated and is exhibiting with the Edinburgh Printmakers 2010 Festival exhibition Prints of Darkness.

Edward Summerton is currently a lecturer and researcher for the School of Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College, University of Dundee and the warden at the Strict Nature Reserve.

Melanie Muir | Designer Showcase

Melanie Muir is based in Nairn, Scotland, and creates jewellery entirely by hand, using a process of her own invention (inspired by mokume gane) involving veneers of polymer clay and several stages of firing. Base shapes are moulded and fired, then decorative veneers are applied and the pieces are “wrapped” from behind in another plain layer of clay. Once the final firing is complete, the pieces then go through many levels of fine sanding and buffing to create a lacquer – like finish. The end result makes for a beautiful yet practical and robust item. Her work is represented in galleries and is in the collections of private individuals worldwide.

“I am constantly inspired by the colours and patterns that surround me in the Highland landscape and by the patterns in semi precious stones such as agate and jasper. My jewellery is deceptively simple in form, but the creation and application of pattern is critical. My simple wish is to create jewellery which is so beautiful that it speaks to someone else and inspires them to purchase and wear my work. Every piece I make is completely unique and I hope my clients experience pleasure each time they wear my jewellery.”

The range includes necklaces, pendants, brooches, earrings and a wide variety of cuff bracelets.

David Woodley | Artist Showcase

David Woodley studied sculpture at Reading University but has spent much of his working life making both functional and sculptural ceramics in his studio near Helmsdale.

Drawing has been a constant element of his practice and the human figure is a recurrent theme.

In this present series he seeks to explore man’s dream to overcome the weak, but persistent force, of gravity. As a keen observer of birds and as a falconer who has flown birds of prey for many years, he has a deep awareness of the incredible facility birds have, and the struggle that man has undertaken to aspire to a similar ability, such as Daedalus and Icarus of ancient myth, Leonardo da Vinci with his designs for fantastic flying machines, and modern sports such as hang gliding.

In conveying the feeling of movement experienced by the human body as it flies, falls, dances or leaps David Woodley joins the many who have dreamt of being able to achieve this moment of defying gravity.