Past Exhibitions - May 05
David Morrison | Captivate Animation | Ingebjorg Smith | Peter Fisher |
David Morrison -
Wild Caithness
8 – 28 May 2005
David Morrison was born in Glasgow but made Caithness his permanent (and spiritual home) in 1965. He has made a significant contribution to the artistic community in the North and has an established reputation as short story writer, poet and painter. David was the leading light behind the Wick Festival of Poetry Folk and Jazz and Folk and launched the Scotia Review which still thrives, although now under a different editor. He is soon to publish a collection of his poems.
The selection of Morrison's work exhibited Timespan until the end of May, represents about 50% of his 2004 output. He works mostly in acrylic, which for him is the most exciting medium. “I put all my careful thought into a painting beforehand, then once I get started, and because acrylic dries fast, I have to work very quickly indeed. I do this until – to steal the expression from Neil Gunn – I find “the atom of delight” If I find that atom, then the picture will have meaning for me.”
The eight painting on display are richly textured in paint and collage. They make a beautiful collection seen together, but each one is absorbing in its own way, and were well received at the Timespan opening on Sunday afternoon. The overall sense of these paintings is very moving. Morrison draws on a very fragile ecosystem and landscape for his inspiration and then seems to overwhelm its delicacy with the force of nature, in huge great sweeps.
Captivate Animation
8 – 28 May 2005
For the first time ever, Timespan is holding an exhibition of film animation. CAPTIVATE ANIMATION which opened on Sunday and runs through till the end of May is a selection of the best available talent in Scotland today and is essential viewing.
For those without access to trendy urban art cinemas or slightly arcane film festivals, it is very difficult to enjoy the delights of art animation, and indeed most people are not even aware of its existence. Yet this is a genre that predates the last century and worldwide has always supported an astonishing array of talent. Animation is cheaper to create than film, and a single dedicated artist can produce very important work on a shoestring budget. While not all productions are so frugal (especially nowadays), it is in the nature of animation to focus on the personal and the specific. Invariably it has something to say about the strangeness of human nature, irony and injustice. Although it can sometimes be very funny, art animation is more likely to be a wry smile than a belly laugh. Sometimes it is also very shocking. And it can be beautiful and uplifting.
An Tuireann Arts Centre in Skye has drawn together a showcase of animation from Scottish artists at different stages in their career and brought it to Timespan, courtesy of Highland Council. This is the first time the gallery has featured animation in a dedicated exhibition and it is a very exciting package. The quality of the animation scene in Scotland is evident from the calibre of films on show, and it will surprise and delight new audiences.
Set aside a good hour to watch the entire show. You won’t be disappointed.
Highlights include the lyrical and charming Takuskanaskan by Selina Cobley which tells a mythological story of creation and what it takes to bring the rain down to replenish the earth. The film’s energy and dynamism is all the greater for being portrayed in such a gentle way.
Boxed In by Will Becher draws one into a funny but heartbreaking tale of loneliness and frustration that ends in triumph.
Promise Land by Gili Dolev, returns to familiar ground for animation artists in making a political point. There are no heroes in this clever “journalists view” of the Arab Israeli conflict.
Robb Ellender’s Insight which is an abstract voyage through space and time, is a fabulous production. Totally gripping but without even a sideways reference to anything so prosaic as a storyline.
The Pipers Of Bornish by Catriona Black has a touch of the creepy about it but is immaculate in its sound and visuals. And there are others of equal calibre.
Ingebjorg Smith
Timespan’s Artist of the Month - May
Timespan’s Artist of the Month Ingebjorg Smith is showing a wonderfully rich collection of her work and all of it is brimming with energy and excitement. Ingebjorg has lived in Tain for 10 years arriving by way of Glasgow. In between she travelled the world for two years following the sun (or perhaps a golden moon) which is ever-present in her work. But Ingebjorg’s pictures, which are beautiful collage creations using print techniques and much gold leaf, are also very Highland. Birds, fish, cats, even foxes, buds, hearts and comical people fishing in boats are all there - with character and humour.
Back in the late 1970s when she studied illustration at The Glasgow School of Art, Ingebjorg found the confidence, and with support from her tutors, developed her own style. “My inspiration primarily comes from Chagall and Picasso but also young children’s art which I adore. Their spontaneity is wonderful. It’s always a little disappointing to see how ten year olds gradually get more rational about their paintings and start inserting awkward detail. The charm is then often lost.” To feed her enthusiasm for the child’s-eye view, she works with Gaelic Children’s TV at BBC Scotland as well as Highland Council children’s art workshops. Ingebjorg also created the large and stunning mural at Skibo Castle’s Children’s Barn. Her work is in great demand, which she says “is a wonderful if surprising position to be in.”
Maybe it’s because Ingebjorg Smith is so totally unprecious about her work that it has found such resonance here in Highlands. Illustration departments at art schools expect their students to emerge creative but also prolific, and she is certainly that. But she is also very outgoing – and so is her work. “Lots of things that are supposedly cutting edge are boring to me,” she says, “they are too cerebral. I’d rather do something more traditional: a picture someone can buy, take home and hang on their wall.”
Those who feel the same way about unmade beds, dead sheep and elephant dung will have much to choose from in this exhibition.
PETER FISHER
Timespan’s Maker of the Month - May
Raku ceramics have a fascinating and quite unique history. Literally, raku is an architectural term which means “joy” or “ease” but way back in 16th Century Japan, it was also adopted by an important ceramicist and statesman called Chojiro, who took it for his family name. Raku is now known as a ceramic technique but the original family - in an unbroken line, generation after generation for over 450 years - still produce.
The special technique is in the firing of the clay – smoked in sawdust and then removed when very hot so that the glaze oxidises into unusual colours. It’s a very exciting process to watch, but getting beautiful results is not at all easy. The style is always down to the maker of course but Raku is usually unfussy – and elegant.
This is what Peter Fisher, an accomplished Raku ceramicist has achieved, and it is no surprise that on the first day of his exhibition as Timespan’s Maker of the Month, many red dots appeared next to his work.
The display includes some stunning pots and Raku fish with the traditional black glaze, a collection of charming little animal figures and some wonderfully unusual blue and red glazed bowls and pots of absolute simplicity. They are all of the piece, many with Fisher’s ammonite motif, yet each one is quite different. “I enjoy the element of chance involved in the Raku process” he says “which allows for a combination of skill and luck in every firing.”
Peter Fisher is a Yorkshire man. His first career as a nursery teacher ended when he contracted ME, with which he lived for 12 years. At that time, Raku emerged as a lifeline although his progress was rather sporadic. Being entirely self taught, he learned his craft the hard way, compounded by the fact that he moved about quite a bit, living in the Midlands and Demark.
He is now happily settled in Cromarty where he has studios. “Everything has come together beautifully after what was a very difficult time,” he says. “I can now concentrate on my work – indeed get lost in it. Raku requires dedication, but it is a physical, not intellectual process and is therefore hugely satisfying”. The end product is also very beautiful.