OURS

2010-07-02T13:58:00.001+01:00

The Coracle adventure is back on!

please visit: www.humblyband.wordpress.com

ELEPHANT TEST and other trials

2009-10-20T12:01:00.011+01:00

500 copy limited edition print of Ruth Macdougall's new artist's book, documenting her last two years as artist in residence for Timespan. For a copy, please visit: www.elephanttest.wordpress.com
The book contains contributions from Norman Gibson, Jon Hollingdale, Mitchell Miller and Giles Sutherland.
HI ARTS review written by Scottish art critic, Giles Sutherland.

HI-ARTS REVIEW - THE VISITORS

2009-07-17T13:41:00.003+01:00

To read the review click here

Written by Giles Sutherland

The Visitors Have Left The Building!

2009-07-07T20:01:00.004+01:00

The Highlanders -Yael Rosenblut

Sandy - Anne Brodie

On Friday 3 July, Anne and Yael's exhibition opened for private view to a large audience of locals and other visitrs to the area. Beginning in the ice house, the assembled audience were treated to Anne's large scale light box installation in the main chamber whilst trying out some of Yael's, hand made Chilean empanadas with a wee dram o whisky donated by Clynelish distillery.

Later the crowd headed for Timespan's gallery and the rest of the double sited exhibition.

The Visitors

2009-06-22T10:53:00.002+01:00

TIMESPAN INVITES YOU TO THE DOUBLE SITED PREVIEW OF

THE VISITORS
ANNE BRODIE | YAEL ROSENBLUT

FRIDAY 03 JULY, 7PM AT THE ICE HOUSE FOR DRAMS AND EMPANADAS
TIMESPAN GALLERY THEREAFTER
ICE HOUSE INSTALLATIONS SHOWING: SAT 04 AND SUN 05, 2-5PM ONLY

CURATOR: RUTH MACDOUGALL

PREVIEW SPONSORED BY CLYNELISH WHISKY DISTILLERY

The Ice House, Helmsdale’s monumental deep freeze. Once a store for salmon catch, later a coal fired fish and chip shop. Now the vaulted chamber plays host to the last in a series of three double sited works, marking the end of two years as Timespan’s artist in residence and youth arts curator for Ruth Macdougall.

The final response to the Ice house comes from two very different artists, Chilean video artist Yael Rosenblut and Scottish artist Anne Brodie. Working primarily in digital, lens based media, this intensive one month residency has derived two swift pulls of focal length from both.
Anne’s previous life as a salmon farm worker on the West coast of Scotland has drawn her informed and intimately observed images and sounds from the little known quarters of Helmsdale’s smoke house. Coming from a long line of fishermen, father and son Sandy and Alexander Cowie, represent the current thin layer of Helmsdale’s once rich fishing industry.
Contrastingly, Yael on her first visit to Scotland has chosen to engage with one of the most iconic strands of Scotland’s traditional imagery, the Highland Dancer. Working with Helmsdale’s newest generation of dancers, she has sought to create a collective portrait of youth and future heritage.

Ruth Macdougall

The Ice House 2

2009-06-15T14:26:00.004+01:00

For the final final response to the Ice house I have chosen to curate works by two artists, Chilean video artist Yael Rosenblut and Scottish artist Anne Brodie. Working primarily in digital, lens based media, this intensive one month residency has derived two swift pulls of focal length from both.

Anne’s previous life as a salmon farm worker on the West coast of Scotland has drawn her informed and intimately observed images and sounds from the little known quarters of Helmsdale’s smoke house. The skills of Alexander and Sandy Cowie that are captured in her work belie the fishing heritage which once thrived in the area and whose legacy is continued through lone, workshop.

Contrastingly, Yael on her first visit to Scotland has chosen to engage with one of the most iconic strands of Scotland’s traditional imagery, the Highland Dancer. Working with Helmsdale’s newest generation of dancers ranging in age from 4 – 16yrs old, she has sought to create a collective portrait of youth in the morbidly fascinating setting of the Bridge Hotel's animal adorned Drawing Room.

Yael had her first taste of Highland Dancing at Art Ceilidh 2 on the 3rd of June, an evening designed to introduce the community and artists to one another through presentations, dancing and story telling.

Arkle Days

2009-06-07T13:44:00.002+01:00

2009-06-07T13:28:00.003+01:00

ICE HOUSE INSTALLATION

2009-05-24T15:03:00.005+01:00

Me with the new Ice House door that I designed, fabricated by sculptor Sam Barlow.
I love them and luckily everyone else in the village does too!
A great crowd of over 50 people attended the opening, thanks to all who came!
More pics to come.....

ELEPHANT TEST

2009-05-24T13:44:00.006+01:00

Elephant Test
(An idea or situation that is hard to describe but instantly recognisable when spotted)

From Ruby Laser Rods, recycled dynamos and glass oars to coracles made from 8ft long, hand drawn Ash laths, the development of my art practice has taken me down many paths since I began my residency in August 2007.

With the demands of leading an ambitious youth arts programme, my own work has almost all happened whilst thinking about something else….

The nomadic nature of my career thus far and the international dimensions of my past experiences have led to a semi conscious desire to always map and travel, even within small regions and spaces. Whilst on North Uist, I saw a model of a man carrying a coracle. A coracle is almost the most perfect nomadic vehicle I can think of. It is light enough to be carried easily, can be made entirely from natural materials, can travel across water and even provide shelter. I set about making one under the guidance of local green wood worker and coppicer, Mike Ellis. After being taught the basic green wood working skills that I would need, I made an oar from a single piece of Ash. The coracle that should have accompanied it however, stubbornly resisted completion. As a fatalist myself, I finally gave in after six months of trying... it didn’t want to be made…yet!

Had I made the coracle, my plan was to travel across Sutherland from West to East, walking, paddling, climbing. I believe there are two types of people. There are those who are for the mountains and there are those who are for the sea. I am for the mountains but that dos not mean abandoning water, Sutherland is full of it. Still, without a coracle how could I still make my journey?

The answer lay in the character whom I had always invisaged carrying the coracle. In a new line of enquiry, I had intended to make the journey in animal character, not as myself as is usually the case. A mythical creature.
I have always found that the best myths have their rootings in reality.

Three unlikely characters inhabit the photographic archive in Timespan: a llama, a camel and an elephant. These three same animals have also looked down at me for almost 2 years in which ever space I have been working in at the time. Instantly drawn to them as so many people are, they had been waiting for me to see. A travelling circus.

Shot mostly on Arkle, the golden elephant is my nomad, as captive and wild creature, he knew only travel. His poncho, both cloak and tent is all he needs. I had passed the elephant test at last…

I would like to express special thanks to the following people for their advice, help and services during the making of this work: Julie Jappy, Lindsay Sekulowicz, Cath Whippey, Reay Estate, Rachel Skene and David Shaw.

As the final project in this residency I will be producing a book with the working title: Elephant Test and other Trials, as documentation of all my completed and awaiting projects from the past two years.

ELEPHANT TEST
Video: 6 mins 51 looped
Also showing in the grounds of Tate Modern, 22-25 May as part of the Arte Povera Installation

YOU ARE INVITED

2009-05-10T14:46:00.003+01:00

The Ice House, Helmsdale’s monumental deep freeze. Once a store for salmon catch, later a coal fired fish and chip shop. Now the vaulted chamber plays host to the second in a series of three double sited works, marking the end of two years as Timespan’s artist in residence and youth arts curator for Ruth Macdougall.

‘’Anything worth doing is probably going to take longer than you think ‘’ wrote my late friend Dave, on a note pinned to the door of his studio. Would two years be long enough?

Since August 2007 I have led nearly 300 participants in 8 communities across the region in the OURS youth arts project, facilitating their interaction with over 50 artists from the UK and abroad through trips, events, workshops and apprenticeships. Driving forward the next chapter in the life of Helmsdale’s Ice House, illuminating and establishing an environment in a building for which the possibilities are now limitless, is the permanent legacy that I leave. Yet amidst all this activity, I was all the time hoping that I would recognise my own work when I saw it…

The circus elephant in the picture below is called Bosko, the photograph was taken circa 1900 and he is one of three unlikely creatures that live in Timespan’s photographic archive; a llama, an elephant and a camel. He is approaching the two children at what would appear to be a bit of a trot – elephants cannot run. What happened next? I reckon he slaps the kid and makes a run for it.

ESCAPED CIRCUS ELEPHANT LIVES THE DREAM
Ruth Macdougall

ELEPHANT TEST FRIDAY
22 MAY 7-9 PM TIMESPAN GALLERY AND HELMSDALE ICE HOUSE
TUESDAY 26 MAY 7-8 PM ARTIST’S TALK

LAST IN THE SERIES ANNE BRODIE AND YAEL ROSENBLUT 04 JULY - 02 AUGUST | PREVIEW 03 JULY

Bosko

2009-04-29T12:22:00.003+01:00

The kid Lesley arrives today from London, one of my oldest friends, not that either of us is old...I think Lindsay (her other name) is 25 now..I am 27.
Lindsay is going to Ecuador in June to document and create work in response to the studies of six entomologists from an Italian natural science museum in Florence… wish I could go…
Lindsay has agreed to come and be my elephant as we trek across Sutherland. We will film up the strath and in the ice house tomorrow, then hit the road, camping at the foot of Arkle for the most part.

Going back to circus animals. We never expected to find out anything more about them. Jacquie, our heritage officer suspected that they might be part of the Pinder Ord circus that toured these parts long ago, but that was just an informed guess.
However, at the opening of Chris’ Ice House project, which incidentally drew 75 people, I met Mitch Miller, a former collaborator and friend of Chris.

I knew that Mitch’s heritage lay in traveling circus folk, his family still have side stall attractions, and so I showed him the circus elephant pictures. Mitchel is about 90% sure that the photos are of his family’s circus Pinder and Ord, and the elephant pictured was the infamous, Indian Bull elephant, Bosko (stage name, JUMBO).

Bosko came from Germany and would answer to this name alone. His handler Eddie Pinder was the only human that he would tolerate. He made several serious attempts at taking the lives of more than one member of the circus family, by drowning and general brute force. Whilst bull elephants certainly do become quite dangerous whilst on heat, Bosko’s fowl temperament goes beyond what could be called hormonal and suggests bad treatment by his former German owners.

Bosko would have been used to haul trailers and carts into position when the circus arrived on site and would have been at the head of every cavalcade that marched down the main street, heralding their arrival. Being a star attraction, JUMBO would have appeared in several acts, balancing on his back legs, chasing truly terrified clowns and allowing others to balance on him. I spent a fascinating morning with Mitch learning all these facts. Mitch is compiling an archive of Scottish circus folk, which will be a fantastic resource once available. Naturally, our four pictures will be in there.

Before meeting Mitch, I had already identified the elephant as being Indian due to the size of its ears but had supposed it to be a girl because of the missing tusks ( female Indian elephants do not have tusks) . However, Bosko had to have his tusks removed because he was simply to dangerous otherwise.

A week or so before this fortunate meeting, I had finished an elephant mask based on the elephant photo. You can see him in the early stages of papier mache in the blog post marked ’All will become clear’ I hope it has a little…

So my elephant has a name, a character and a past. Bosko died of flu eventually but not in my story.
In the picture below, Bosko appears to be approaching the children a what looks like a bit of a trot ( elephants cannot run) what happens next? Bosko didn't like children, I reckon he slaps the kid and makes a run for it!

ESCAPED CIRCUS ELEPHANT LIVES THE DREAM

ARKLE

2009-04-28T17:01:00.005+01:00

It would be fair to say that I have been pretty poor at keeping up with blog duties over the past few months. A lot has been going on and not much of it has been to do with my own work. However, with the completion of Chris Dooks Ice House exhibition STUDIO 1824, I find myself in the foreign territory of being at complete freedom to develop my own exhibition.

Sadly, it became apparent that my coracle will simply not be made in time for my exhibition, this is not to say that it will not be made…in fact I firmly believe that it will be realised one day…but not during these days.

For the first time that I can remember, I have had to temporarily abandon a project that I felt was so close and had been the centre of my attention for so long. It took many weeks for me to finally bite the bullet and let it go…not least because of the time and effort that Mike Ellis willingly gave to the idea. The specially constructed drawing bench that stands the length of my studio is a constant reminder of what I had so long intended, like an intake of breathe held unnaturally long, the coracle was conspicuous by absence despite the never ending promise of its construction. The problem in the end was the wood. It wasn’t that we didn’t have any Ash, it was just that the Ash in these parts was not up to it.

I feel that with the long pauses between my own work in the endeavour to realise the youth art programme, I have almost lost or at least misplaced the intuition to recognise when a project is resisting completion.

With my decision to move on and redirect my energies. I felt a sense of release only to be halted by a brick wall. Where is my practice?

Dave Illingworth, my friend with whom I began the dynamo tests and trials with way back at the beginning, died in February.
http://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/5691/Mr_Dave_Illingworth,_Skerray.html
Dave will forever be in a boat with me somewhere between Skerray and Eilean Nan Ron, Island of the Seals. Like so many projects begun here in the North, the dynamo challenge was never completed, a human field of dynamo turning Highlanders never came to pass.

I thought of Dave a lot at this time, my grandpa too, both of whom were bee loving, tree hugging Lancastrians, who would sing Ilkly Moore at the drop of a hat and could turn their hands to almost anything. I have no such technicians here but some good friends, Rachel Skene amongst them, she helped me no end to gain the momentum that I needed at that point…I could still make a brilliant project.

So, what to do, I understand now that I then set about my own elephant test.

The term elephant test refers to situations in which an idea or thing "is hard to describe, but instantly recognizable when spotted."

As is so often the case for me, the essence of what I really do is on the tip of my tongue but won’t make the final leap into words. I have to see it.

Fact is, I almost always find that my work has been staring me in the face for so long that I barely even notice it. Working in a centre that is dominated by a museum and local heritage, I am bombarded by images stories and half finished histories every day.

At work and in my studio, my moves are watched by four unlikely creatures who are amongst the many characters populating Timespan’s ever growing archive; a circus elephant, camel and llama. The animals would appear from the pictures to have arrived by carriage in the early 1900s, we can tell by the clothing worn by the fascinated on lookers and the ruined, but still standing, Helmsdale Castle.

The animals would have traveled by road up the west coast, maintaining some sense of the nomadic lifestyle that they would have led in the wild, but in this case, it was the human pursuit of audience and money rather than food and watering holes that directed their movement.

The use of animals in circuses will always be contentious but looking at these exotic creatures in Helmsdale 1900, it is easy to romanticise their existence. Were it not for the fact that we can identify Helmsdale Castle, the camel could indeed be mistaken for resting a while in front of some Eastern fortress in the desert.

I decided that I still wanted to make the nomadic trip across Scotland, calling upon my time-spent wit the youth group in various locations as a guide. We have been to so many beautiful places during the course of our time together and when, the other day, I returned from Arkle with news of the glorious weather and amazing views, my colleague Fiona stated most decidedly, ‘’yes, the North West of Scotland is probably the most beautiful place in the world’’ I know that Fiona wouldn’t say this lightly.

For people who try and travel whenever they can, this is a strong statement to make, we have all become terribly worldly and to say that your own home is the most beautiful would seem lacking in wisdom or objectivity. But I thought about it for a moment, and found myself saying ‘’yes, it probably is….’’ I meant it.

There goes one elephant.

In Construction

2009-04-27T22:51:00.006+01:00

Today, Chris Whealing (manager of Sutherland Estate) and I took a trip over to Toroboll, where Sam Barlow lives and works, to see how the gate and window are coming along, we weren't disappointed. The fish are all constructed now and ready to be attached to the iron bars as you can see below.
The finished articles will head off to the galvaizers at the end of the week, after which, the copper elements will be added. All being well, the doors and window will be installed in the week beginning the 11th of May, giving enough time for any alterations that may be needed befor my opening on 22 May.

ELEPHANT TEST

2009-04-23T17:43:00.001+01:00

Industrial Sketch Pad

2009-04-01T18:23:00.002+01:00

The door and window are underway.

All will become clear

2009-04-01T17:43:00.003+01:00

Some Urgent Cleaning!

2009-04-01T16:59:00.006+01:00

I was having trouble figuring out how I would power wash the floor of the ice house, it is thick with years worth of grime and slime...who knows when it was last cleaned out!
I approached Rapsons, and they agreed to lend me their power washer but it needs a water supply, which we don't have at the ice house. As always , the knitting ladies came to the rescue and suggested that I approach the local fire brigade, led by Steven Graham and ask them if they might do the job - they do have big hoses after all.
It's not really the type of job that I would instantly associate with the fire brigade but they agreed.
Before undertaking cleaning duties, the men first used the ice house as a training ground, placing a dummy inside and repeating a practice search and rescue. Some of the men had never been inside before, so if nothing else, they had the opportunioty to see what it's like. Hopefully some of them will turn up for Chris' performance next Friday.
The lights have now also been fully installed and are great, casting a clear white beam across the arched roof and floor below. The light accents the archtitecture whilst also giving just enough light for visitors to negociate the crazy paving.

2009-03-28T15:39:00.001Z

OURS AND TIMESPAN INVITE YOU TO THE DOUBLE SITED PREVIEW OF

STUDIO 1824
ICE HOUSE ARTIST. NETLABEL. LIVE SHOW. EXHIBIT

FRIDAY 10 APRIL 2009
SCALES : LIVE : ELECTRONIC MUSIC SHOW
LOCATION : HELMSDALE ICE HOUSE
6.30PM (SHARP) TO JUST AFTER 7PM (FLAT!)
ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY

STUDIO 1824: SOUND : PHOTOGRAPHY : VIDEO
LOCATION : TIMESPAN GALLERY
7PM - 9PM

SATURDAY 11 APRIL
ARTIST’S TALK 2-3PM

NEXT IN THE SERIES
RUTH MACDOUGALL 23 MAY - 28 JUNE 2009 | PREVIEW 22 MAY
ANNE BRODIE AND YAEL ROSENBLUT 04 JULY - 02 AUGUST | PREVIEW 03 JULY

The Ice House, Helmsdale’s monumental deep freeze. Once a store for salmon catch, later a coal fired fish and chip shop. Now the vaulted chamber plays host to a series of three double sited exhibitions, marking the end of two years as Timespan’s artist in residence and youth arts curator for Ruth Macdougall. The first Ice House artist, Chris Dooks, is commissioned and curated by Timespan’s youth arts group, OURS, led by Ruth.

‘’A linguistic survey sound recording from 1964 featured Helmsdale fisherman Neil MacKay and wife Mary (née Sutherland). A story is told and in the background, bells chime. A knitting group helped me track down the next of kin who had never heard the recording. Using the acoustics in Helmsdale’s ice house, I shaped music from these recordings, adding fresh elements to create a mini-album of “folktronica” with accompanying photographic cover-art. The project became a “netlabel" (www.studio1824.com), a live electronic concert, community workshops and a gallery exhibition featuring an enormous salmon of knowledge, patrolling the ice house and nearby Gartymore…’’
Chris Dooks

Exhibition Runs
Saturday 11 April - Sunday 17 May 2009
Mon - Sat 10-5pm | Sun 12-5pm
Free entry

Ice House door and window design

2009-03-18T15:52:00.002Z

Just a few examples of the 100 or so drawings that I've done for the ice house doors. Finally the composition is a mixture of bold shapes based on simplified fish forms and a more lyrical background of sweeping arcs that carry through both door and window. The curves and circles mirror the many curves and arches that appear in the ice house architecture and surrounding structures.

The green shaded areas will be made in copper whilst the rest will be donw in black and grey. I'm meeting with Sam Barlow next week, when we will carry out a full scale drawing and make the finer decisions.

Ice House Progress

2009-03-01T16:27:00.007Z

Progress with the Ice House marches on. We now have (almost) full consent from Historic Scotland to go ahead and carry out all the fitments to the site, which will ensure that it will be enjoyed long into the future. All that is needed now are some formal descriptions of where the discreet LED lighting will go. The lighting is simply to accent the architecture rather than illuminate the interior. The walls of the ice house as you will see are a little worse for wear after almost 200 years of service.

After securing funding from Sutherland Estate and the Highland Council Ward discretionary budget, I am designing a new door and window for the ice house in conjunction with metal artist Sam Barlow. The present door and widow are reckoned to be about 10 years old but are already looking shabby. The new door and window will be grilled and lockable, allowing much needed ventilation and security to the building, they should also allow better access to the bats that I'm told live there...I've never seen or heard them!

The idea is to create a fish eye lens door, convex, protruding into the building and allowing visitors to put their head inside the ice house without crossing the threshold. A similar design will feature on the window.

The oars that I rescued from the Ice House scrubbed up well, and like my own paddle, I beleive they are made of Ash. The oars have now been waxed and I hope to return them to the ice house.

Two Paddles

2009-03-01T16:18:00.004Z

Glass vs. Ash
Which is your favourite?

I have a new website!

2009-02-22T00:56:00.003Z

www.ruthmacdougall.com

A little sketch from my minds eye

2009-01-21T17:05:00.004Z

As I become more confident that my coracle escapades will actually occur, I am thinking more clearly about how it will look. The coracle if worn in the tortoise shell stylee, will be almost impossible to move in if the wind is against me. Ownership of the vessel is important to me rather than religiously following the historical diagrams, and so I believe the coracle worn as above will make more sense on this occasion. I've finished the Ash paddle...I've calling it an oar, which it is not! the defining difference between an oar and a paddle is that an oar is attached to the boat, normally through a roll lock or humbly band, hey hey, it's been ages since I've had the opportunity to use that word!whereas a paddle is borne by the vessel occupant.

Below are two oars that I have rescued from the Ice House. They are not in great shape but hopefully I can save them. They seem to have been there for some time and are fairly saturated with water. Sandy Cowie assures me that they would have been used by the salmon fishers that dragged nets across the river in cobble boats.

I had seen them several times in the ice house but had never recognised them as oars before but rather as old planks of wood, such is the subtletly of the transition between blade and shaft, beautiful!

Sparky!

2009-01-20T11:14:00.007Z

On Monday morning I went to investigate further the possibility of introducing electricity into the ice house for the ice House commissions and for the wider use of the building as a venue for historical study, educational tours and perhaps more artistic interventions ( Historic Munument Consent pending)

I was joined by Highland Council electrician John MacLeod who could not have been more helpful. Without going into detail...if we get consent from historic Scotland then the interior of the ice House may be lit and properly viewed for the first time.

John tells me that the Ice House inBrora also has electricity and has hosted a few events. A metal grated door on the outside allows visitors to peer into the chamber withour entering and allows for ventialtion, keeping the building try. The damp in Helmsdale's ice house is certainly a point that the artisst working in their will have to address when designing their projects.

It seems likely that the temporary power source will come from the war memorial which stands a little way from the ice house and whose clock chimes every 15 minutes.
I ask John if he'll let me see inside, and he happily agrees!

Not many people have seen the inside of the tower, so I feel quite priveliged and despite my wee, old camera and the sparse lighting, I managed to get some ok photos.

Stepping iside , it isn't quite as I had imagined, a simple breeze block interior and rusty looking ladders that progress in teirs up the tower. Where is the spiral stair case? no princess?

I head shakily up the first set of ladders which leads to the first landing and where the first lot of mechanisms are bolted to the wall, the mechanisms read :
W POTTS & SONS, MAKERS 1924, LEEDS ENGLAND.

John has been further up the ladders to the top, and had the unfortunate experience of being inside when the bells have rung - a cartoon moment, everything vibrating.

new year and lots to look forward to!

2009-01-18T15:30:00.003Z

Apologies to those who take the time to look up my blog for updates on the residency. Two years seemed like a long time and suddenly I have only 6 months until I fly the Timespan coop.The past few months have been engrossed with OURS youth arts work and after nearly a year and a half of putting nearly all my efforts into the kids’ projects, it’s time to pull back a little and and remember how it is I make my own art work.

Working with the youth arts group has been a challenging experience requiring all my attention and has happily led to some unique experiences for both the group and myself. The latest project is ongoing and involves leading the group through the process of curating a professional standard exhibition for Timnespan’s gallery.

So, over the past three months we designed an opportunity that would bring a Scottish based artist to Helmsdale in order to create a double sited body of work for in response to Helmsdale’s 19 Century Ice House. 200 artist requested the application pack and 52 finally applied. We spent a day going through every single application, an arduous but enlightening task that led to a short list of 6 artists for telephone interview. Amongst the 6 was one of my ex tutors from art school...I conducted the interviews (another first to add to the list) and reported back to the group.

The kids chose Chris Dooks. Chris, joined by his partner and author Eleanor Thom have been in Helmsdale for the past week conducting an intensive research period. Eleanor has been keeping a blog diary for the week, www.icehousehelmsdale.wordpress.com, which is well worth a look!

The duo return for a month in February under their own steam to develop their work in the community. It’s great to have some young artists working in the area whose skills and ethos are not unlike my own. It reminds me of time at art school, days when the dedicated artistic community that I was surrounded by were taken for granted. It’s rare to find that on any scale outside an establishment like an art school but in my own small ways I am trying to create opportunities through the project that will not only create exciting projects for other artists but also, and perhaps selfishly, create a more stimulating environment for me.

My own exhibition is in May, which will leave me free to concentrate on curating the exhibition that follows. For some time I had my heart set on inviting up to ten artists for my own curatorial project, inviting them to Helmsdale for three weeks. After unsuccessfully pursuing some extra funds to pull this off, I had to rethink my plans and decided that I for my first curatorial project, I would go for quality and not quantity. I have invited artists Anne Brodie and Yael Rosenblut to Helmsdale for one month to further investigate the site of the Ice House through their own diverse practices.

I have studied and collaborated with Yael whilst living in Chile and have been aware of Anne Brodie’s work for some time. Yael could not be more excited about coming to Scotland and given Anne’s back ground in fish farming and experiences in British Antarctica, she was made for this project!

MEAL house studio

2008-10-27T21:54:00.005Z

The MEAL HOUSE, Brora
As of November 2008, this is where you will find me, drop by the studio anytime!

Making of the Glass Oar

2008-09-14T17:16:00.005+01:00

Glasssssssssssss

2008-09-09T14:43:00.013+01:00

Picnicing at Lybster harbor.

Northlands Creative glass is an internationally renowned centre of excellence in contemporary glass. Situated in Lybster, Caithness on the North East Coast of the Highlands, NLCG hosts glass artists from all over the world through their residency programme, workshops and exhibitions.
This year is the first year that Northlands master classes have been open to non-glass specialists and I was keen to make the most of this unique opportunity.
For a while, I have found myself frustrated by my lack of expertise in any one medium, whether it is video, sculpture, writing, performance or any of the other formats I choose to create my work. Whilst the course I studied at art school certainly led to a fluid movement between disciplines for which I am grateful…I do sometimes feel like a jack of all trades, master of none.

I have never felt that any material or technique was out of bounds, however, up until now, glass was one material that seemed utterly inaccessible to me due to the specialist equipment, expense and lack of open glass making facilities in Scotland. Thus, my current proximity to Northlands made the opportunity to enrol in this years hot glass master class, too good an opportunity to miss!

Richard Jolley was this year’s leader, a renowned American sculptor of glass who wowed us each morning by pulling off a series of ambitious demonstrations that impressed even the most accomplished among the group, of which there were many. Working along side so many skilled glass artists was both a baptism of fire…quite literally…and a very privileged position to be in. When you are one of only two beginners in a class and everyone around you is displaying best practice, the potential to absorb a large amount of information very quickly is vast. It took me a couple of days and a lot of support from our fantastic Technicians, Jim and Catherine until I felt more comfortable working with the glass and participating in the choreographed dance that is dictated by a material that demands speed, vision, and high levels of communication between the teams of workers all focused on one piece.

Each afternoon we were each given slots of an hour and a half to develop our own work, with or without the input of extra technical assistance. My bench partner, Patty Neimann produced some fantastic work, continuing her commitment to creating works of body adornment in mixed media. Producing complex bone structures, Patty allowed me to assist her, teaching me almost as much as working on the glass myself. Then working as my assistants, Patty and Catherine guided me through the first steps of gathering, blocking, cutting in and introducing colour. By the end of the 8 day class, I felt as if I was finally getting somewhere, being able to anticipate the next movements of my bench partner and act accordingly. \

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and I hope it won’t be too long until my next opportunity to work with glass. Glass artists are great people!

Drawing on glass.

Richards bust in glass.

How to get an even tan.

Patty making more bones!

Richard blowing my glass globe..it's gorgeous!

Morning demo.

On the 31st of August it was my 27th birthday! we were each asked to bring in a peice of botanical matter for Richard's demonstartion that day. After creating a botanical extraveganza in glass, Richard then set about producing my enormous rhubarb leaf in glass for my birthday. It's a styalized version, which I later sand blasted and plan to replant in the rhubarb plot. Below is the process in images.

Jim ladeling out a lot of hot glass, rather him than me!

My turn...
Gathering colour on my glass.

Blocking the hot glass.

Catherine explaining how it should be done!

Trying to blow a bubble in my glass...

The Glass Oar

2008-08-31T14:24:00.000+01:00

''The Glass Oar'' 1989 by Bill Woodrow

Northlands Creative Glass Masterclass with Richard Jolley 27 August - 4 September

2008-08-30T12:03:00.003+01:00

I am curerently on a masterclass at Northlands but will be back soon! Today we are re blowing my globe....Hot glass is an incredible medium and I'll be posting some pictures when I get back.

Busy weekend!

2008-08-25T20:18:00.006+01:00

My own draw knife finally arrived on Saturday and work began on the laths and paddle.

Ruth sized paddle.
Hand chiseling the paddle into shape.

Sun 24 Aug. For an entire day I did this, we now have 4 finished laths, each 8ft long and 4mm thick...my arms ache! After I finished the fourth, we began cleeving more wood, but they all split against us , so we have decided to go to Shin on Monday and collect some Hazel, which we can then draw knife without cleeving.
Moday 25 Aug. Hunt for the Hazel...not as easy as we had anticipated at the Falls of Shin, but we got some eventually.

The paddle is taking shape!

Rounding off the end of the paddle, which makes the wodd less likely to split.

2008-08-21T22:18:00.004+01:00

Today was a complete wash out, even under shelter, today is not a good day to be working with wood....still, I was sent this picture by a fellow coracle admirer, tis very cute!

Hi Ruth

Thanks for the blogsite - very impressive already. Makes me want to build
one and certainly made me have a look online. Found the one attached (Irish)
and thought you'd look less snail-like in such a craft! - Norman

2008-08-19T10:37:00.003+01:00

Click here for an interesting link on the origin of the coracle.

And so it begins....

2008-08-19T09:58:00.006+01:00

The oar.

The Adze axe. Weilding this axe is quite difficult to get the hang of. Whilst maintianing a straight back, you must swing the axe between your legs, using the weight alone of the head to bite into the wood , then swing through , shaving a peice of wood off as it goes. If you get the wrong angle, the blade simply skims acros the surface, or bites in to deep. I have a few days at least ahead of me until the trunk is at the right thickness for the oar.. I'm going to have really big muscles by the end of this project.

The coracle and oar, can you see it yet?

Halving the trunk.

Perfect split along the pith.

2008-08-18T12:59:00.004+01:00

The Ash has been drying over the weekend as newly cut greenwood can be a little sticky, making it difficult to cleanly cleave.

The plan so far is to build a coracle from Highland Ash and local animal hide. Once finished, I will make a journey across Sutherland from the West to East. The coracle will be carried on my back, and will provide my boat when I reach water. It will most likely take several days to complete the journey and so the coracle will also provide my shelter in the evenings.

It will be a contemporary coracle , furing different building styles from the UK and abroad. We have the plans for Iron bridge coracle but I prefer the Indian style coracles which are much wider and rounder, as is the Severn model. The Laths that will make up the skeleton of the boat will all be roughly 8 tf long, which will make draw knifing them, a little difficult. Mike is currently devising a method to negociate this hurdle....

Ash Friday

2008-08-14T13:51:00.004+01:00

From tree to coracle, the whole process.

It was an early, wet start for Mike, his dog Froddo, and I and off to Loch Ness to choose some Ash trunks for the coracle laths. We were looking for good straight trunks with no knots and twists. This was fairly easy, however, finding such a tree in a good position for falling was a little harder.
Most of the trees had forks further up the trunkc, which meant that they fell akwardly, becoming stuck on the bracnches of other trees. As the wood was not managed, Mike was forced to cut some smaller trees around the chosen trunks so that we could remove the wood.

Our chosen Ash, stuck at an angle...
Fortunately we had some extra hands, and with a bit of brute force, the trunk was freed.

This is the second Ash we chose.

It came down with relative ease. I was surpised by how light the Ash trunks were...all good news as I'll be bearing the best part of tree on my back in a few weeks time...with any luck!

Greenwood working

2008-07-26T14:37:00.000+01:00

Green wood working tools.

Green wood worker Mike Ellis led me in a two day workshop, which introduced me to several of the basic methiods employed in geen wood working. If I am to successfully create a coracle from green wood, I will have to become proficient in them all.

Mike Ellis is the only green wood worker we know of in the North of Scotland, offering workshops in green wood methods and we are lucky enough to have him here in Hlemsdale - how convenient!

To learn more about Mike's workshops, please go to: http://rootstobranches.net/

All this bashing is good!

Draw knifing a lath.

Bendy Ash is what we want.

Float

2008-07-17T12:31:00.000+01:00

St Kilda mail boat washed up on Bettyhill, Sutherland
This example can be found in the Strathnaver Museum at Farr alongside the dog buoy pictured below.

A St Kilda mailboat is a wooden 'boat', containing a letter, usually sealed in a cocoa tin. A sheep's bladder acts as a float. The first mailboat was sent out as a distress signal in time of famine by John Sands, a journalist, who was stranded on St Kilda during winter of 1876. It was later used by St Kildans as a tourist gimmick.

Mailboats are now sent by St Kilda work parties as part of the ritual of visiting St Kilda. They are carried by the Gulf Stream and usually reach land in Scotland or Scandinavia. Records of mailboats, and where they were washed up, are published in the St Kilda Mail.

A dog skin buoy!
Many of these were found in the walls of houses along with an old boot and a bottle of whisky, each of which was said to bring luck. A good catch, happiness and fertility.

During my visit to the museum, I spoke with one of the museum guides, Eliott, who remembered me from the Mackay country residency.
In the Highlands, coracles did not take the same name as in the Westerm Isles and Ireland, instead, it is said to have been called a Cullie, or Culaidh.

The Farr stone that stands in the grave yard surrounding the museum, is said to have been brought to Betthyhill by Monks, possibly travelling in a coracle.

Farr Stone

Eliot also told me about the Incan's who said that blond haired, blue eyed, red bearded foregners would come to their shores in boats made from Serpeant skins. They would give them gold and then the foreigners would go away. The Serpant image may have been a viking boat with the head of a dragon or some kind of snake, or possibly the foreigners arrived in leather boats, mistaken for snake skin.

2008-07-11T13:52:00.000+01:00

A glass coracle, the source of all things, like an egg. The round imagery could be taken to its extremes, reading The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, roundness is a phenomenon:

''Life is probably round'' Van Gogh
''He had been told that life was beautiful. No! Life is round'' Joe Bousquet
''A walnut makes me quite round'' La Fontain

Coracles are commonly compared to nuts or shells, which sits in direct contrast to the fragility of the actual boat.

Copper Coracles

2008-07-11T13:35:00.001+01:00

http://www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=3077

We use a very ancient form of boat, the coracle, in 'Adrift'. There are many reasons for this. Like the bee skep, the coracle comes from our own cultural heritage. The work began with a strong concern about the feral cattle along the damaged creeks and river in our water catchment, and coracles were, (and still are in some places), made from animal hides stretched over a frame. In our coracles the frame is made from copper water pipe. Importantly, the coracle really is adrift, it is a circular vessel without stern or bows or keel, totally vulnerable to the currents, with just one paddle to guide it off the rocks. There is story that the early Christian monks, in their zeal to spread the new religion in the world, set out in the Atlantic ocean in these fragile craft, in the faith that their God would deliver them up on some heathen island. Today we humans need to relinquish this deeply embedded sense that we will be saved by some force beyond us – we alone have to sort out the mess we have made of this planet Earth, our only home.
Alison Clouston and Boyd Bonetown

Coracle - Curragh

2008-07-05T18:01:00.002+01:00

I’ve just returned from a ten day adventure to the Western Isles. Travelling from Ullapool to Lewis, then down through the islands to North Uist, where I stayed in the artists flat at Taigh Chearsabhagh.

The aim of the trip was to give me a little time to focus on my own work, as I find I could easily spend all day everyday working on the youth arts programme, for as much as I am committed to the kids and the work I do with them, OURS was only half the deal.

Of all the Western Isles, Harris stood out for me as being the most beautiful and I will definitely return there. Although Lewis and Harris are part of the same island, there is quite a clear transition between the two. The moment you enter into Harris, the ground rises up around you and the lunar landscape of North Assynt is revealed but on a far grander scale.

Whilst walking along one of Harris’s silver beaches, I met Smiler from Skerray on the North Coast – small world!

I could waffle on for ages about my trip but I’ll cut to the point:

Coracles – I knew I would recognise my project when I saw it. Though the dynamo investigations were enjoyable and are still ongoing, everything about the coracle appeals to me. What has this to do with the Westyern Isles? Well, in Taigh Chearsabhagh they have at present an exhibition of scale replica boats found through the ages in the islands.

These boats were also used on the East coast of the Highlands, the oldest example of which, can be found in Elgin Museum.

My mind has wandered recently back to the Island Roan project and my time on the North coast. It was about this time two years ago that I first arrived there. Sometimes I deceive myself about what can be done in small time scales but when I think of Skerray, the row project, from initial idea to finished work was perhaps only 6 weeks. My desire to be outdoors again is strong and I can think of few other times when I was happier than I was splashing about on Modsary lochen.

What appeals to me about the Coracle:
For me it encapsulates both ancient ingenuity and modern day ideas of sustainability whilst being all caught up in my mental images of nomadism. It is predated only by dugout boats and despite its fragility, is said to have carried Christianity to our shores.
A vessel akin to the coracle is also mentioned in the bible, exodus 2.

They are still made and used in Wales as well as India, Iraq, Tibet, and Vietnam. This little boat seems to be good enough for all of us, or at least used to be. The easily available, inexpensive and sustainable materials that it is made from make it accessible to all, but above all I am drawn to the coracle because there is probably no other boat that one person can carry so easily on solid ground.

Indian Coracle

Tibetan Coracle

Vietnamese Coracle

Vietnamese coracles are made from bamboo and palm leaves.
In the recent Typhoon hundreds of Vietnamese fishermen are missing after being caught at sea: many are thought to have been paddling in between larger vessels in coracles such as this.

An amphibian that requires only the energy of the bearer to transport it on solid ground and propel it through water.

After doing only a little research, I have found extensive material on this vessel and am excited as to the possibilities that lie within this floating acorn.

''Coracles were used in ancient times as light seaworthy crafts for transportation or fishing. Coracles have no keel and are able to ride the ocean waves or skim up shallow rivers. Either round or oval in shape, the versatile coracle could be used on ocean, lake or river. They also can be found in many sizes, from a one-person craft to a larger, light boat. They are adaptable and versatile, their incredible manoeuvrability contributing to their lasting use.

Coracles in ancient times were often small, round skiffs that could be carried on the individual's back when on dry land. On land they offered shelter for the person carrying the coracle, similar to the protection afforded a turtle by its shell. Coracles were used for fishing, general travel, and exploration. They are an example of one of the oldest types of boat in the world, often used by monks to travel from island to island.'' Coracle Press

National Coracle centre
Calendar

VASuvius

2008-07-05T16:53:00.000+01:00

I designed this poster myself!

Masterless, two stills taken from the split screen projection now showing in Timespan.

Taken from the Timespan archive: a camel sitting alone infront of the now gone, Helmsdale Castle

2008-06-13T14:57:00.000+01:00

''The main interest in work and life is to become someone that you were not in the beginning. If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think you would have the courage to write it? What is true of wrting and of a love relationship is also true for life. The game is only worthwhile insofar as we don't know what will be the end''.

Michel Foucault

2008-06-13T14:45:00.000+01:00

''The West'' is no longer West, and the ''Third World'' is no longer confined to the South. Old binary models, legacies of European colonialsism and the Cold War mentaility, have been replaced by a border dialoect of ongoing flux. We now inhabit a sociosultural universe in constant motion, a moving cartography with a floating sense of self. As artists/people, we now understand that we can speak two or more languages, have two or more indentities and /or nationalities, perform different roles in multiple contexts, and not neccessarily be in conflict with ourselves and others. Contradiction is no longer penalized.''

Guilermo Gomez Pena.

I understand this quote completely and only rediscovered it recently when going through my dissertation.

I have found acheiving a balance between my own work and that of the youth arts programme to be very difficult at times. It has swallowed me almost completely and now that I have finally managed to block some time for myself, I find I am floundering as never befor....

It is going to take longer than I thought to re remember how it is I work, all I do remember is that it's slow.

Odd Sympathies

2008-03-23T01:27:00.001Z

An iceberg is of course mostly invisible: what can be seen is also only an indication of a larger presence whose force could only be imagined, hardly represented.

Achfary

2008-03-23T00:24:00.001Z

VASu Talk

2008-03-14T11:29:00.001Z

I will be presenting a 40 minute talk on my residency and youth arts programme at the next general meeting of Visual Arts Sutherland.
Achfary Primary School, 2pm - Saturday 15 March

The Radiometer

2008-03-09T00:07:00.000Z

The most beautiful invention.

A lamp for a nightmare!

2008-03-08T23:29:00.000Z

Finally!

2008-02-01T16:22:00.000Z

Even I could have a go at this!

Cow Power

2008-02-01T15:45:00.001Z

Highland Coo Power?

OLPC India's cow power plant
Our approach was to not look from a motor/dynamo etc. point of view. Our approach was to develop power solutions around locally available mechanisms.

At the village (pilot site near Mumbai) OLPC explored the ideas of using solar power (in Mumbai sunlight is not consistently strong) , running water (we couldn't find any local water bodies nearby), wind power (no wind in the that area), mounting small dynamos on bicycles (we found out that in that area bicycles aren't that common at all, esp in that village) ....but the village had an abundance of cattle - that were being used in the fields.
So OLPC decided to design something around that.
The Cow Power Dynamo, built from old Fiat parts and a few belts and pulleys, is an amazing example of local innovation!

YO YO

2008-01-28T11:14:00.000Z

Hi, Hope you got back to Helmsdeep ok. Lucky find number 1 ; I remembered that these cheap quartz clock movements had a COIL. I have loads of these and the coils are perfect, already wound & with terminals built-in. Tomorrow I will mount two of them and run some tests. Meantime, don't spend any lucre on getting the wire. nite-nite

25.01.08
Hi, Ruth here's what I did today - the principle is ok but I think the scale is wrong -too small. I rigged up 4 magnets on a disc of ply and two coils on another so I could spin the magnets and hold the coils close to them. Sure enough, I got a reading of a few volts. Now for the problems : you have to spin the mags quite fast - too fast for an ordinary crank.[ There is the possibility here of using the 'yo-yo' principle to get the speed. but that complicates things ...] and we should be thinking bigger - not too big obviously and that takes us back to making coils - these are much too fiddly but they showed the thing will work. How do we set about making coils? It should be not too difficult to show kids how to make the basic [empty] bobbins out of card and push a core into them. Or am I being over optimistic? Or is it all getting too complicated?
I don't think one can use cotton bobbins nowadays because they are mostly plastic and anyway there is not sufficient room for winding wire on unless you remove wood /plastic first. Enough for today Ruth - let me know your thoughts please, love Dave XX

26.01.08
Hi Ruth, I have found some internet firms who look possible suppliers of Spools because however I figure it, they will be the most difficult part to make in quantity. Let me do a search in obsolete electrical bits . Will come back later... love, Dave

27.01.08
I have moved and everything is in its place now.
Did you read the e mail I forwarded you? Morgan projects on
sustainable energy in remote Sri Lankan communities is really
interesting...I wish I had studied something useful..
Thanks for already putting in so much effort! it sounded really hopeful
when you discovered the coil in the quartz clocks. I have pondered the
question that Morgan raised in his email and I think the energy produced
by the dynamo is more symbolic than practical purposes, so even if it only
produces enough to create a small light for only a short time, then
perhaps that is enough..but anyway, the question of how to move the
magnets fast enough..the yoyo effect sounded quite fun and playful and I
remember the yoyos that used to create little lights..that could really
compliment the fact that I want to teach kids how to make them..could we
develop that idea further??? I think working with the kids on this project
is becoming more and more important to me. I have also been thinking about
the Chile exhibition. I thinl the work should be made and happen here and
that the work I present in Chile should be documentary. I did what you
said and worked back wards. I cannot gurantee that I would get funding to
send a work of any size over to Chile and presenting documentation of a
live work would be far more in keeping with the historical body of my
work. I don't think i would be wise to break away from this for Chile.
Do you still want me to source the copper wire? I will get some led lights
ordered tomorrow.
okidoki, it's a bit late now and I have a busy week. I will probably dream
about dynamos tonight, if I have any revelations, I'll let you know!
love, Ruth

The word "yo-yo" and the modern yo-yo design come from the Philippines. Unlike the original Chinese and Greek yo-yos, Philippine yo-yos (the word means "come come" or "come back" in the native Tagalog language) had the ability to "sleep." This unique toy may have been an adaptation of the Chinese yo-yo, or it may have developed out of a Philippine hunting weapon. In any case, it dates back at least a few hundred years in the region.

Potenco Power Generator
One Laptop Per Child's hand-crank power generator . A simple but very effective hand-powered spindle (or salad spinner, or yoyo) Potenco is estimating one minute of pulling its human-power electricity generator can give a user 1 hour of light, 25 minutes of mobile phone talk time, 45 minutes on the Nintendo DS, and an impressive 230 minutes of iPod shuffle music - about one song per pull!

Q&A

2008-01-27T16:26:00.001Z

Hi Morgan

It's Ruth Macdougall here, I believe Susie has told you about me and the arts residency I'm currently involved in up on the North East Coast...a two year residency infact! and she suggested that you would be a good person to contact considering the ideas that I'm swilling about at the moment.

My time up here is supposed to be split equally between developing a youth arts programme over the whole of Sutherland and developing my own practice..it's a pretty cushy number I have to admit but in reality, I have spent most of my time concentrating on the youth arts aspect of the job.

However, I find my self with a two week window of opportunity to concentrate on my own work entirely and was wondering what you might be able to tell me about dynamos?

I am very interested in environmental stewardship and was inspired by a SNH symposium that was held in Inverness to coincide with the Dalziel and Scullion, Great Glen House Commission.
www.morethanus.com
The speakers were all fantastic and picked up on several ideas I had already been considering since returning from a two week Triangle Arts workshop in the Zambian bush.
I had taken with me, a wind up torch /radio as we were in quite an isolated area of the countryside without knowing the history of wind up radios and their connection to Africa. Interestingly, the Zambians I met had never seen a wind up torch or radio, but after a while, this made sense as they all had solar panels strapped to their mud huts...

Up on the North East coast we are surrounded by wind turbine fields and the deeper social and economical effects of global warming are clear given the now absent fishing fleets. I'm not convinced by wind turbines..I think solar power and water turbines are the way forward. I was really interested to hear from your dad that you have been involved in projects in Sri Lanka to help create sustainable sources of energy in the form of water wheels. Could you tell me some more about that project and what it involved?

I'm fascinated by the man powered dynamos and they compliment the ideas of physical endurance that have characterised my work over the past few years..I've asked everyone and their dog ''how do you easily and cheaply make a dynamo'' but I'm not getting the answer that I'm looking for..I would ideally like to use recycled materials and envisage a really big dynamo, one that would produce a light and need the physical and sustained energy of a community to power it. Either that, or several hundred small dynamos that could be planted and involve several hundred people simultaneously..I like to think big!

If you have any ideas, advice or know of anyone who you might be able to direct me to, I'd be really grateful.

It would be good to meet you one day, I read your travel blog and have very itchy feet as result..I have an exhibition in Chile in September of this year but that seems very far away...

Good luck with your work

cheers, ruth

24.01.08
Hi Ruth,

Nice to hear from you. Sounds like an interesting residency you have up there. I read your site too and was also a tad jealous. I've always wanted to spend some time isolated somewhere in the North of Scotland and attempt to become part of the community. Where are you from originally ?

I like the way you're thinking about it all. I was a bit of a newcomer to the energy field when I went out to Sri Lanka but grappling with the puzzle of energy production on a local level gives you a real insight into the BIG problems. It's an addictive idea. And of course making it from 'nothing' is a rewarding sort of alchemy. I was involved with a group who assist remote, mountain communities to build their own 'micro-hydro' power stations, which are miniturised, makeshift versions of what power cities. In many of these rainforest sites, where there is a reasonable supply of running water, they are more advantageous over solar. Being a mechanical system however, things wear out and need replaced but the amount of power that can practically be harnessed is much greater than solar. I liked the philosophy of the organisation which was all about 'appropriate technology' - stuff that can be sourced locally or a manufacture set up that in turn might create wealth or useful industry for the region - rather than hi-tech solutions from the west that might not add anything to the long-term development of the country. Crucially, these kind of solutions might best suit your budget/ aesthetic.

Take what you can out of this:

Some relevant posts from my trip:

http://www.digitalkicks.co.uk/blog/2006/11/13/sinharaja/
http://www.digitalkicks.co.uk/blog/2006/11/10/adding-pictures/

Practical Action - The guru 'appropriate technology' organisation for inspiration. There are loads of resources here. Be sure to check out 'Hands on TV'- really practical videos of the projects:

http://www.practicalaction.org/
http://www.handsontv.info/

These guys might be useful in the nuts and bolts side of things - very much in the same area:

http://www.ewb-uk.org/

Now. This lo-fi stuff might not appeal to you. If so, get back in touch, or in fact, call me - it's easier.

I'm not the world authority on dynamos - in fact I'm not really a very diligent engineer. I'm a designer and I tend to find experts to do the painfully boring stuff but I have a reasonable understanding of what's going on. In it's simplest terms, a dynamo is just a bunch of wire wrapped around a magnet - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0015973.html. And you could do just that but it would be pretty inefficient. The thing to note though is that a motor works pretty much the same way in reverse - electrical power is converted to mechanical rotation - and if you take any motor (though some are better than others and that's where you need a geek) wire it up to a circuit and and turn it manually, it will produce current. We cut costs on those projects by not using super-efficient generators (commercial dynamos) and just using motors running backwards. Think of the number of household appliances that are chucked out these days that have perfect working motors in them ? I'm having a little re-cycling idea here ....

Building a really big one ... like, one that would power even one home, will have the potential to zap you dead, so you'll need an electrician on this. How much power are you looking to generate ? Is the power generated to be symbolic or of practical use ?

Hope this gets you started. If you give me your number I'll text you mine .... I don't actually know it yet (new phone)

Better get back to work,

Take care,

Morgan.

Ruby

2008-01-26T18:13:00.001Z

Diamond paste.
Life through a ruby laser rod.

Dave was commissioned to design a machine that would polish the end surfaces of commercially manufactured ruby rods used in lasers. The machine he produced is both beautiful and mind boggling in the level of accuracy that it can acheive.

Ben Loyal.

On Thursday I went to Skerray to visit my friend Dave Illingworth. Dave filmed my progress to Eilean Nan Ron back in September 2006 and has been a firm friend ever since. Dave has a reputation for being meticulous in everything he does, giving equal attention to all tasks, big or small.
Dave makes and fixes clocks, and although he is now retired, his skills are still greatly sought after. He is just the man to help me!
As you can see, we've had some snow up North! making the journey to Skerray a little slippy but very beautiful.

Analogue is my new favourite word

2008-01-22T14:30:00.001Z

Dynamos - where are you?

2008-01-22T14:26:00.001Z

I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?

I have asked eveyone and their dog, how do I make a dynamo?
I am not getting the answer that I am looking for!
I don't know what answer I am looking for, but I reckon I will know it when I hear it...

answers on a postcard...

I have had people teasing me with ideas of dynamo animations whilst
analogue calculators have led me to word problems (not good, I think with the right side of my brain), and envelopes that read ''Enclosed Is Your Relativator''

I now wish to know how to make clocks and will be annoying my friend and renowned clock maker, Dave Illingworth, he knows most things!

Opening of the River

2008-01-22T12:48:00.001Z

The River is opened with the symbolic first cast and a dram for the river, all accompanied by a lone piper.

Whisky has two purposes, firstly to put fish in it and secondly, to put it in whisky..

Steering Group Report 10.01.08

2008-01-12T17:50:00.000Z

Steering Group Report
First meeting – 10 January 2008. 6.30pm Timespan

Attended by:
Invited panel – Norman Gibson, Lindsay Skene, Jenny Grant
Lead Artist - Ruth Macdougall
Core art group representatives – Ben Keighley, Gillian Kelly, Sean Robertson, Natalie Sutherland.

The meeting opened with a statement from lead artist Ruth Macdougall, reminding the group as to the purpose of the steering group and the different roles they will be expected to fill within it.

Each of the invited committee members were asked to prepare a short presentation, reflecting their work, experiences and back ground in order to give the young members of the group and each other an idea of where their input was coming from. The presentations from Norman, Lindsay and Jenny, were as diverse as they were engaging and inspiring.

Lindsay Skene is a designer working in digital and hand printed textiles. Lindsay’s power point presentation led us through her work spanning from her days at the Glasgow School of Art up until now. She has successfully sold many of her designs to major fashion houses in London and New York and at present sells her work, and that of other local and international crafts people through her new business CREATE. The building previously known as The Spinning Owl is home to Create and can be found at the entrance to Helmsdale. Lindsay also brought along several samples of her work and openly invites the group to visit her at Create, anytime!

Norman Gibson lives and works in Brora and also went to art school. He too gave a power point presentation of work spanning his career so far. It was clear from the diversity and quality of Norman’s work that he is a highly accomplished artist moving fluidly between different materials in a playful, yet thoughtful manner. His works spans drawing/painting, sculpture, jewellery and recently led him to collaborate with a dancer in a multimedia performance in Aberdeen. Norman has exhibited his works extensively throughout the country and will be collaborating with two other artists to form the first exhibition for Timespan’s relaunch on 21 March 2008. Presently, Norman serves on Timespan’s arts committee and is the chair of VASu - Visual Arts Sutherland.

Jenny Grant is from Dornoch but works in Golspie for SNH - Scottish Natural Heritage. Jenny’s background is in biology but it was clear from the work that she presented us with that art is far more than a hobby for her. Her love of the outdoors and natural environments led her to spend time volunteering for an environmental project in Costa Rica where her talents were put to good use, creating a mural for the centre building. Jenny has also led groups of young children in marine biology/art projects and is extremely enthusiastic to become involved in the OURS programme on a regular basis.

Thank you to all three members for the time and effort that they put into their presentations.

∗∗Following the presentations, the younger members were encouraged to tell the invited members about previously completed projects. Window Wonderland was deemed to be a big success and the group are keen to work again in vinyl and on a large scale. They also agreed that they would like to work again with graphic designer, Al MacInnes.

Of the taster workshops that took place before Window Wonderland, the Scary Movie workshop was identified as being the most successful. The group watched the movie once again…it never gets less amusing…and stated that more movie making is something they would be keen to do.

The following suggestions were made by the group:
∗ For future film/video projects time should be taken before filming to write a plot and form a solid storyboard.
∗ More video cameras should be purchased for the group to use.
∗ Better sound recording equipment, ie. Microphones should be purchased.
∗ A sound track should be added to future films in addition to recorded dialogue, as many of the group participants play musical instruments.

Response to group suggestions:
∗ Absolutely right, this was just a taster workshop completed from start to finish over three hours. Future film/video projects will be completed over several weeks.
∗There is a healthy budget for the programme and new equipment for recording sound and image is something I will look into. We could also go to Brora and use the excellent facilities that they have in the community learning centre.
∗ I am glad that Ben suggested the idea of working in sound. I have already spoken to a member of the Helmsdale community who has the skill and knowledge of music and sound recording to lead some workshops in this. I will look into this further.
Norman will be collaborating with a young musician, Lucy Treacher aged only 13 who has already had a level of success with her original compositions.
They will be exhibiting together in March at Timespan and I suggest that we arrange a meeting or one day workshop with her.
∗ I received info from Docuspace, who provided the projector that we use in the workshop, that they are running one day documentary workshops. The workshops have been very successful so far and they thought that given the slightly older age group of the OURS participants that we would really benefit from it. I have contacted them recently but they are in general slow to respond to e mails and calls.

The immediate response from the group to all these suggestions was very positive.

Going round the table, each young representative gave one or more suggestions in addition to more film making:

Gillian – Would like to take trips to visit galleries, events and artists outside Helmsdale.
Natalie – would like to design and print t-shirts and have another go at the Derive, the first taster workshop that several did not attend.
Ben – would like to do some musical composition work and design and print bags.
Sean – would like to work on a large scale again and create a permanent outdoor work. Sean also expressed an interest in my own work and is keen to know more about dynamos and inflatable things.
The entire group expressed a strong interest in working outdoors as much as possible and are keen that the film club should continue

Response:
All of these suggestions are easily possible given the healthy budget we have and the skills that are available to us through local artists, the board and myself.

Suggestions from Ruth – Trips to Orkney, visiting The Pier Arts Centre and other sites of interest on the island.
Visit ceramic artist Lotte Glob at her home in Laid, seeing her amazing workshop and expanding sculpture garden. Lotte is inspired to make her works by the environment, and often places her finished pieces back into the environment for them to be reclaimed by the elements. After visiting Lotte we could either move onto Durness and see the caves or head back to Skerray, visiting Island Roan and the earth ship project that is being built by Rhona and Steven Graham
Show Scotland – environmental art project in the Strath to coincide with this event on the Sunday the 4th of May. There is the potential to collaborate with archivist Jacquie Aitken and make a permanent site specific work on a large scale.
Docuspace workshop.
Venice Biennale trip in 2009.
There will perhaps be a visit from a Chilean film maker in March for one week. I propose either a workshop or an evening screening and talk.
There is a possible £1000 available to us through the Highland Council. I propose that we put this money to good use in a follow up project with graphic designer Alister MacInnes. This project would be in making bespoke books/sketch books that would expand and grow with the group over the course of the projects. Computer skills in illustrator and Indesign would be taught and techniques in digital, photographic and hand drawn illustrations would improved upon.
Lots of possibilities!!!!!!!!!!

Suggestions from invited panel –
Lindsay – thinks perhaps more time should be taken to think about ideas rather than physical outcomes, which could evolve over the course of projects rather than being set out at the beginning.
Lindsay is very willing to share her knowledge of printing and materials for any print making projects. She is also keen to accompany and supervise on any trips.

Jenny - is as keen as the participants to learn new skills and techniques, and is willing to become involved in any way – her enthusiasm and approach is a breath of fresh air! Jenny also has experience of arranging trips to Skye and will advise on this.

Norman – has a lot of experinece in designing and printing books and will happily advise on this. He was kind enough to bring along two books for me , which I will put into the art book library that I plan on installing in the IT suite for general use. Norman’s experince in the logistics of exhibiting will no doubt come invaluable as we look towards out interim exhibition in August. Norman will also approach Lucy Treacher about the possibility of meeting with the group in future.

Forward plan till next meeting on 6 March 2008
Recommence with film club on Wednesday nights, starting 16.01.08
Using left over vinyl, personalise the IT space with the group
Begin book making project with Al MacInnes.
T-shirt and bag printing project.
Derive

I think that the first steering group meeting of the OURS project was a great success and there are lots of interesting and exciting possibilities to now bring into being.

See you all in March

Ruth Macdougall

Artist in Residence/ Youth Arts Curator.

More Than Us - coversations between humanity, the arts & ecology

2007-12-06T15:31:00.000Z

Scottish Natural Heritage Symposium - 30th November 2007 - Inverness

This one day symposium held in Inverness in conjunction with the Dalziel and Scullion exhibition at the SNH headquearters was probably one of the most enjoyable, thought provoking ans inspiring days I have spent in a long time.

All four of the speakers were completely captivating.

Mark Lynus , Jaye Griffths, John Lister Kaye, David Abram

Engage 2007

2007-12-06T14:49:00.000Z

Goldsworthy - Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Barbara Hepworth

Between the 21st and 23rd of November, Rachel (Timespan development director) and I attended the International Engage Conference 2007 in Bradford.

The event was mostly held in the National Media Museum and was attended by delegates from all over the country. It was a good opportunity to meet up with other practitioners and exchange notes. I didn’t think the any of the speakers were very interesting but the food was good. The ‘’break out’’ sessions were a bit more engaging. I attended the Gasworks session, hearing from collaborative artists Erika Arzt and Juan Linares and later, a session with artist Errol Francis in the Yorkshire Craft Space. The best thing to come out of these sessions was a free Triangle Residencies Directory.

The trip was worth it though as we were able to see some really interesting work. In particular the new film installation by the Quay Brothers in Leeds Art Gallery, the Andy Goldsworthy retrospective and James Turrel’s Sky Space sited at the Yorkshire Sculprure Park. We were also impressed by the Impressions Gallery located in the heart of the art district of Bradford, which in itself was great to see.

Deer Shelter – Ice House

The Quay brothers film, ‘’She So Beloved’’ is a retelling of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, which was first staged in 1607 telling the classical story of love and loss where Orpheus enters the underworld to bring his deceased young bride Eurydice back to the world of the living.
Orfeo installation - Leeds Art Gallery

...in the works...

2007-12-03T15:12:00.000Z

They've flown the nest.... me wee ones have gone and gotten their own blog page - www.spanners-in-the-works.blogspot.com
Check it out! All pictures and documentaton of their project will now be on their own blog, leaving me free to ramble on about dynamos and such like to my little hearts content.

Window Wonderland

2007-11-18T16:08:00.000Z

Window Wonderland is a mulit discipline, festive, Public Art Project that will be created by the participants of OURS between the 29th of November up until the 22nd of December, when the work will be completed. The project will be led by Graphic Artist - Alister MacInnes and me!

Each participant will be given a shop window in which, they will design and make a Christmas decoration. The decorations will be unveiled in a public event on the 22nd of December, and documented on a blog site, designed and updated by the participants.

Learn professional, digital imaging techniques in Timespan’s new IT suite, work with vinyl and 3D interventions.

Here is the brief and timeline for the project:

Brief
∗Firstly, as a group you will design and develop a blog to document this workshop and all subsequent workshops. This blog will give you the opportunity to develop your documentation skills through photography and express your ideas and thoughts on the project as it progresses.
Documenting temporary, public art projects is very important! As after the artwork has been taken away, the documentation remains as the only record of its existence.
All participants will be invited to take turns in updating the blog site and will be given any support needed from the project leader( Ruth)
Ruth and Alister both have their own blog sites:
www.timespanours-ruth.blogspot.com
www.dufi-art.blogspot.com

∗Secondly, as a group, design a festive shop window intervention that will span across the windows of all the shops on Helmsdale’s small commercial High street. Each participant will work alone or collaboratively to investigate a specific shop. The research findings of each shop will be compiled to make a work that links the shops whilst retaining their individual character. You may do this by agreeing on a uniform colour scheme that be used in each shop window and, or by agreeing on a size and position for the shop interventions. By agreeing on elements, which can be applied to each shop window, you will be able to create a better visual impact for you audience. Materials: vinyl, 3d intervention using found objects from shops.

Al is a graphic designer and will guide you whilst working with Timespan’s new IT suite. Using primarily Photoshop, you will manipulate your drawings and photography to create an eye catching festive design. You may also use text. These designs and text will be cut out on adhesive vinyl that can then be directly applied to the glass windows. Vinyl is produced in a huge number of colours and effects, for example – metallic – sequin – fluorescent – camouflage – have a look for yourselves!! http://www.easystreetdiscount.com/vinyl_colors.htm
There is the possibility to have a lot of fun using these different effects.

∗ The second element of your shop window intervention will be in 3D. This element should have a direct relationship to the vinyl on the window and add depth to the installation. You may wish to manipulate the objects by modifying them in terms of colour and shape, or may even wish to apply vinyl to the actual object. It may be that your shop owner will allow you to use the objects and manipulate them for free, however, if this is not possible, then there is money in the materials budget to buy the objects. You must consult with Ruth before purchasing any objects.

It is very generous of Helmsdale’s shop owners and restaurateurs to allow us access to their shops for this project.
You will have an opportunity to meet with your storeowner on the 25th of November¬ – it will be your responsibility to consult with them at regular intervals throughout the project in order to maintain good relations with the shops and ensure that they are happy with the work in their windows. Naturally, you will be expected to conduct yourselves in a polite and respectful manner at all times when in the shops and when speaking to the storeowners. Anyone who does not comply with this simple rule will not be allowed to continue working on this project.

If you are enthusiastic, sensitive to the shop owner’s environment and demonstrate commitment to what you are doing, then you are more likely to gain a positive response and permission to go ahead with your ideas!

One month is a relatively short time to complete a project like this, and you are encouraged to attend all or as many workshops as you can.

We hope you’ll have a lot of fun on this project and create a work that will bring together the local community.

Window Wonderland
1st meeting 18 Nov 1-2.30pm Timespan discussing ideas.
Begin discussing ideas, general observations and allocating shops to individuals. Compile a questionnaire for the meeting with shop owners/ restaurateurs on the 25th of November.

2nd meeting 25 Nov 6.30-7.30 Meeting for young participants and shop owners.
Introduce project with the help of participants, to the shop owners/restaurateurs.
Discuss logistics of workshop and ask shop owners to fill in the questionnaires.

Workshops
Thursday workshops – 6.30-9pm. Saturday workshops 10.30am – 1pm.

Thursday 29th November - Thursday 20th December
Workshops in 3d and vinyl.

Friday 21 Dec - full day 9-3 installation

Opening event on 22nd Saturday 10.30-12, with press, mulled wine and mince pies. The audience will be invited into Timespan to view the blog in the new IT suite

We Love Boxes!

2007-11-12T13:36:00.000Z

Nathale and Alison crawling through their tunnel labyrinth.

As a result of Timespan's refurbishment, we had a pile of the most fantastic boxes at our disposal. Rather than let them go to waste, the youth arts group used the boxes among an aray of other recycled materials to explore, space and structure.

Matreials:
9 x chair boxes
4 x egg crates
6 x table boxes
1 x Enormouse sheet of weed surpressant material
Foam corner protectors
Bubble wrap
Tarpaulin sheeting

They were given three tasks, each to completed in 5-10 mins
1. Create the tallest structure that you can, using all nine of the carboard boxes.
2. Ceate a structure that will support the weight of the whole group.
3. Create a structure, using all the materials in the room, that will allow you all to move around the entire workshop space, unseen!

The group then designed their own mythical creature and created a habitat to suit its need from the materials in the workshop.

Flying Monkey. It lives in the sky. You can only reach Monkey Henge by travelling through the moutains. Monkeyhenge is protected by snappers. The monkey has a thrid eye in its stomach, eats clouds and birds and lives in the arch above the ceremonial tree.

Approaching Monkey Henge from the mountain.

Sunday 11 November 2007

''Spooky'' Film Making On Gartymore

2007-11-05T14:32:00.000Z

This film was written and performed in 2hrs on Sunday the 28th of October, then shown publicly in Timespan after the annual ''Spooky Story Walk'' around Helmsdale.

Coming Soon!

2007-10-23T13:41:00.001+01:00

Timespan Youth Film Café
Every Wednesday from 6.30pm – Free Entry
Pop corn= £0.60
Refreshments=free

Wednesday 14 November 2007
Spirited Away (2001) Japanese - dubbed
While moving house, a family stop to investigate a mysterious abandoned theme park. Little do they know that they have wandered into a world ruled by Gods, Witches and Monsters, where humans are changed into animals…
This film won the Oscar for best animated feature, it’s a beautiful animation, great characters, prepare to be transported!

Animation/ adventure/ fantasy
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cert: PG Runtime: 125 mins

Wednesday 07 November 2007
The Story of The Weeping Camel (2004)
Mongolian – English subtitles
a family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi desert try to save the life of a rare, white, bactrian camel calf after it is rejected by its mother. They seek a musician to perform a ritual and change the camel’s mind.
Oscar nominated, a beautiful film!

Documentary/ drama
Director:Luigi Falori/Byambasruren Davaa
Cert: U Runtime: 90mins

Wednesday 24 October 2007
The Chorus (2004)
French – English subtitles
Through the gift of music, a newly appointed supervisor
tries to transform the students of a repressive, boys school
for the rehabilitation of minors..
Funny and uplifting!

Drama/ comedy
Director: Christophe Barratier
Cert:PG Runtime: 92mins

Dérive

2007-10-23T12:13:00.000+01:00

On Thursday the 18th of October 6 young people, 3 from Helmsdale and 3 visiting from Glasgow came along to Timespan for the first workshop of the Youth Arts Group OURS.

After a short introductory talk on my work, I set them the task of undertaking a DÉRIVE!!

The derive was one of the frist workshops we did at Art School,with our second tutor Peter MacCaghey from the environmental art department. An exercise in map reading, collaboration, negociation and problem solving, it is a crash course in the most fundamental concerns in any pubic art practice.

Taking a map kindly supplied by Nick Lindsay from the Highland Council, one of the participants, Jack, was asked to draw a circle at random over the street map of Helmsdale.
Dérive

Follow the line exactly, do not deviate from the line!
Stay together, negotiate, collaborate, investigate!
If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
Document, document, document!

‘’At the door of the house we come knocking
An open door we enter
A closed door, a den
The world pulse beats beyond my door’’

Pierre Albert Birot

I instructed the kids to follow the outer line of the circle as closely as possible! At times this was difficult, particularly when the line ran through private property: houses, shops and gardens. I gave the group two digital cameras, a video camera, pencils and paper to document their journey. The group did very well, negociating access to houses and gardens on their path.

On their return to the gallery , they drew together their documentation and experience of the derive to make a large map of their journey.

First Showing

2007-10-18T12:48:00.001+01:00

Monday the 15th of October saw the first showing of Timespan's new youth film cafe. Films will now be showing on a weekly basis, Wednesdays from 6.30 pm.The young people who attended the first showing, chose Turtles Can Fly, Spirited Away, The Story of The Weeping Camel and The Chorus as the next 4 films to be shown.

All that glitters..

2007-10-08T17:53:00.000+01:00

Long before I arrived in Helmsdale, I was told that ‘’there’s gold in them there hills’’ The first gold was found by Robert Nelson Gilchrist in 1818 and consequently, two gold prospecting towns sprang up, Baille An Or at Kildonan Burn and Carn Na Buth at Suisgill Burn. The gold is of a high quality, 22 carats and quite soft.

I held fanciful ideas of laboriously panning for my own gold in the hope that perhaps if I panned every day, I might get enough to make some beautiful, little object.
These ideas were further fuelled when on my first day at Timespan, I met Yvonne Creedy who works in the coffee shop. I told her about my ideas and she held out her hand to me, there on her ring finger was a gold wedding band, made completely from Kildonan gold and panned for entirely by her husband, Brian, how romantic…it only took him 4 years!!! Well, I thought, I’m here for two years and Brian didn’t have a youth arts group working him, erm working with him.

Yvonne suggested that I go gold panning with Brian to learn the ropes. It took him four seasons to pan for her ring, a season lasting roughly April to September, weather permitting. It’s impossible to pan when the water is too high or too cold and of course there is the dreaded midge, which can turn any enjoyable, outdoor pursuit into a misery.

After several attempts to find a suitable day, I finally got gold panning a week ago with Brian. It was a beautiful day. We climbed up the hill that took us above the waterfall to a quiet stretch of water that Brian knows well. I had no idea that gold panning was so involved. We were joined by one of Brian’s gold panning friends, and together they moved rocks, dug trenches, split rocks and manipulated the flow of the water until they were able to find a gold source. Gold being the heaviest metal, means that gold panning is actually 95% preparation of the river bed to get deep enough and 5% panning, which as I found out, takes quite a bit of practice and skill.

With Brian’s help I was successful and found some tiny specks of gold at the bottom of my pan. With so much Mika in the water (fools gold) I was spotting gold all over the place, but as Brian told me, Gold doesn’t sparkle, it has a kind of matt shine and once you’ve seen it once, there is no mistaking it.

We spent several hours in the gorge, I mostly watched as they hacked away at rock and scoured the river bed with special underwater viewing devices, still it was fascinating and I totally lost all sense of time. I can see why some people get addicted to it. Maybe I would get lucky and find a nugget but I don’t think I would ever be able to find enough gold to make my own sculptures. I’m quite happy with my little souvenirs of the day. There’s something magical about having gold in them, there hills and I think that perhaps, that is where it should stay.

First Thought

2007-10-08T16:31:00.000+01:00

The forthcoming film café in Timespan looks set to draw a good crowd of young people from Helmsdale and the surrounding communities, and with the positive feedback I’ve already had for this event, I have finally felt comfortable enough to begin looking at my own work a little more closely.

In maintaining a strong relationship between my ‘’own ‘’ work and that developed with the participants of the arts programme, I believe that a mutually beneficial dialogue will grow between the two. Thus, the possibility of one area of the residency being compromised in the endeavour to fully explore the other will not occur.

Nomadic living and environmental stewardship are the main themes that I plan to look at and whether the OURS group chose to follow this line or not, I will try and guide them through their chosen topics in the most environmentally conscious way possible: using recycled materials wherever possible and sourcing equipment and other materials from environmentally sustainable sources. For basic workshop materials I have used the Green Stationary Company who sell an exciting range of products www.greenstat.co.uk

Environmental stewardship – Nomadic living
∗Declining fishing industry in the Highlands.
∗Highland Clearances.
∗New polish settlers.
∗Young people of Helmsdale priced out of homes by wealthy newcomers.
∗International, environmental disasters making the poorest even poorer.
∗Wind turbine farms.
∗Wave turbines.

The idea of creating a space with the young people out of an upturned boat was particularly exciting, given that there is a space very close to the Timespan building and that initial response from Highland Council was not discouraging. I had one particular boat in mind but after closer inspection it was deemed too large a job. The idea however, has no been discarded and if the youth group are interested and a suitable boat can be found, then it may still happen. The scale and ambition of a project like that would need an extremely committed group of youngsters to be involved as well as the skills and support of the wider community.

Dave Illingworth, artist, clockmaker and sailor, inspecting the boat with me at its mooring in Skerray.

Dunrobin Castle, built in the fairytale style...

Visions of inflatable, roaming castles have also entered my head....and then floated away again.

Film cafe

2007-10-02T10:55:00.000+01:00

Monday 15 October
6.30 pm

Come along for a guided tour of Timespan’s beautiful, new workshop and facilities with new artist in residence, Ruth Macdougall. Another chance to meet the artist and get involved in the new youth arts programme ‘OURS’
Followed by the first film showing of Timespan’s new youth film café … free entry, popcorn and drinks provided!

Belleville Rendezvous
(Les Triplettes de Belleville)
Madam Souza is an elderly woman raising her orphaned grandson, Champion. Seeking to pull him out of his grief, she buys the child a tricycle. As the years pass he becomes such an excellent cyclist that he enters the Tour de France. Unfortunately he and two other riders are kidnapped during the race…grandma to the rescue!?
An amazing, Oscar nominated animation. Funny, quirky and not to be missed!!!!
Cert: 12 Time: 81 mins
Director: Sylvain Chomet
Country: France/UK/Canada/Belgium

Info: ruthmacdougall@hotmail.com or enquiries@timespan.org.uk

Baobab

2007-09-25T15:19:00.000+01:00

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Helmsdale to Zambia and Back Again

2007-09-25T14:57:00.000+01:00

My name is Ruth Macdougall, I am from Glasgow and I joined Timespan at the beginning of August, embarking on a two year residency that will allow me to concentrate my time equally between developing my environmental art practice and the Timespan’s new youth arts programme,‘OURS’’. Open to all interested youngsters in Sutherland, ‘Ours’ is designed to engage and develop long-term relationships with young people who have limited access to artists or galleries in this remote area; supporting them in developing and managing their own projects.

Having successfully completed a three-month residency in summer 2006 with the MacKay Country Group on the North Coast, returning to work in the Highlands has presented many familiar challenges.

''Island Row'' September 2006

Yet, this is very much a new beginning, not only for myself but also for Timespan as an organisation. My new position coincides with the remarkable redevelopment of the museum, additional workshop, community and archive space that will benefit the entire community.
Even in its unfinished state, I find the all new workshop space to be particularly exciting. When finally completed its bright, spacious dimensions will fit perfectly with the scale and ambition of the new youth arts project, enabling its young users to expand and achieve their creative ideas.

At the heart of my work is the engagement and participation of those communities amongst whom I live. As a primary source of information and guidance, I rely on evolving relationships and subtle collaborations to arrive at a work that not only tells a story but also characterises the community that tells and retells that story.

My environmental art practice has developed through my experiences living, studying and working in locations as diverse as Beirut, Chile, China and the Scottish Countryside. I have now just returned from Insaka 2007, a two-week International Artists workshop held in Siavonga, Zambia and sponsored by the Triangle Art Trust. In the middle of the African bush, 20 artists from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, USA, India and Scotland!

came together to exchange ideas and cultures under the banner of ‘’artists working with communities for environmental awareness’’. Many of the artistic disciplines were represented: painting, sculpture, illustration, video and photography.

The African bush provided an intense and at times, dangerous environment in which we worked alongside each other, the local tribal communities and reptiles of all shapes and sizes. The local tribes welcomed us openly, allowing us to observe their daily lives and learn more about their basic, self-sustaining and vibrant cultures.

My helpers

The natural bridge

Mweene, making Nshima

At the end of the two weeks we held an open day on site. I exhibited a video documenting our experiences with the local tribes people. These short documents focused particularly on the female population of the tribes, who appeared to do everything: farming, teaching, cooking, and raising families. Many of the older women (understandably) complained that they suffered from back pains, and so the video opens with an amusing, yet informative lesson in several yoga stretches as taught by Aditi, our Indian artist on a hot, and slightly surreal morning in the middle of the village. The video then switches to the regular evening dancing and singing round the bonfire and the daily chore of grinding finger millet , which is then boiled to a solid substance called nshima, the staple food of Zambia.

Tonga - English subtitles. There are 72 different dialects in Zambia.

Local children show us how it's done at the open day.

Though seemingly quite traditional in many ways, through discussions and presentations, the African art scene at large unfolded before me, into a complex dialogue between self-expression, the value of art in society and survival as an artist. For any other artists reading this, these will appear to be issues common to all of us. However, when considered within the context of Africa and its various political and economic situations, these themes evade regular analysis. For an experience such as this to be presented internationally by a country that as yet, has no school of fine art, not only underlines the desire of Zambian artists to evolve their techniques and ideologies but also the awareness that they too have a great deal to teach.

Insaka 2007 was a truly memorable experience for all the artists involved, forming firm friendships. We 20 are now a community and it is my endeavour to enable any one or all of them to complete a workshop here in Scotland. Our works will be shown together in a forthcoming exhibition in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=32338

The Zambian workshop provides a fascinating precursor to the workshops I intend to hold with the youth of Sutherland, beginning with a series of workshops in the October school holidays.

Artist's Talk

2007-09-20T14:53:00.001+01:00

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