Edible Spring Fling

From Spring Fling

From paintings made with pomegranates and coffee to huge stone pears – Spring Fling marks the Year of Food and Drink

An abstract painting created using tea, coffee, liqueurs, fruit and mustard powder has gone on show in an exhibition inspired by Scottish food and drink.

Spring Show: Art, Food & Drink, has just opened at the McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas and runs until 23 April. It also features giant stone pears and pictures made from kitchen garden herbs and petals among an abundance of paintings, jewellery, woodwork, photography and ceramics. The theme for the exhibition, which takes place in Scotland’s national food town, was specially chosen as part of the celebrations for Scotland’s 2015 Year of Food and Drink.

Around 90 artists and makers, mostly from Dumfries and Galloway, were invited to submit pieces inspired by the edible for the show, which acts as a taster for the Spring Fling visual art and craft open studios weekend in May.

Painter Annirose Ansbro decided to take the theme literally for her own work entitled Drool. “I thought it would be fun to take the food and drink theme all the way, so I scoured the kitchen for ingredients I could use as well as conventional paint. “In the end I used a pomegranate, a tangerine, sloe gin, melon liqueur, orange squash, herbal teas and fresh coffee. The smell of the painting was absolutely wonderful.”

In the gallery garden are three huge stone pears made by sculptor Max Nowell. The distinctive drystone sculptures Max makes have been commissioned for gardens and landscapes all over the UK.

Suzanne Stuart Davies had been wondering what to contribute when she arrived home from the shops one day. She said: “I had bought the veg for a ratatouille and shoved it in a bowl – then I suddenly thought ‘that’s just right’.” Normally a landscape artist working in oils, the experience has led her to create a whole series of still life watercolours.

Another of those taking part is Jennie Ashmore who uses leaves, plants and flowers – often edible – to make intricate pictures.

Spring Show: Art, Food & Drink has also led to collaboration, like the one between Clare Dawdry who has made hand-thrown bowls that nestle in slender woven willow baskets by Geoff Forrest.

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “The artists really warmed to the food and drink theme and came up with some amazingly imaginative ideas. There really is something to suit every taste. “It’s great to be able to have such a lovely food and drink themed exhibition in Scotland’s food town for the national year of food and drink.”

Moniaive Shortlisted for Creative Scotland Award

from The Commonty

Great news from Upper Nithsdale that Moniaive has been shortlisted in the £50,000 category of the Creative Place Awards run annually by Creative Scotland. Our region has a brilliant reputation in these awards with Wigtown winning in the inaugural year (and a special award to Creetown the same year), both Gatehouse and Glenkens were shortlisted the following and Dumfries was shortlisted in the largest category in 2014. Congratulations to everyone in Moniaive connected with the bid and heres hoping you guys can bring home the prize for the South West......take no prisoners!

The amazing Cairn Chorus in full voice

The full story of the shortlisting etc is here

Join the DG People...

From Sid Ambrose, Wigtownshire Area Arts Convenor and Matthew Shelley

One of the fundamental aims of DG Unlimited is to provide a showcase for members and for the creative sector in D&G. The Unlimited People section of our new website is one of the ways we can do that – it gives people a chance to talk about themselves and their work to a wider audience. At the same time it allows us to build up a library which shows just how broad and deep the talent of our creative sector runs.

This week we are introducing you to Gina Lawson who runs Gina Lillycrop Designs from Wigtown. Gina describes her work as home wares and interior decorations, such as lampshades, children's rugs, cushions and wall art. But like many of our creatives, that’s just the start. Scratch a little deeper and you discover that she designs her own range of home furnishings from a remote Farm studio near Wigtown and that she has done some unusual work for royalty. In addition to being a designer, mum and farmer’s wife she is also a qualified nursery nurse and sings in a Meat Loaf tribute band – one of their biggest fans is David Coulthard.

It’s lives and stories like these which make Dumfries and Galloway such a special and inspirational place. DGU really wants to hear more of your stories and to bring them to a wider audience. If you would like to be featured in the Unlimited People section of the website then fill in the form and send it to us with a picture of yourself or just email and we’ll send one through.

And, over the next couple of weeks you can also meet Glentrool photographer Dave Currie who has taken some amazing shots of the Galloway night sky (among many other things) and Arts and Crafts inspired craftsman Tom Goff from Moffat.

Earlier this week Sid set up sessions in Stranraer and Newton Stewart where Matthew provided attendees with a free session on how to publicise their events or businesses. Around 16 people attended, from all sorts of different backgrounds, despite some dreadful weather. Again, it was great to hear so many different stories and hopefully have the chance to help people find ways to gain some media attention for all they do.

Spring Fling International at Green Hill Gallery, Berlin

From Spring Fling

SPRING SHOW @ GREEN HILL GALLERY BERLIN

You are invited to the Preview of Spring Fling's first international exhibition in Berlin.

 Green Hill Gallery | 02 April 6-9pm

This exhibition has been curated to showcase an eclectic mix of contemporary art and craft to show the Berlin audience what we create in Scotland and will include the work of 12 Spring Fling 2015 participants, they are;

Spring Show | Berlin

Amanda Simmons

Lizzie Farey

Morag Macpherson

Denise Zygadlo

Fitch & McAndrew

Suzi Plunkett

Shona Guthrie

Silvana McLean

Rory Laycock

Katie Anderson

Natalie McIlroy

Sarah Stewart

Green Hill Gallery

Kulturschöpfer, Grünberger Straße 13,

10243 Berlin, Germany

Exhibition Continues until the Sat 25 April with planned workshops.

Come and join us to enjoy art, craft and good conversation and light refreshments with a live performance from Denise Zygadlo, Morag Machperson and Katie Anderson.

Limited places full details and to RSVP head here.

Welcoming the Spring Fling Newbies of 2015

From Spring Fling

Spring Fling is welcoming a fresh crop of 23 new exhibitors to Scotland’s premier contemporary visual art and craft open studios event.

They range from sculptors, photographers, painters and jewellers to a theatrical prop creator and a violin maker who manufactures his own varnish using resin from local bee hives. Between them they offer the chance to see an amazing variety of highly skilled work – decorative, functional, intriguing, delightful and sometimes challenging.

Among the exhibitors to watch out for is Kate Knott who specialises in figurative paintings with curious narratives. She said: “Whether it’s vintage oddities, fascinating faces or curious animals, I enjoy discovering the best way to represent them. My paintings can feel quite romantic with considered colour palettes and a loose painterly style.” There is also Steven Burnie who loves the landscape of Dumfries and Galloway and said: “I work from the landscape to create paintings and drawings that detail the character of the region. My recent work has been informed by the changing light of the Solway Firth and the surrounding landscape.”

Jamie McLennan with a Vaughan Trower violin

Vaughan Trower, started instrument making when one daughter took up the harp and the other the violin. He said: “Violin making is technical and creative. Each musician and instrument needs to be carefully suited to the other. “I source the tonewoods from a sawmill in Mittenwald, Germany, where I select each piece. I make my own varnish to finish the instruments, this includes propolis from hives at John Mellis, local beekeeper in Dumfries & Galloway, this produces a rich golden varnish and is a distinguishing feature of my instruments.”

Edward Howat has made props for The National Theatre of Scotland, Tron Theatre and many others. Commissions have included dragons, prosthetic masks, aliens and 10 bionic eyes which moved and glowed blue.

Alien prop by Edward Howat

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “One of the ways Spring Fling stays fresh is to invite new artists to exhibit and 2015 is no exception with 23 out of 94 never having taken part before. “We are delighted to represent a hugely diverse and varied new group, a mix of established and emerging talent; from Vaughan's violins, to Edward's sculpted costumes and props, through to five new photographers, and three new installation artists. “We know that Spring Fling visitors like equally to see familiar faces and to be surprised and challenged by the work of new artists, and we hope that this will attract some new audiences to Dumfries and Galloway in 2015.”

The other new exhibitors are Annirose Ansbro, Anupa Gardner, Barry Young, Beth Watson, Davy Brown, Diana de Gruyther, Eric Pye, Evelyn Gray, Holly Goldsworthy, Kirstin Pilling, Laura Hudson Mackay, Laurie Campbell, Michael Pell, Michal Sur, Morven Browne, Natalie McIlroy, Sarah Stewart, Sarah Tew and Terri Campbell.

Spring Fling heads for Edinburgh

From Spring Fling

The Spring Show Dundas Street Gallery exhibition will take place at The Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, from 10-25 April. It is organised by Spring Fling – Scotland’s premier open studios contemporary visual art and craft open studios event – in partnership with the Fine Art Society Edinburgh.

Hand made box by Daniel Lacey

There will be a special preview which is free for the public to attend on Thursday, 9 April from 6pm to 8pm.
The makers and artists taking part include illustrator Clare Melinsky, ceramicist Urpu Sellar, furniture maker Daniel Lacey and wildlife artist John Threlfall.

Claire Melinsky

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “This exhibition is a chance to share the work of some of the superb artists and makers from Dumfries and Galloway with an Edinburgh audience. Many are already well-known both here and overseas, but this is also a chance to enjoy some exciting emerging artists.”

Opportunities from Craft Scotland

From Craft Scotland

Craft Scotland are currently offering a number of opportunities for Scottish-based makers, including open applications to sell work at the prestigious SOFA exposition (the world’s premier Sculptural Objects and Functional Art Fair) in Chicago 2015, and our 2015 Summer Show at White Stuff in Edinburgh.

We are also looking for venues, organisations or groups of makers who would be interested in hosting a Meet Your Maker event for 2015/16, and have some upcoming tourism training for makers looking to break into the tourism industry.


SOFA Chicago: We are delighted to announce our participation at SOFA Chicago 2015. The Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design (SOFA) Fair in Chicago is the premier gallery-presented art fair dedicated to three-dimensional art and design. We invite applications from makers producing design-led statement pieces to take part in this prestigious event. Full details here

Craft Scotland's Summer Show 2014, more online here

Summer Show: We are delighted to be hosting our annual Summer Show once again in White Stuff, George Street, Edinburgh. We would like to invite makers to apply to exhibit and sell at our Summer Show 2015, to be held from 07 to 30 August 2015, during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Full details here

Meet Your Maker Hosts: Craft Scotland invites applications from venues, groups or organisations to host a Meet Your Maker event.

Meet Your Maker is part of Craft Scotland's flagship campaign to connect craft makers at work with the public. It's a campaign that aims to showcase the skill, design and quality of Scotland's talented makers. It creates opportunities for our makers and builds new audiences for their work. Full details here

Craft Tourism training: Craft Scotland invites makers who would like to explore opportunities in the tourism industry to register their interest in taking part in a 'How to work with the Travel Trade' seminar. More details here 

 

Young Spring Fling - Poster competitions and Exhibition Openings

From Spring Fling

Schools competition winners on show with work by emerging talents and Dumfries and Galloway’s Archie Sutter Watt. Their work is now on display at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries alongside a selection of pieces by emerging professional artists and an exhibition of oils by Archie Sutter Watt – one of Dumfries and Galloway’s best-loved painters.

The overall schools competition winner was Kirsty Dougan, from the P7 class at Springholm Primary. Her design features birds, deer and a fish all busy painting a picture, has been turned into the official Spring Fling 2015 poster and is being seen all over the country. Runners up Leah McWhir-Smith, Kirkcudbright Primary, P1 and Rachel Barr, Hardgate Primary, P7, also had their work turned into posters for them to keep. The exhibition also features entries by 20 schools winners. Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “It’s a real joy working with these aspiring young artists and their work is lovely. It’s also very important to nurture this young talent. It’s wonderful that both these exhibitions will be on at the same time as Gracefield has the Archie Sutter Watt exhibition as he was so dedicated to educating young people about art.”

The schools competition is run in conjunction with Dumfries and Galloway’s Education Services department. The competition, and the bursary scheme, are funded by the Archie Sutter Watt Trust which was established to advance his commitment to arts and education. The top prize was £100 for the winner and £200 for their school, with £50 for each runner up and £100 for their schools.

Alan Watt, who is one of the trustees, said: “Archie taught in schools around D&G and also from own studio. “His two great passions were art and passing on skills to others. This is something he would have loved. And we like to promote art as a subject and an achievement in schools.”

This year is the centenary of Archie Sutter Watt’s birth and marks the 10th anniversary of his death. The Archie Sutter Watt exhibition offers a different perspective on his career. Celebrated for his watercolours, it is a chance to explore a lesser known aspect of his work and is called Archie in Oils.

The two Spring Fling exhibitions opened on Saturday following a special preview attended by the public, the schoolchildren and a selection of winners of the bursary scheme. They are free to visit and will run until 4 April.

The Spring Fling Young Artists Bursary scheme has now been running for four years and aims to help recent graduates with a link to the region make the transition into a professional career. Each winner receives £1,000 to create a body of work for the Spring Fling Open studios weekend and benefits from 15 days of mentoring by an established artist who has previously exhibited in the event. Leah said: “Making the shift from student to professional artist can be very tricky, and it’s a point where a lot of creative talent is lost because promising young people are forced off in different directions just in order to make a living.
“These awards and the mentorship by people who have built successful careers can be tremendously important. All our winners from the past have remained in the arts and have gone on to other projects, which is tremendous. “This is a superb opportunity to see how some of them are blossoming.” The Young Artist Bursary scheme exhibition features work by Katie Anderson, Terri Campbell, Holly Clothier, Fraser Irvine, Rory Laycock and Emma Kerr.

Terri, who graduated from Edinburgh College of Art last year and set up her own jewellery business in D&G, is one of the 2015 winners and has been mentored by Lisa Rothwell-Young, a jeweller and partner in the Cut the Mustard Gallery at Langholm.
Terri said: “Setting up my own business has been challenging but I’m really enjoying it. Having a mentor has been great because Lisa completely understands what I’m talking about.
“She has given me really valuable pointers on all sorts of things like how to approach galleries to talk about stocking your work and the dos and don’ts of setting up an exhibition.”
Her work is very wearable, with ranges that include everything from intricate silverwork to sheep horn found on the farm where she lives with her family.

See more of Terri's work online on her website here, or follow her facebook page here

Artwork unveiled at Lockerbie Academy

From Spring Fling

A beautiful six metre long banner crafted by Lockerbie Academy students to celebrate their town was unveiled today (Monday).

It is made even more special by the addition of 52 individually designed coins, minted using The Stove Network's bicycle powered foundry, and hung from the bottom.

Image: Barry Young

The colourful artwork, which now takes pride of place in the school’s main entrance area, is the result of a joint initiative between Spring Fling, the academy, and Dumfries and Galloway Education Services. The project has been led by professional artists Morag Macpherson, Katie Anderson and Kirsty Turpie – a former pupil at the school. The aim was to give the students the chance to discover about life in the arts, learn new skills and contribute to a piece of artwork that will be enjoyed for decades to come. Morag, a renowned international textile designer based in Kirkcudbright, said: “We wanted to give the students a different perspective on art through getting to know working artists. We talked about our different practices and how they had developed. It gave them an insight into the lifestyle and career. “They really embraced the project and produced some very good work. Some of the young people were clearly very talented and clearly had a chance of getting into art school if that’s what they wanted to do.”

The banner is made up of dozens of 30cm squares, each with a repeating pattern based on line drawings the young people made of local buildings. They scanned the drawings, coloured them and created the patterns using specialised software.
At the same time Katie led the project to create a new currency for Lockerbie.
Katie said: “We wanted to know what they thought would be suitable for a currency for Lockerbie using designs based on their vision of their own town. And they came up with some really imaginative ideas.
“We also had a great day when I brought along the bicycle powered foundry which they could pedal to get it to the right temperature.”

Kirsty introduced students to the ancient art of paper collage. She said: “We used different types of paper to create collages and talked about different artists who the students might be inspired by. The results were really imaginative, I was very impressed.”
Each of the 32 collages has now been transferred onto a ceramic tile and will be displayed in the school. The project, which was funded by the Holywood Trust, gave the young people insights into life as a professional artist.

Image: Barry Young

Leah Black, Spring Fling Director, said: “This has been a great project which has produced a wonderful new piece of public art which the students and the school can be hugely proud of and which will hopefully be enjoyed for decades.
“The creative sector offers all sorts of fulfilling career opportunities for young people and is of growing importance to Scotland’s economy. This gave Lockerbie students a taste of what life as an artist could be like – and we hope it has fired their imaginations about what they can achieve in their own lives.”
The artists went into the school for five days in December and January and each worked with groups of pupils.

Carol Donnelly, art and design teacher at the school, said: “The artworks produced by our pupils are fantastic! Both the staff and the students have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience!
“We would definitely recommend this type of collaboration to other schools as a way of enriching the classroom experience and accessing new skills, techniques and materials.”

The unveiling was attended by D&G’s Director of Education Colin Grant, who added: “I am delighted that students from Lockerbie Academy have had this exciting opportunity to work with professional artists, it will have no doubt added another dimension to their learning.
“What I am also pleased to see if a former pupil of the school coming back and sharing her knowledge and experiences with pupils and showing that you can succeed in life beyond school.”

Wearable Art at the Fruitmarket Gallery

From Isabell Buenz

Paper artist and Spring Fling 2015 participant Isabell Buenz will again contribute to this year’s Artists’ BookMarket with a difference at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.

Visitors to the event can find Isabell and her models circulating around the Gallery, dressed in her wearable paper accessories, made from discarded library books.

Meet the artist and her team on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd February 2015, between 1 and 2 pm at the FruitMarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

John Muir Artist Residency in Dunbar

From North Light Arts

North Light Arts and East Lothian Council are delighted to present the first John Muir Artist Residency at Dunbar Town House, Dunbar, East Lothian to celebrate the John Muir Festival 2015.

The artist will explore the theme of ‘Fertile Ground : Soil‘, in particular investigating the importance of East Lothian’s soil during International Year of Soil 2015. The resulting work will be shown in an exhibition at Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery in May – June 2015.

Artist Proposals Deadline: 5pm Friday 28 February 2015

Artists Selection: Thursday 5 March 2015

Residency Timeframe: The John Muir Artist Residency will take place between 13 and 27 April covering the John Muir Festival on the 18 and 19 April 2015

Residency Base: Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery

Exhibition: The artist will create an exhibition at Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery in May – June 2015, which will include artwork or research resulting from the residency shown alongside selected pieces of the artists previous work. There is a separate budget for the exhibition.

Artists Residency Fee: Max fee including materials £1,000

The United Nations has proclaimed 2015 International Year of Soils, which offers a unique opportunity to address the crisis in soil sustainability. Soils are essential to our ecosystems, playing a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts. The residency will take place in and around the coastal town of Dunbar, East Lothian, this former fishing community lies in an intensely farmed rural area and is a rapidly growing commuter town for Edinburgh. Local community organisations are actively exploring sustainability and carbon reduction initiatives and in 2014 Dunbar was named Scotland’s first ‘Zero-waste town’.

Proposals are welcome from artists with a strong environmental and public engagement practice. The artist is expected to develop a project, which has public engagement as part of the process and they will deliver workshops related to their practice in the local community. The artist will explore the outlined theme ‘Fertile Ground: Soil’ and an artwork, documentation or piece of artistic research which results from their residency will be retained in the North Light Arts, John Muir Resource Archive.

Please send a maximum two-page artists project proposal along with the contact details for two referees and 4 digital images of your previous work to -

Tracy Morgan, North Light Arts, Programme Manager: infonorthlightarts@gmail.com
Full details on the North Light Arts website here

Spring Fling Young Artists Exhibition

From Katie Anderson

Please join us for Spring Fling's Young Artists exhbition opening at Gracefield Arts Centre, next Saturday 28th of February from 2pm - 4pm. The exhibition will showcase artists from this and previous years Young Artist Bursary programme, including Katie Anderson, Terri Campbell, Holly Clothier, Rory Laycock, Fraser Irvine and Emma Kerr.

Chrys Salt - Dancing on a Rock

From Chrys Salt

“Chrys Salt, a wonderful and unique poet, reaches her zenith. The past comes alive again, where dreams and desperations come hand in hand. Her work is poignant, full of anger, desire, and dreams that entice you to enter that world. This book touched me deeply.”

Bernard Kops
Dramatist, Poet, Novelist

From The Bronze Age to recent conflict, Chrys Salt's new collection explores distillations of memory, moments, lives, experience - the image of a fossil dancing on a rock reminding us of those things that are recorded, yet transient. Dancing on a Rock is Chrys’ fourth full poetry collection. Her work is widely published, has appeared in anthologies all over the world, been performed on BBC Radio 3 and 4, UK wide, in the USA, Canada, France, Germany and Finland. It has been translated into French and Arabic and is currently being translated into Hebrew. In 2014 her limited edition pamphlet Weaver of Grass (Hattericks House 2013, artwork Deirdre Carlisle) was shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. She is a great supporter of Indigo Dreams and a frequent contributor (and winner!) to Reach Poetry magazine. IDP also published Chrys' previous collection Grass

90 pages of poetry, Dancing on a Rock can be ordered now online here. A taster of the poems included may be read there too. It's always good to work with Chrys and you will be able to catch her reading at a variety of places - a wonderful time will be had by all. Some venues below and many more to come.

March 7th/8th: Bath Literature Festival 
March 7th: Poetry Workshop 1:00pm – 4:00pm Holburne Museum
March 8th: Introducing Annette Badland who performs her script based on Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth 1:00pm – 2:00pm Guildhall
March 8th: Launch of new collection Dancing on a Rock with Rachael Boast. 5:00pm – 6:00pm Guildhall
April 14th: 'Whose Voice is it Anyway?' with novelist Margaret Elphinstone 7.30pm Scottish Writers Centre, Glasgow.
March 30th: Dancing on a Rock. Brioche, Hampstead 7.00pm
April 21st: reading from Dancing on a Rock with Bernard Kops 7.30pm Bar des Arts Guildford
April 23rd: Dancing on a Rock 7.30pm The Royal British Legion, The Quay, Wivenhoe:
May 2nd: Dancing on a Rock (time TBA) The Bank Bookshop, Wigtown, S.W Scotland.


Chrys was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for Services to The Arts. She receives this on Friday 6th February. Huge congrats from all of us Chrys - and don't forget that new hat!

Fields and Feathers at McGill Duncan

From Zoe Blamire at the McGill Duncan Gallery

Fields and Feathers

A major exhibition of new work by local print maker Lisa Hooper and painter Tracy Levine is on show in Castle Douglas from Saturday 7^th February. The show takes place at McGill Duncan Gallery. Owners Jill and Zoe Blamire said ‘We decided to call the exhibition 'Fields and Feathers’ as Lisa Hooper’s work very much concentrates on birds and Tracy Levine paints landscapes. Lisa’s bold graphic prints, using techniques such as linocut and etching complements Tracy’s atmospheric landscapes.'

 

Tracy Levine Buttercups and Daisies III 

Tracy paints seascapes softened by dramatic light, moorland in wild weather conditions and meadows so evocative of summer that you can almost hear the buzzing of insects. She uses a variety of inventive media and has been known to incorporate small amounts of sand or earth in her paintings, adding to their sense of place. Many of her paintings are executed outside  - ‘en plein air’. To enable her to work in this way Tracy has a bicycle with a trailer that holds her painting equipment. McGill Duncan Gallery has made a film to screen during the exhibition. The short film shows Tracy talking about five of the paintings in the exhibition. She discusses her working methods and the inspirations behind the paintings. The film will run in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. The body of work for this exhibition features the Yorkshire Dales, Scottish Islands, including Colonsay and Iona, and, more local to home, Logan Botanic Gardens near Stranraer.

Lisa Hooper Summer Oystercatchers

In contrast to Tracy’s work, Lisa Hooper’s bold prints have strong lines and vibrant colours. Lisa uses the quiet of winter to work in her Port William studio, producing new work. This is the third year that McGill Duncan Gallery has exhibited her work during February - it is the perfect time to exhibit new prints that have not been seen before. Birds featured in the new work include Barnacle Geese,  Ringed Plovers, Curlews and Oystercatchers. Lisa is renowned for her use of diverse print making techniques. This year she has a new printing process called ‘tessellated linocut’. This involves building the print using individual pieces of lino that fit together. Those interested in learning more about tessellated linocuts can come to the gallery between 11 am and 1 pm on Saturday the 14^th of February and watch Lisa demonstrating this fascinating technique.

The exhibition runs until Saturday 14 March 2015.

Further information on the McGill Duncan website here

Spring Fling Evolution and Arts Hubs Update

From Alan Thomson, DG Unlimited Annandale and Eskdale Arts Hub Convenor and Arts Policy and Development Coordinator

Along with the other Area Hub Convenors in their districts I have been pleased to facilitate a couple of meetings in Annandale and Eskdale for consultant Steve Brown of Collaborate Consulting Ltd to meet with interested groups to contribute to the discussion on the Spring Fling Evolution project. The idea being to examine the notion that Spring Fling can build out from the outstanding success of it’s Open Studios weekend and use its expertise and resources to become a year-round development agency for the visual art and craft sector.

Having expected a roomful of committed Spring Flingers it was interesting to meet a handful of young artists seeking support to professionalise and grow their practice and a group of community activists seeking opportunities through the arts to regenerate their communities.

Steve and his team are holding meetings across the Region but if you have not yet had a chance to have your say, get in touch. Steve loves to talk. Details online here.

The next few Hub meetings in A&E will begin the process of developing a new district ‘plan’ which will in turn will become part of the Regional Arts Plan, necessary to map the way forward as the Dumfries and Galloway Place Partnership draws to a close and new means of securing investment in the Region’s creative sector requires to be developed.

Change is afoot at the Regional Arts Hub too, when it meets next week to consider adopting a Terms of Reference document. Discussion will reflect on proposed arrangements for the relationship between the Regional Arts Hub and the DG Unlimited and will revolve around proposals drafted by Richard Macfarlane of the Bakehouse with some input from Jim Tildesley, Secretary of the DGU Trustees. This is a task they were allocated at a productive meeting of the two bodies towards the end of last year. The overall aim is to empower the RAH to operate more effectively and thus strengthen the DG Unlimited structure to benefit the entire sector. Good luck to everyone involved.


Note from DGU team: It appears that gremlins have been at work – our list of Regional Arts Hub folk here on The Commonty described Carolyn Yates as ex-Literature Development Officer. She is, as most will know, still very much active in that role – apologies to her.

Anne Butler and Victor Henderson at A the Airts

From A the Airts

An exhibition of paintings by two of Dumfries and Galloway’s most talented artists goes on show at A’ The Airts in February.
Victor Henderson and Anne Butler will be showcasing a range of their popular artwork at the Sanquhar community arts centre from Saturday, February 7.

Last year was a busy time for Durisdeer landscape artist Anne. With a number of solo exhibitions at venues from the south of England to Edinburgh and participation in regional arts events in Bristol, Pittenweem and Dumfries and Galloway’s Spring Fling, Anne has found her work very much in demand. From her Ferndale Studio, Anne creates strong, vigorous landscapes of bold colours and textures that are intended to evoke emotions as well as provoke reactions.

A watercolour artist of high acclaim, Victor has been producing paintings in his gentle but brightly coloured signature style since showcasing his first works at the Singer-Friedlander exhibition in 2004. A decade later and Victor’s work has been exhibited at many galleries and private collections across Scotland from Stranraer to Inverness and he shares his talent with aspiring art students from his studio in Drumlanrig Stableyard.
Working primarily in watercolour, Victor paints abstract, industrial and traditional landscapes as well as a range of still-life subjects from the inanimate to the animate. He works directly onto the canvas, without any preparatory drawing, and enjoys experimenting with papers, textures, paints, brushes and colours. He said: “It is the constant balancing act between accident and technique which I love.”

The exhibition kicks off with a lunchtime launch at A’ The Airts on Saturday, February 7, from noon to 2pm, where visitors will get the chance to meet the artists and speak to them about their work over a glass of mulled wine.
The exhibition runs until February 28. Entrance is free.

Victor Henderson and Jennifer Watt at the Whitehouse

From the Whitehouse Gallery

The Whitehouse Gallery presents
An Exhibition with
Victor Henderson & Jennifer Watt
Saturday 31st January – Saturday 21st February 2015

The Whitehouse Gallery are introducing a brand new exhibition to the yearly programme. This three week slot will start at the end of January and be an introduction to the year ahead.
The exhibition will shine the spotlight on two of Dumfries & Galloway’s most talented artists. Victor Henderson has been exhibiting his vivid watercolour paintings with the gallery for years now. His paintings always seem to hit the spot with customers, who are drawn to them for his sumptuous use of colour and loose style.

Victor Henderson – Frosted Sheds Moonlight (watercolour)

Victors subject matter ranges from still life through to landscape, and he paints in a range of sizes. Jennifer Watt creates sculptural forms using stone, cement and limited edition resin and bronze. These forms are simple, clean and void or any unnecessary components, and Jennifer’s intention is to create work which evokes an emotional response.

Jennifer Watt – ‘Madame Choquet III’ (ltd edition bronze resin sculpture)

Jennifer has exhibited regularly at Visual Arts Scotland in Edinburgh where she won The Powderhall Bronze Award in 2007, The Society of Scottish Artists , The Royal Glasgow Institute winning The Inverarity One to One Travel Award in 2010 and The Paisley Art Institute winning The West College Scotland Award for Sculpture 2014. Her work has been exhibited in some of the country’s most prestigious galleries.

For more information please contact us on 01557 330223 or info@whitehousegallery.com

Clare Melinsky at Thomas Tosh

From Paul O'Keeffe

Renowned lino cut artist Clare Melinsky’s latest exhibition highlights food and drink, with a twist of D&G

Sandstone & Cider runs from Tuesday February 3rd until Saturday 7th March at Thomas Tosh in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, and features illustrations Clare has created for the food and drink industry.

“It just seems like a really appropriate theme given that 2015 has been designated Scotland’s Year of Food & Drink,” says Clare, who stays just outside Thornhill.

Clare’s distinctive lino cuts have featured on food products from artisan biscuit manufacturers to big companies such as Marks and Spencer, and major venues including Edinburgh and Stirling castles.
One of her latest commissions is for a brand new Dumfriesshire cider using apples grown in Nithsdale. It’s called Steilhead and is brewed by Max Nowell, who is also well known for his sculpture.

Clare has designed labels for three different types of Steilhead cider: bullfinch, siskin and nuthatch.

The exhibition’s added Dumfries and Galloway theme comes from Clare’s lino cut prints commissioned by the museums in the region.

Clare explains: “Castle and cottage, tolbooth and town hall, industrial and domestic architecture are all here, mostly built of our handsome local red sandstone.”

The Sandstone & Cider exhibition launches with a special evening at Thomas Tosh on Tuesday 3rd between 7pm-9pm with complimentary nibbles and drinks, and a chance to taste the new Steilhead cider. All are welcome. Admission is free.

Clare is also running workshops at Thomas Tosh, to coincide with the exhibition. Those taking part can learn the art of lino cut and develop their skills with the guidance of one of the UK’s most respected practitioners of the print-based art.

Paul O’Keeffe, partner at Thomas Tosh, said: “It’s great to have Clare brightening up February with her new exhibition. Her work’s character shines through wherever it’s used. And Scotland’s Food and Drink Year, and her new cider commission, gave us an opportunity to focus on a growing area of Clare’s work. Her illustrations are important in helping food companies demonstrate their difference from the rest.”

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Jennifer Watt and Victor Henderson at the Whitehouse Gallery

From the Whitehouse Gallery

Would love if you could join us for the

Preview Opening 

  Saturday 31st January

 from 11am onwards.

Exhibition runs from 31st Jan - 21st Feb

The Whitehouse Gallery

47 St Mary’s Street

Kirkcudbright

 DG6 4DU

www.whitehousegallery.co.uk