Trading Journeys at Wigtown Book Festival

from The Stove Network

For everyone who took part, visited or couldn't make it there is a pictorial journey through the memorable events of Trading Journeys from 23rd - 27th September - here.......including: Horse drawn journeys, bicycle powered foundry, sailing the old Creetown ferry route, jam and charcoal making, songwriting, another appearance by the Secret Ministry and of course casting the 45 Wigtown Spoons in aluminium in the town square.

Pedaling the foundry up to heat (photo:Colin Hattersley)

Transient, Otherworldly, Paranormal - Sanctuary

From Sanctuary

Portishead's Geoff Barrow made a surprise appearance last night at Sanctuary - an experimental music and arts event in the heart of a Galloway forest. Arriving in a camper van after driving 340 miles from Bristol, Geoff and colleague Ben Salisbury performed a set under the name of Drokk, in front of Enclosure, Robbie Coleman's large scale light installation.

Hundreds of music fans, musicians and artists gathered for Sanctuary, which took place in the fields and woodland at the foot of the towering Murrays Monument, miles from the nearest town, in the Dark Sky Park in south west Scotland.

Robbie Coleman's Enclosure. Image: Mike Bolan

Sanctuary experiments with sound, light and space, featuring light installations. It featured Dark Outside FM - a radio station which could only be received in the forest and played 24 hours of previously unheard music donated by bands and musicians from across the world. The sound files will be destroyed so it can never be heard again. Other performers included from veteran sound experimentalists :zoviet*France, just back from gigs in San Francisco and Moscow.

Ben Ponton, of :zoviet*France, said: "It's a great occasion and really resonates with what we do musically. What we do is informed by our own part of the world in the north of England and this area has some real similarities, it's a fantastic place to perform."

They were also joined by Broken20, who created an eight-hour improvised light and sound event specially for Sanctuary. Dave Fyanes, of Broken20, said: "It's a one off, because the whole thing about this event is its transience. We create something in the moment, and at the end we pack up, leave and it's gone for good."

Sanctuary also featured a lecture by paranormal investigator Innes Smith; film installation work from Rupert Lally and Espen J Jörgensen, Robbie Coleman and Jo Hodges, beside the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall; and the Dark Skies Lounge, where people could hear the music from Dark Skies FM.

Image: Mike Bolan

Tracks were donated by artists as diverse as, Carter Tutti, Bis, Craig Safan and Jon Brooks and came from as far afield as Australia, Canada, the UK, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, Denmark and the USA.

The artists behind Sanctuary are Jo Hodges, Robbie Coleman and Stuart McLean who curated the music.

Jan Hogarth, of Wide Open which co-produced the event, said: "The whole magic of Sanctuary is that it only exists for 24 hours. People gather here from every part of the UK to be part of it - and you can only share the experience if you are here. The whole thing has an otherworldly feel about it - with the landscape lit up by a huge neon sculpture. The audience have loved the chance to mix with all the performers and musicians and to camp out in the forest listening to amazing music and enjoying the art."

Sanctuary was part of Mini EAFS, a curtain raiser for the Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2015. This included the Trading Journeys event by the stove network and the launch of Zero Footprint, a landscape photography work by Leeming + Paterson - both of which were at the Wigtown Book Festival.

Sanctuary - 27th September

from Jo Hodges and Robbie Coleman

Sanctuary 2014 is a creative space for experiments in sound, light and space, exploring the unseen and in-between within the Galloway Forest Dark Skies Park.  Noon on 27th September to Noon on 28th September around Murrays Monument on the A712 - 7 miles from Newton Stewart

 Featuring:

•   'The Dark Outside FM', a 24 hour radio broadcast of unheard sound and music contributed by artists from all over the world. The Dark Outside FM HQ is at the top of Murrays Monument - join the crew for a friendly chat, a comfy sofa and a view

•   The Dark Star Lounge - a social space to hang out and listen to the broadcast, and a fire to warm yourself at night

And:

•   From 7pm - ‘Enclosure’. Large scale light installation

•   From 7pm-  'Nightlight 1'  by Unicorn Diagram. A visual time capsule that deteriorates over time if left alone, but that can temporarily be reversed. 

•   9pm - Lecture by Innes Smith, Vice President of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research. Innes will be talking about 'The Dark Outside' from a paranormal perspective, examining the place of darkness in mythology, Spiritualism, psychology of perception and Cases of Hauntings and Poltergeists

•   10pm - 6am - An Unbroken Circle. A participatory experimental work by Ruaridh Law and Dave Fyans keeping the dark at bay with a circle of sound and light.

•   10.30pm - Near Extinction. Rupert Lally and Espen J Jörgensen from Norway. World premiere of their new video

•   Also : New work by experimental sound artists :Zoviet*france

Other Info :  Food on 27th by the Green Tea House. Bring a radio and a torch. Free event. Camping. More info www.thedarkoutside.com

 Sanctuary 2014 is a collaboration between Robbie Coleman, Jo Hodges and Stuart Mclean produced in association with Wide Open

Zero Footprint Launch

From Leeming and Paterson

Ted Leeming and Morag Paterson launch their photography book and portfolio, Zero Footprint at the end of the month as part of Wigtown Book Festival, and also tie in with the EAFS festival weekend event - more on that here. 
The book consists of a set of photographs taken over a five year period from one precise location in the Galloway Hills, exploring the concept of creativity with a limited zero footprint, non this case letting weather inform the composition of the images.

Having built a low carbon house on the hillside we were inspired to see if we could apply some similar principles to our photography.

The restriction is a geographical one only - we can use any lens and point the camera in any direction, taking advantage of the changes in season and dramatic variances in natural light. Although it's a beautiful outlook, our view doesn't necessarily lend itself to a good composition for a traditional landscape photograph and we quickly realised that some of the bests shots we would get are those of the banks of fog and mist that roll in and often spend the entire day moving like a tide backwards and forwards in the glen.

The Zero Footprint Book will have a print run limited to 1250 copies. For more details have a look on their website here, or to sign up to the Book Festival event, head to the festival website here

Forest Sanctuary

From The Dark Outside

Find Sanctuary deep in a Scottish forest – an arts event in the heart of Galloway’s Dark Skies Park. It experiments with sound, light and space, exploring the unseen and in-between, featuring light installations and 24 hours of previously unheard music.

Sanctuary takes place on 27th and 28th September

Making a welcome return is The Dark Outside FM - a site-specific radio station curated by sound artist Stuart Maclean. For 24 hours, The Dark Outside FM will be broadcasting previously unheard sound and music from artists as diverse as, Carter Tutti, Bis, Craig Safan and Jon Brooks. Contributions come from Australia, Canada, the UK, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, Denmark and the USA. This new work can only be heard at this site and the sound files will be destroyed afterwards.
This year’s broadcast will also include a live multi-transmitter performance from veteran sound experimentalists :zoviet* france

There will also be light installations including Robbie Coleman’s dramatic 100ft neon light sculpture called ENCLOSURE. Then there will be chances to discover aspects of otherworldliness – including explorations of the paranormal and strange psychic phenomenon – in the Dark Skies Lounge.

The event, which takes place around Murrays Monument miles from the nearest town, is a collaboration between artists Robbie Coleman, Jo Hodges and Stuart Mclean.

Jan Hogarth, from Wide Open, said: “This is one of the most exciting art collaborations to happen in the landscape of Scotland this year […] Jo Hodges, Robbie Coleman and Stuart Mclean are a highly imaginative team and they are offering the chance to experience a whole alternative reality.”

The event will capture the region’s creative imagination and unveil the many senses of place within landscape. It is targeting both local and urban audiences, bringing them to the landscape of Galloway for an unforgettable experience. Hundreds of art and music enthusiasts are expected to come from far and wide to spend the night in the forest and take part in the event.

Robbie Coleman said: “The Dark Sky Park is an incredible place to spend the night, looking at the stars and listening to music that’s never been heard before. It’s an exciting place to create experimental work.”

Keith Muir, head of tourism for Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park, said "The Dark Outside FM event not only highlights the importance of darkness but will also help visitors and locals understand light and how it affects who and what we are. How often do you get a good reason to take a drive to the countryside in total darkness and listen to music? 

For the Dark Sky Park art is proving to be one of the best ways to communicate the importance of light and darkness, the Sanctuary of music and the space it creates is a very powerful instrument and Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park is delighted to be able to host this event and the growing number of art works. The visitors who come to be part of an event or see the art works all contribute to making the south west of Scotland the premier destination for environmental art which further enhances the new Unesco Biosphere status in the area".

Food and refreshments by the famous Moniaive Green Tea House will be available.

Commissions Open Call from EAFS

From EAFS

Ideas to change our world are wanted for three environmental artworks to be at the heart of a festival dedicated to better ways of living.

The organisers of the second Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS), scheduled for August 2015, are offering national and international artists the rare chance to be part of a major project all about transformational change.

EAFS is a rapidly growing biennial arts festival in Dumfries and Galloway and one of its central aims is to encourage practical thought and action on sustainable living. It’s also about creating experiences which will connect people more closely with the world around them.

The EAFS team is initially offering  research and development funding with a view to developing three main commissions – each worth between £10,000 and £15,000.

Jan Hogarth, EAFS Co-Producer, said: “Artists have an unrivalled ability to shape our ideas and spur our imaginations. We are confident that this offer will generate inspiring ideas from artists who want to seize the chance to help make a better world.

“In a society faced with challenges and threats at every turn, this festival is about using creativity for change.

“We are determined to give artists as much scope as possible – so the ideas they come up with could involve anything from installations, structures, visual art, design or architecture through to journeys, events or other happenings.

“The first festival was a tremendous success and sowed the seeds for a bigger event in 2015 which will once again put a national and international spotlight on the tremendous environmental art of Dumfries and Galloway.

“What’s just as important is that EAFS commissions have already been shown to help generate wider opportunities for artists, and that the festival is encouraging more people to see what a great place Dumfries and Galloway is to visit.”

Last year’s event showed the huge potential of EAFS as a festival and as an economic driver for a region which is ambitious to become Scotland’s home of environmental art. It attracted 4,000 visitors and earned more than £140,000 for the region.

Dundee-based international artists Dalziel + Scullion, who were involved in EAFS 2013, have voiced their support for the project.

Matthew Dalziel said: “Dumfries and Galloway is the centre for environmental art in the UK. The first EAFS was a significant event, it laid down a structure for future festivals, artists created new work, fostered connections, debated strategies, the festival revealed examples of good practice and highlighted role models.

“We are looking forward to the next festival, which will build momentum, developing an energy and excitement. It can turn plans into action, and it can nurture new groups and communities of thinking and proactive people. EAFS shows that through art and culture we can effect change and go forward positively and there are many opportunities to get involved.”

James Winnett, a young Scottish artist whose EAFS 2013 work The Rise and Fall of the Grey Mare’s Tail, involved the creation of a gravity-powered fountain using a forest waterfall, is now working on a Commonwealth Games legacy project with the Forestry Commission in Glasgow.

He said: “I’d really encourage artists to apply for these commissions. EAFS was a great experience for me. There was just the right level of support, without being restrictive – it was very enabling.

“When it came to applying for my current project, the EAFS work showed that I could create something that was ambitious, was a spectacle, that appealed to a lot of people but retained its artistic integrity.”

The festival has a series of intriguing themes and commissions will need to respond to one or more of these. They are:

·        Inventiveness, foolishness and generosity as a way of understanding the world

·        Food, clothes, shelter and environmental sustainability

·        Hospitality, hosting and community

·        Journeys, secular pilgrimage and transformation.

EAFS builds on the pedigree and projects and artists connected to Dumfries and Galloway such as Andy Goldsworthy's Striding Arches, Charles Jenck's Garden of Cosmic Speculation and Dalziel and Scullion's Rosnes Benches.

Wanted: Festival Project Manager for Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2015

From EAFS

Background

Environmental Art Festival Scotland (EAFS) is a biennial arts festival in Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland. The inaugural EAFS happened in late summer 2013 and was produced by three leading arts organisations working in partnership: Wide Open, Spring Fling and The Stove Network. Key to the success of EAFS is collaborative and cross-disciplinary working. The EAFS team in 2013 worked with local, national and international artists, designers, producers and local communities to commission, curate, fund, co-fund and produce over 30 installations, exhibitions, talks, workshops around the themes of land, environment, and sustainability. EAFS has grown out of a long-term ambition for Dumfries & Galloway to become the international home for environmental art building on the pedigree and projects and artists connected to the region such as Andy Goldsworthy’s Striding Arches, Charles Jenck’s Garden of Cosmic Speculation and Dalziel and Scullion’s Rosnes Bench. EAFS 2015 will happen in a location in Dumfries and Galloway over 28, 29, 30 August.

About the Post

The Festival Project Manager will play an integral role in the success and development of the 2015 festival. We are looking for someone with both experience and passion – experience of arts project management, festival and events, fundraising and a passion for environmental art, design and sustainability. The initial appointment is part-time for a seven-month period, however the intention is that this will develop into a 4 (or more) days a week position between March – September 2015 with potential for this to continue beyond EAFS 2015 (subject to funding and performance of the successful candidate). This is a new post and the successful candidate will be responsible for developing and shaping the role and funding for the post in line with the ambitions of the festival and the team.
Terms

Employment will be on a self-employed basis for seven-months (with a review at three-months). It is anticipated the approximate time required initially will be 2 days per week between September 2014 – January 2015 and 3 days per week between Februarys – March 2015. This will be extended and increased through fundraising, which will happen between September 2014 and January 2015.

Fee

£5580 (62 days @ £90 per day between September 2014 and March 2015: approximately 8 days a month September – January and 12 days per month February and March 2015)

How to Apply & Interview Process

Covering letter, CV, two referees to be sent to info@environmentalartfestivalscotland.com (FAO Leah Black) Application deadline 5pm on 15th August 2014
Interviews will happen in Dumfries on Thursday 21st August (shortlisted applicants will be notified of their interview time by 5pm Monday 18th August)
Start date w/b Monday 8th September 2014
Download the full job description here

Please get in touch with Leah Black (Director, Spring Fling and Co-producer, EAFS) with any questions on info@environmentalartfestivalscotland.com or 01387 213 218

Electric Theatre Workshop take on Prague

Electric Theatre Workshop have taken their spectacular Blood Orange to the international stage as part of the 13th Prague Fringe Festival. Amazing work guys!

One reviewer described the show as a 'punch in the face, power and painful...which demands your attention throughout', and international audiences were treated to 60 minutes worth of the Dumfries accent, which included some of the region's top acting talent.

Blood Orange. Photo credits: Colin Tennant

It’s yet another success for the Award winning company - under the leadership of the Artistic Director, Graham Main who are emerging as one of the top companies in Scotland.

The play documents a real event in Dumfries history – when the Scottish Defence League came to town to object an increase in accommodation to the Mosque on the Annan Road. The play was written last Summer to reflect a moment in our changing social environment.

Originally a commission for the first Environmental Arts Festival Scotland – the piece was created by Electric Theatre Workshop as a way to document the shifting change in the political landscape, and rise of the right wing in modern Britain.

The play will now take centre stage at Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Summerhall venue where it will run for one month.

Graham Main, Artistic Director of the company who created the piece said,

“Given the recent rise of the right wing in the European elections, and the media obsession with UKIP, the play questions just what we define as prejudice, and what we don’t. It doesn’t offer us an opinion to follow, simply that our world is changing, and that here in Dumfries & Galloway – we have a story to share with the world. It is brilliant to think that international audiences are starting to connect with Dumfries in this way"

Artists at Region's Forest Festival

Next weekend sees the Galloway Forest Easter Festival - which includes a number of special walks led by artists and writers - details of other events at the festival here

Friday 11^th April at 2.00pm - Walk from Glentrool Visitor Centre with Jan Hogarth to see and experience Rosnes Bench by artists Dalziel and Sculllion.

One of the Rosnes Benches by Dalziel and Scullion

Rosnes Bench is a multiple installation of sculptural multiples of benches designed by Scottish ecological artists, Dalziel and Scullion, to help people stop, be still and tune in to nature. The benches are located in special places in the landscape and designed to stimulate the senses where you can listen to a roaring river or look up at the canopy of trees.

Quorum (detail) by Matt Baker. Photo by Phil McMenemy

Saturday 12^th April at 2.00pm (meet at Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre Car Park) – Dumfries and Galloway’s well known sculptor Matt Baker and writer David Borthwick will take people on a walk to experience his 'Quorum' a mystical sculpture in the heart of the Forest. The walk will also take in Colin Rose's 'The Eye', Murray Monument and discuss the past and future of this changing landscape. Come prepared for 1.5 hr walk on rough footpaths.

The Eye by Colin Rose

Clatteringshaws

Sunday 13th April at 2.00pm Jan Hogarth and David Borthwick will take visitors on a walk to experience the Rosnes Banches at Clatteringshaws - exploring the man-made landscape 

Sunday 13^th April at 2.00pm Matt Baker will take visitors on a repeat of the guided walk described above for Saturday 12th including his sculpture Quorum, leaving from Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre car park. Come prepared for 1.5 hr walk on rough footpaths.

Quorum (detail) by Matt Baker

Monday 14^th April at 2.00pm Writer David Borthwick will take visitors on a walk to experience the Rosnes Benches at Kirroughtree helping people to tune in to nature.

The Archivist at Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2013. Photo by Colin Hattersley

Dumfries and Galloways Environmental art Archivist will be on hand throughout the festival located at the visitor centres between 12 and 4pm to show visitors the environmental art ideas he has been collecting from artists. This is a unique performance for all ages to enjoy. The Archivist will be at the following venues:

Friday 11th April - Glentrool from 12 - 4pm

Sunday 13th April - Clatteringshaws from 12am - 4pm

Monday 14th Kirroughtree - from 12am - 4.00pm 

Land Art Generator - Competition in Copenhagen

from Mike Bonaventura

The 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative, in partnership with Refshaleøen Holding and our other project partners, calls on artists and designers to submit proposals for a pragmatic art installation for the design site at Refshaleøen, located across the water from the iconic Little Mermaid Statue. 

More info here:

http://landartgenerator.org/designcomp/

Auchencairn's Sea Monster Returns to the Deep

A new addition to The Commonty inbox this week - Solway Firth Partnership have a shiny new Newsletter:

One of their headline items is news of the Sea Monster created by Alice Francis and Rosie Giblin at Red Haven shore near Auchencairn. The Sea Monster was commissioned by Solway Firth Partenership and featured in Environmental Art Festival Scotland 2013.

The Sea Monster survived until the recent big storms and became a popular feature which also drew attention to the amounts of rubbish in our seas.

Read about the project and see a short film made by students from 3 European countries who also helped out with the Sea Monster

Creative Dumfries pipped to the Post

A big congratulations to Helmsdale, Peebles and Falkirk who were this week announced as Scotland's Creative Places for 2014, more details on the winners here. Unfortunately that does mean that the Creative Dumfries team lost out this year, however they have uploaded the short film produced to support the bid online, which is pretty inspirational in itself. Better luck next time Doonhamers!

 

Creative Dumfries from The Stove on Vimeo.

Environmental Art Festival Scotland - looking to 2015

Momentum is building behind the next EAFS last night 30+ people who had been part of the first festival met at The Stove (some travelling from Glasgow and Edinburgh) to talk about the first festival and think about how to build ideas for the second EAFS in 2015.

Hard thinking at The Stove last night

The consensus is that the festival should be something that is an evolving artwork itself - and continue to be an expression of the diversity of activity around the way we live with the land in D+G.

If you have anything you would like to contribute - be it feedback from the first EAFS or thoughts about future festivals please get in touch at info@environmentalartfestivalscotland.com

Marfa - Art, Climate Change and Environmental Activism

Shared from Switchboard (National Resources Defense Council blog)

In 1970, the artist Robert Rauschenberg created a poster for the first Earth Day, a bold image of a bald eagle superimposed atop photos of environmental destruction—a simple collage, and yet a powerful, visceral call to action. Art, as Rauschenberg knew, has the power to move people, often in ways that science, law or politics cannot.

Earth Day, 1970. Lithograph and chine collé on paper, 521/2 x 371/2 inches
From an edition of 50 published by Gemini G.E.L. and The American Environment Foundation (Art © Robert Rauschenberg and Gemini G.E.L./ Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY)
While art and the environment have long been intertwined, the connection between our communities today is not as visible as it could, or should be. And when it comes to battling today’s most pressing environmental issue--climate change--we need to use every tool at our disposal, to have every community using its own strengths to push solutions. Visual artists have a critical role to play in this battle. Last week, NRDC President Frances Beinecke sat down with artist Maya Lin, as part of the Marfa Dialogues New York, to talk about connecting art, climate and environmental activism.

Frances Beinecke and Maya Lin in conversation at MARFA Dialogues in New York

Both Frances, who joined NRDC as an intern in 1973, and Maya, who made her name in the art world while still a college undergraduate with her design for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, came to their careers as passionate lovers of nature; and both women, advocate and artist alike, are surprisingly similar in their informed, data-driven approach to their work.
Lin’s latest work, What is Missing?—which will be her last memorial— is an exploration of extinction and habitat destruction, through videos, personal stories, an interactive map and multiple art installations. The project, still in progress, is exhaustively researched and science-based, yet by using images, sound, and interaction, Lin makes a vast and diffuse problem seem intimate and personal.

"Unchopping a Tree" from Maya Lin’s What is Missing? Image courtesy of the artist.

The artist’s ability to engage people, to evoke emotion, provoke dialogue, and inspire a vision of a better future, can be a critical tool in the climate fight. We at NRDC have a formidable army of scientists, lawyers and policy experts, as well as 1.4 million passionate and motivated supporters. But we sometimes fall short in creating dialogues with people whom we don’t normally reach—and that is perhaps what art does best. It’s a forum of expression that engages people, invites them in and encourages them to form their own conclusions. Art can spur people to action because it makes them feel it’s the right thing to do, not just because the experts say so. Artists can convey an emotional urgency in a way that environmentalists often can not.
When Rauschenberg created his Earth Day poster, environmental issues were discrete and immediate. Dying eagles. Rivers on fire. And environmental advocates tackled these problems one issue at a time, often with great success. Climate change is a different sort of beast, however, complex in effect and global in scale. It is a problem that we can solve, but not through legal briefs or policy blueprints alone, and not if we are working in isolation. Solving climate change is an all-hands-on-deck effort. If more of those hands come from the art world, with the talent and ability to reach out, engage and inspire, the faster we can start making changes to stabilize our climate and preserve the health of our planet for future generations.

GI Programme 2014 Announced

GI (Glasgow International)'s programme for next years festival has been announced this week. Running from the 4th to the 21st of April next year, 'showcasing the best of local and international art for wide ranging audiences,' this year under the new directorship of Sarah McCrory. 

Milk Bar by Open Jar Collective at Environmental Art Festival Scotland

We are also quite excited to hear that Open Jar Collective (of the Milk Bar that popped up in Cairnsmore of Fleet and Gatehouse over the EAFS festival weekend) are taking part in the 2014 festival, who will be presenting Broth Mix, a mixed media gallery and cafe in the Kinning Park Complex. To see the rest of the programme head to the GI website

Tidemark on Annan TV

Local social enterprise channel Annandale TV has produced a short piece about the Tidemark poetry project that took place in Powfoot as part of the Environmental Arts Festival - head to their website here to get a flavour of the event if you missed it during the Annandale and Eskdale Satellite Weekend

Stills from the Annan TV short film

Voices from the Phone Box lands at the Book Festival

From Katie Anderson
Part sculptural installation, part audio collection, Voices from the Phone Box was initially commissioned as part of the EAFS shindig that took over our region last month. 

Now the project has relocated to Wigtown as part of the Wigtown Book Festival, and has taken up residence in two phone boxes, one in Bladnoch, the other in Causeway End. There is also an exchange point for the two boxes tucked away in the mysterious Time Machine - a separate installation work that has seen part of the County Buildings transformed into a space age portal to the future.

The work seeks to engage with that forgotten cultural artefact, the K6 red telephone box - vanishing into and from hedgerows across the country.

Conversations gathered reveal intimate relationships with place - personal histories intertwined with the everyday. 

Pause for a moment, and listen.

"I Belong 
Wigtown. Port William. Whithorn. Newton Stewart. Sorbie. Mochrum. Elrig. Windy Hill.  Garlieston. Isle of Whithorn. 


Bearded Ham. Something primal. Traffic Lights. Invisible people. Hairdressers. I was ay’ wantin t be a l’rry driver. Mountains of Mourne. 

The flying butcher. Magic Hour. The kindness of folk.  There was always plenty o’ work. It’s all gone no’. BOS 648. Still living in the past here. A modern life. I never even knew Whithorn existed... 


I’ll never be a local."

Thank you to everyone who has given me some time in the past few weeks to contribute a voice for the work, without you it would be meaningless.
For more information please head to my blog 

The Lie of the Land

The Lie of the Land

tonight Friday 27^th September at 7pm at the Fullarton Theatre, Castle Douglas

Eighteen young teenagers, a poet and a film maker spent three days finding out about the wonderful landscapes of the National Scenic Areas.

Hear from the teenagers about the project and watch their response to the people they met and the things they discovered in a short film by John Wallace. A booklet of their creative writing, developed with Jackie Galley, has been produced and will also be available.

Screened as part of Environmental Art Festival Scotland

Summerhill Land Art Project - The Results

Summerhill Community Group and the Base Youth Group launched the second phase of their Land Art project at the weekend as part of the Nithsdale Satellite weekend for EAFS. If you didn't make it at the weekend, here's a taster of the exciting things going on there...they are doing some really impressive things so if you are out and about in Dumfropolis make sure you check out their progress so far!

Nithsdale EAFS Weekend - Oranges, Flowers, Bings, Coos and more Flowers

The mighty #BloodOrange received its world premier at Chancers nightclub in Dumfries

Wildflowers were all around at the Open Day for the new community LandArt project in Summerhill, Dumfries

A' the Airts arranged a site visit to the land reclamation project at Crawick that sees the transformation of the bings left by open-cast mining operations

Sailing boats raced over the mudflats of the Nith Estuary from Carsethorn to the centre of Dumfries to claim the honour of dunking the Salty Cow

Still brushing the flowers from his hair living legend Robin Williamson played at Dalswinton Village hall

Check out full details from the weekend here