Latest articles for Inverness Old Town Project
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Creativity, colour, craziness…fun!
by Inverness Old Town Art 21 Feb 2010
Growing up in Inverness, I’m fairly sure these were not words I would have used to describe my hometown. Maybe it was just the compulsory apathy of adolescence, the fact that it wasn’t cool to actually like where you’re from, but moving back four years later, there is a definite sense of something here that didn’t used to be. The Highlands is a place where people come to be outdoors, to climb the hills and take a gulp of pure air, but it seems that now there may be other ways to blow away the cobwebs. Philosophy sessions, public tea parties, wool wrapped monuments…something small but fundamental is taking place here…and it’s changing the character of old ‘Sneck in ways that many of us could at one time have only hoped for.
It only makes sense really. The Highlands has some of the most inspiring landscapes in the world. Wild and untethered, this is a place where imaginations have the space to run free. Ours is a land laid bare – honest and elemental, here you can watch the colours changing over the hills and reflected in the lochs, can see the weather coming over the wide open spaces, can feel your mood being directly affected by the quality of the light. It has both drama and subtlety, stunning visuals and a full palette of emotions that trigger a primeval human urge for creativity. It’s an artist’s dream, and there’s no reason why the concrete corners of the city can’t be as much a wonderland as the wilderness.
And maybe this is exactly why a bunch of like-minded folk gathered on the 8th floor of a multi-storey car park one freezing December evening to lend support to Inverness’s latest creative enterprise. The ‘Getting Up’ project, organized by Inverness Old Town Art and using the talent of artists and project pros from all over Scotland, has taken the town’s empty shop windows and, as with its previous projects, turned them into something vibrant, quirky and positive. As one of the main venues for the event, the ex Video Drive-In was transformed from static vacancy to a hubbub of colour and creavity. Mike Inglis’ ‘Garden of Eden’ display turned many heads with its futuristic rendition of ‘The Fall’ whilst Hilary Grant and Mahala Le May’s glowing naturalistic shapes added some enchantment to the window sill. Inflatable Monster dusted off some old archival footage of Inverness, projected it for all to see once again and put a funky twist on some interesting characters that can still be seen on the walls of the Rose Street car park. Round the corner, Janie Nicoll jazzed up the old Harry Gow with some clever text work and the multi-storey became the home of Yuck ‘n’ Yum’s ‘Turn Your Blu Tooth On’ techno-art. The spirit of this project is the idea of considering these spaces not as urban blips or sad reminders of a past that will never return but instead as blank canvases ready to be used in forward thinking and provocative ways.
Despite the odd icicle clinking under the nostrils there was a determined sense of fun and camaraderie that night as we watched musicians in alcoves, wandered the streets to admire the artwork, sipped at a hot brew and waited expectantly outside the ‘9p Op’ for our weird and wonderful tombola prizes from the fabulous NOWNOW girls before going for a well earned tipple. One good ol’ knees up later, complete with impassioned sing song and banjo rendition of Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ and we were a room full of happy folk…
Now on my errands in town, every time I see a flash of colour on a building wall or the line of a poem engraved in stone, I think of the possibilities and am reminded that there is a very important undercurrent of inventiveness in need of greater exposure, an underlying buzz that just needs to be more keenly tapped in to, harnessed and celebrated. We just need to be encouraged to come out of our shells a bit, to know it’s ok to let out our inner nutter. We need to make terms like yarn-bombing part of our vocab and as much a part of the scenery as the bens and glens. We need a certain degree of beautiful madness in order to fully express ourselves, to fully exist – just look how it brings us together… Hallelujah indeed.
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Hello from a new recruit
by Inverness Old Town Art 15 Feb 2010
I’ll just take a wee minute to introduce myself as the new blogger for Inverness Old Town Art.
I’m a recent film and media graduate who decided to swerve off the beaten track and move back up to the ‘northern wilderness’ that is the Highlands. Fortunately it didn’t take long to come into contact with a lovely group of people whose job it is to think outside the box…
I’ve been helping out at IOTA for a couple of months now and it’s a great feeling to be involved in such a forward thinking, creative project that is making a big difference on a city that deserves to not be ignored in terms of art and to really be all it can be. Here’s to the future!
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Where Soul Meets Body
by Sarah Grant 24 Oct 2009
Tasked with reflecting on RE: IMAGINING THE CENTRE 2009 in this month’s blog I seem to be suffering from what they must call ‘writers block’! My issue is not being a lack of material to blog about, but in fact the entire opposite – too much! Where do I begin?! So I have today taken myself to a café in Leith [my new locale] in an attempt to get some caffeine motivation and jog down all my memories….
So double shot Latte in hand…. here I go….
RE: IMAGINING begun on a exceptionally windy Tuesday – I was still working here in Edinburgh – but was getting updates throughout the day from those involved and monitoring comments starting to appear on the IOTA social networking sites. As Jen & Annie [Sundog’s] began to take over the old town with red wool, I received updates of wild weather, flying pom poms and old ladies clinging to lamp-posts! Sounded insane but already people were commenting on the ‘red’ takeover of the city; “Church Street was looking great this morning!”
Day 2 [Wednesday 9th] – the graffiti artists arrive into town * cue cowboy western music *. They loaded up their spray cans and strutted down Baron-Taylor Street and set upon their attack. Meanwhile elsewhere in the city artist Ginny Hutchison was on a Willy Wonka style crusade covering locations in gold-leaf for the ‘lucky’ public to find as part of the Seven Sunsets project.
That evening I made my way en-route to the Highlands, excited for the days ahead……
On Thursday evening, philosophical debate was on the menu. I was invited to attend The Philosophers Salon, held at Leakeys Bookshop, with many of the original philosophers present. The original 2007 debate was used to steer lead artist Matt Baker’s decision-making process when selecting the cities three virtues Insight, Perseverance and Open-Heartedness were the chosen ones]. Two years on and had Matt selected wisely? Were these virtues evident amongst our community today? These were a couple of the questions raised. Community and social inclusion was a prevalent topic throughout the evening [our own open-heartedness to new cultures in the city] and the need to embrace the change to the Highland community; being less concerned about where people came from but more accepting to the reality that we are all different and should rejoice in this fact. The importance of public art and spaces was also examined and its contribution to the quality of life ideals for our community – reminding some of the councillors present of its relevance to our city and the planning process. Perseverance seemed to be the culminating topic of debate in regards to how the city could continue to diligently move forward.
Where should we go from here? Particularly if perseverance is the virtue we have selected to abide to…..
As the week progressed regional and national press had began to pick up on the happenings, triggering a debate on the various online and offline mediums. With debate being a key objective for the RE: IMAGINING event the ball was evidently rolling………
By Friday debate was still rousing, on the streets and in the media, and it therefore seemed a fitting time for the Clanjamfrey to begin. The Clanjamfrey was a two day debate where invited speakers were to act as catalysts, introducing a topic before extending the dialogue to the floor, covering issues such as our cities heritage, religion, creativity and identity – leading on nicely, I thought, from Thursday’s philosophy debate.
There was lively debate and people from around Britain brought their own expertise and experience to bear on our beloved Sneckie it was only a shame that few local artists had taken up the opportunity to attend these debates – it felt like a missed opportunity for them to get their voices heard, and having sat in on the discussions that day that the content of the seminars would have been particularly relevant to many.
Friday evening I ventured into the Victorian Market with friends to experience ‘Big Fat Electric’ in the ‘Secret Life of the Victorian Market’ project – in which the cities Victorian shopping arcade was re-opened in the early evening for those quick enough to obtain the limited tickets. I attended the later showing [10pm] and it was a rather surreal experience to be standing in this familiar shopping venue but in an entirely different context – i.e. electronic music and projections. The bizarre circumstance made the attendees, including me, more reserved than the norm and perhaps if we should have been encouraged or instructed to dance, explore, participate a bit more. All the ingredients were certainly in place…….beautiful music, a quirky location, stunning installations and projections – but it felt like we were all waiting for someone to make a move, break out into dance and unfortunately nobody did. Maybe it was the introverted nature of us Highlanders that held us back?
Whisky! That’s maybe what was missing……
Saturday for me was catching the start of Neville Gabies lecture – part Deux of the Clanjamfrey – at the Cathedral and running back to a busy Church Street to meet with the local radio presenters whom were covering the events live on the street. The ICA magazine team had put on a special RE: IMAGINING event in Hootenanny’s as part of their own counter-culture movement ‘Le Parade Noir’ which involved Manga Anime projections and a customised play-list for people to enjoy. The good weather actually played havoc with the projections meaning the event was taken indoors due to too much sun! I caught the tail-end of the Amy Marletta dance troupe which attracted a large crowd, and as the sun continued to shine it was fantastic to see an amass of people exploring the displays around the city. The graffiti, now complete, looked fantastic and was gaining much praise from passer-bys. I took a group of my friends along to the Church Street graveyard to see the ‘infamous’ graveyard cosies by Sundogs which seemed all that more strikingly ‘red’ in the glare of the sun!
Saturday evening was one of my particular highlights of the week with Dan Norton’s ‘Ablab’ projections and music beamed out onto the walls of Church Street. In the crisp autumnal air, we stood that evening on the street gazing up. A mixture of RE: IMAGINING spectators and city revellers stopped in their tracks to see the gradually changing images projected onto the buildings. To finish the evening we experienced the eclectic collaboration of artist collective GANGHUT and our own local muso Jeep Solid, taking to the ganghut-assembled stage and rocking out Church Street as we all danced along.
I had a few moments on Saturday night where I felt almost emotional with the realisation that three years had passed from the original IMAGINING the Centre 2006, where IOTA really began. Our very much missed colleague and friend – public art co-ordinator Evi Westmore – who was sadly taken from us in 2007, would have been so utterly thrilled with what was taking place in the city this week and what has transpired over the past three years. The city has certainly had ambition with the major streetscaping regeneration and the IOTA projects of past. Looking back to my original blog on PAR-RS it’s amazing to me what has been achieved over the years; and whether people loved or loathed each project….things were happening! Artists and community members that may have not worked together have as an outcome formed strong relationships. The city has been reformed with new street furniture, works and public art. And make no mistake there is still a lot that needs done, but its progress in a relatively short space of time.
So where does the IOTA project go from here? Who or what will spur the movement on so that the city can continue on its ambitious crusade to make its voice heard amongst the international arts community? From my own studies last year into urban culture the key findings were that events and cultural celebrations were great tools to generate civic pride but in regards to legacy development, the importance of supporting the local creative industries out-with these events, is vital so that they can take lead on the cities cultural growth. Previous research highlights that the top-down management approach of governmental authorities can exclude the consensus of the community, and therefore community-led advancement seems in most cases to be the most beneficial route.
“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” [Andy Warhol]
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RE:IMAGINING Reflections
by Sarah Grant 17 Oct 2009
“Quite honestly have never felt as welcomed and well looked after as I did in Inverness. Everyone was very kind and the hospitality was fantastic from colleagues and strangers alike. I loved the experience and with Neville Gabies talk I left feeling inspired" Mike Inglis, Street Artist in RE:IMAGINING
“A nice way to get acquainted with Inverness. I will always put the place and that experience together forever now!” Amy Marletta, Artist in RE:IMAGINING“I was very honoured to, i guess, be a part of it, and took great delight in becoming infamous as ‘that girl that’s painted on the side of mania’! It became a new favourite after ‘the girl with tattoos’" Zarina Ainslie [local hairdresser] – painted by artist Kirsty Whiten.
“What you guys are doing is awesome, well inspiring stuff” RE:IMAGINING Facebook Follower
“Loving Church Street this morning!” RE:IMAGINING Facebook Follower
“IOTA has made it into the big time, next step New York in wool” RE:IMAGINING Facebook Follower“I think this is a really forward thinking project and is something that Aberdeen City Council as well as the little people like myself have been given something to think about” Anon – Aberdeen Arts Blog
“You’ve got people doing what art is supposed to do, start a debate” Mark MacLachlan – Regional Constituency Manager
for Michael Russell MSP“Art and artists have a pivotal role to play in the development of the city and that this positive influence is beginning to be felt in the Highland capital" Georgina Coburn – Hi-Arts 2009
“[RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRE] brought a lot of heart to the Highland capital, not to mention the attention of the wider world” – Jan Patience [Freelance Art Critic]
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DIY Knit your own 12ft gravestone cosy - written by Sundogs
by Inverness Old Town Art 4 Sep 2009
DIY knit your own 12ft celtic cross gravestone cosy
Bottom plinth h 103cm x d 56cm x w183cm (bottom) w 60cm (top)
one piece w 50cm x L 476
140 needles x 1200 rows
sew – wrap around plinth + sew width edges togetherSecond plinth h 103cm x d 56cm x w 83cm top (base 60cm) x d 43cm
Side panels – 2 panels w 56cm x L 103cm decreasing to 43cm
156 needles x 515 rows decreasing to finish on 120 needles (dec 2 needles either side every 100 rows)
Front + back panels (5 sections each side)
A – 2 pieces w16cms x L 98cms
44 needles x 490 rows
B- 1 piece w 16cms x L 60cms
44 needles x 300 rows
C – 1 piece w 16cms x L 83cms
44 needles x 415 rows
D – 1 piece w 51cms x L 98 decreasing to finish at w 28cm
142 needles x 490 rows decreasing to 78 needles (dec 2 needles either side every 30 rows)
sew – taking D as the central panel sew B to shortest width edge leaving equal overlap at both ends, sew C to longest width edge leaving equal overlap at both ends, sew both A pieces to both Length edges and sew B overlap to A either side and C overlap to A either side. B is now the top edge of the enlarged panel and C is the bottom
sew front to side to back to side, wrap around plinth + sew remaining side edge together to close.
sew bottom edges to the top edges on the base plinthCentral column h 135cm x w 41cm base (32 cm top) x d 25 cm base (22cm top)
A – 2 pieces w 25cm x L 135 cm
70 needles x 690 rows
B – 2 pieces w 41cm w x L 135 cm (decreasing to 32 cm)
114 needles x 690 rows decreasing to finish 88 needles ( dec 2 needles either side every 100 rows)
sew – A to B to A to B along Length edges, wrap around column and sew remaining side edges together to close.
sew bottom edges to top edges of 2nd plinthTop section Celtic Cross
cross front + back
2 horizontal panels w 24cm x L 79cm
66 needles x 395 rows
2 vertical panels w 32cm x L 83 cm decreasing to finish 28cm
88 needles x 415 rows decreasing to finish on 78 needles ( dec 2 needles either side every 75 rows
sew – horizontal over vertical
2 circles diameter 66cms
184 needles knit till square iron onto interfacing + cut into shape
sew – circle over cross shape making sure both are centred together
cross side sections
A – 1 piece h 39 needles x w 110 rows
B – 2 pieces h 32 needles x w 110 rows
C – 4 pieces h 34 needles x w 110 rows
D – 4 pieces h 13 needles x w 110 rows
E – 2 pieces h 34 needles x w 110 rows
sew – sew along width edges working from bottom left of the cross shape in a clockwise direction
C to D to E to D to C to B to A (very top) to B to C to D to E to D to C
sew in place on cross with A corresponding to cross vertical panel top, and both E’s corresponding with cross horizontal panel ends.
sew cross bottom edges to top edges of central column.
well done – go home – have a cup of tea :) -
Organic Boneyards, Pom-Poms and Postal Strikes
by Sarah Grant 2 Sep 2009
Its now only 7 days [gulp!] until RE: IMAGINING THE CENTRE kicks off and for all those involved the preparation has been hectic and at times eventful!
Fresh from Edinburgh Festivals ROUGH CUT NATION exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, highland based street art duo DUFI [Fin Macrae & Alistair MacInnes] headed north on Monday with their ROUGH CUT posse which included street artists Richie Cumming, Martin McGuinness, Mike Inglis and Kirsty Whiten. They were in town to peruse their canvas a.k.a. the streets of the Old Town.
Having checked out the area to ‘take over’ next week for RE: IMAGINING, they were able to envision planned modes of graffiti-style attack on our cities facades.
Mike emailed me with some of his plans and without giving away too much he mentioned one particular area being “ripe for lots of small dead things….like an organic boneyard” !
Kirsty has been photographing some of our local ladies for her graffiti work which will involve “women marching, armed with spoons and whisks and knitting needles and plastic spades….onwards and upwards!”. From 2006’s ‘vive le cakes’ revolution to 2009’s house-wife revolution! A domestic revolt perhaps?
And from knitting needles to knitting machines….Jennifer Cantwell and Annie Marrs, who make up the artistic combo ‘SUNDOGS’, seem to have been knitting for 24 hour loops for the past month or so in preparation for YARNBOMBING. Jen’s latest update on their knitting preparations included “40 knitted arrows, 3 knitted red dresses, 50 crotchet roses, 3 tree jumpers, MANY pom poms, 2 gravestone cosies and a red knitted sea….”. I suspect a repetitive strain injury is looming….
Ginny Hutchison, who is the artist behind the ‘Seven Sunsets’ project for next week, has been abiding by our cities own virtue ‘perseverance’ this week it seems; with much of the work required needing to be carried out outdoors, it seems the good old Scottish weather has made this somewhat difficult this week. Ginny has been at the mercy of the highland climate and on the odd dry occasion emerging out to make progress. To add to her drama a postal strike in England has meant that the gold leaf required for her creations were not shipped up on time, and having just spoken with Ginny today it seems they now are at last shipped and delivered…however this time to a random address in Manchester!
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The Red Sea - written by Sundogs
by Inverness Old Town Art 31 Aug 2009
Knitted blanket – 210 square feet and growing, what started as a carpet is now becoming the sea, an autistic red sea overflowing its space and flooding down the street, it’ll wrap you up on the way + swallow you whole. Back forth back forth back forth, its mesmerising the way it grows + curls, every-so-often we stop + move the weights up, then crshhhhhhh crshhhhhhh crshhhhhhhh crshhhhhhhh getting into the rhythm + working up a heat, our knitting arms newly defined, waistlines twisting into shape – Sundogs exercise video – Knit yourself fit… out soon!
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Go the RED - by Sundogs
by Inverness Old Town Art 28 Aug 2009
Forwards backwards forwards backards forwards backwards…. a prehistoric knitting machine, all dials + knobs that go CLUNK, rescued from Freecycle and refurbished by us through trial, error + gritted teeth. A huge pile of red wool in the corner, dwindling now the growing pile of completed pieces in the other corner starts to cast its shadow. Straggling castoffs + rejects trailing paths over surfaces + floors, fibres mix with living + red is everywhere, breathed in + sneezed out.
This is our take on Yarnbombing, alfresco knitted graffiti, this is guerilla knitting. Chosen colour – red – bright acid red that oscillates out of the corner of our eyes.
There was a reason for all of this but now our brains are so numbed with the forward backward forward backward forward backwards of it, we cant remember the why and the only way to get through the how, is to turn the music up way loud + dance it.
Back forth back forth back forth …. Go. The. Red. -
Yarnbomb by Sundogs
by Inverness Old Town Art 28 Aug 2009
Yarnbomb by Sundogs.
Sundogs are Jennifer Cantwell + Annie MarrsYarnbombing is an act of guerilla knitting. It is part of an international movement against consumerism and mass production. It promotes regeneration, recycling, low impact local production and involves networks of independent artists, designer/makers and crafters who use traditional handskills to produce public, non-commercial, knitted graffiti which fuses art, craft and design to make a political statement.
Sundogs have embraced that ethos and given it our own slant which is a reclamation of public space, we are using the concept of wrapping public space in knitting as a way of giving that space a personal identity that has a relationship with the townspeople on an individual level, that in its turn gives ownership of that space to the person seeing it, as it imbues it with ideas, feelings and personal memories which are evoked by the material.
We are using red as it is the colour of life, love + emphasis. We are creating an arterial life-line that runs the full length of one street, running off down narrow alleys + circling in open spaces, creating a connection between people, places and experiences, past present and future.
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Poem for BIG FAT ELECTRIC Project - written by Catriona Lexy Campbell
by Sarah Grant 22 Aug 2009
Poem written for RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRES – Big Fat Electric – project. Written by Gaelic writer and actress Catrina Lexy Cambpell and will be recorded by Big Fat Electric’s Dave Martin.
[Gaelic Version]
Mo shùilean làn fosgailte,
meadhan sluagh na margaid,
cho aithnicht’ an t-àite
ged nach robh mi riamh ann.
Mìltean de dhaoine
a’ coiseachd gach taobh dhiom,
uilinnean, glùinean,
corragan gam shuathadh.
Fad-anail faisgeas,
cho èiginneach milis,
a-rithist ’s a-rithist ’s a-rithist.Tha iad gam thogail
s gam ghreasdainn air adhart,
corp an-deidh corp
le neart ioma-ghaoith.
M’ òrdagan, òirleach a-nise bhon rathad,
ruisgt’ agus tuathail
is leth-ghàir’ air m’ aghaidh,
tha mi laighe sìos air mo dhruim.Tro shràidean na margaid
gu briseadh na maidne –
mo bheatha-dùsgadh na adhbhar cadail –
cho àraid an t-àite
ro luath dol à sealladh
far an sìn mi air làmhan is cinn.[English Version]
My eyes wide open,
middle of the market crowd,
so familiar the place
though I’ve never been here.
Thousands of people walking
each side of me.
elbows, knees, fingers brushing me.
Breath-long closeness,
so achingly sweet,
again and again and again.They lift me and hurry me on,
body after body,
with the strength of a gale.
My toes, now an inch from the road,
exposed and dizzy
and a half-smile on my face,
I lie down on my back.Through the market streets
to the break of morning –
my waking-life is a reason for sleeping –
so strange the place
too quick disappearing
where I can stretch on hands and heads -
Artist Gathering & Event Update
by Sarah Grant 16 Aug 2009
RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRE’s Event Manager Lindsey Dunbar updates us on what’s been going on with the event planning for this Septembers event:
" With most of the artists dispersed across Scotland this summer for numerous exhibitions and events it was a real treat to gather everyone together this week to finally introduce the team and the artists to each other.
Local graffiti Artists Al MacInnes and Fin Macrae have been down in Edinburgh opening a show at the National Portrait gallery, visual artist John McGeoch was installing work at the Tartan Heart Music Festival at Belladrum and collaborative group Ganghut had been very busy preparing for a show in Dundee so to get most of the artists together was an achievement!
Nestled in the warmth of Hootanannys, one of the favourite establishments in the old town of Inverness, we introduced ourselves and explained a little more about each individual project. With most projects well underway it was a great chance for everyone to ask questions and realise where we could be working together. Also, a couple of other exciting developments, ideas for some ‘extra’ events which might surprise people over the course of the Reimagining the Centre weekend! Watch this space as things develop! "
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RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRE 2009 - What it entails....
by Sarah Grant 10 Aug 2009
Lately I have been busy, along with the co-ordinators, pulling together information required for RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRE to inform the public of what projects will be taking place throughout the six day event and thought it would be useful to display some of this information in the blog to give you readers an overview of what’s coming to the city, so here goes….
Here’s a taste of what’s to come!……
RE-IMAGINING THE CENTRE [08.09 – 13.09]In 2006 the art project ‘Imagining the Centre’ sparked a unique relationship between artists, local people and the changing shape of the city of Inverness. Now the newly formed public spaces will be filled with creative life and energy in a celebration of the Old Town’s emerging potential as a open air venue for high quality contemporary art. Re-Imagining the Centre is a multi-dimensional artwork comprising Sculpture, street art, projection, music, art happenings, and a sequence of special events appearing unexpectedly on the streets of Inverness.
LIST OF PROJECTS:
1. YARNBOMB – Sundogs
Yarnbombing is an act of guerilla knitting. It is part of an international movement against consumerism and mass production…
Sundogs put the cosy into civic as an affirmation of public space in their home city.
Jen Cantwell and Annie Marrs are Sundogs – Jen is a textile artist, running the acclaimed ‘sporran nation’ and Annie is an installation artist also active in theatre and community arts.
2. SEVEN SUNSETS – Ginny Hutchison
Seven uncelebrated corners of the city are invited to shine with the application of gold leaf picking out the path of the sun over the space. The carefully documented story of this project and its influence on the people who use the spaces can be found at the IOTA HQ along with a map of the seven locations
Ginny Hutchison is an artist currently based at the Glasgow Sculpture Studio.
3. CENTRE OF GRAVITY – Brian MacBeath
Over consecutive days three significant places in the city are poetically linked together by the repeated enactment of a ‘gravitational’ printing process that will create an eight foot design specific to each locationThursday 10th – Leakeys Book Shop, Friday 11th –Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Saturday 12th – Inverness Cathedral
Brian MacBeath is a well-established printmaker in the Highlands
4. IN HONOUR OF SEPTEMBER – DUFI with Kirsty Whiten, Mike Inglis, Skint, Machism and Fraser Gray
Fresh from the acclaimed ‘Rough Cut Nation’ at the National Portrait gallery local graffiti artists DUFI have brought 5 fellow street artists back home from Edinburgh with them to bring a cutting edge to the surfaces of Baron Taylors Street in the Old Town.
DUFI is photograher Fin Macrae and Graphic Designer Al MacInnes
www.dufi-art.blogspot.com/5. THE SECRET LIFE OF THE VICTORIAN MARKET – BIG FAT ELECTRIC
A fantastic world of light, sound and stunning visuals tell the story of The Secret Life of the Victorian Market. An intense and atmospheric live arts experience that features DJs, visual art, dance and original electronic music.
Performances at 9pm on 10th + 11th September – tickets are free but ticketed. Please see our website for more information.
See www.myspace.com/bigfatelectric
6. ABERTARF SQUARE – Ganghut, John McGeoch and Ablab
Inverness’ newest public space is brought vividly to life in this one-off collaboration between three leading artists in their fields – interactive projections, and VJing registered to the precise details of the building facades will form the context for a performance by Gangband – the culmination of Ganghut’s residency in the City
Performance from 8.30pm Saturday 12th . Venue tbc!
Ganghut is the highly successful ongoing collaborative adventure comprising a group of young Scottish artists. www.ganghut.co.uk
John McGeoch is founder and director of Arts in Motion on the Black Isle www.artsinmotion.co.uk
Ablab is a painter working sculpturally with netspace and installation in live sound www.ablab.org
7. DANCE TROUPE
This ambitious project has been developed with community groups from the city and beyond and can be experienced in a once only memorable experience for all those involved on Saturday 12th from 2.30pm onwards. Location [surprise!] We can’t give too much away without spoiling the surprise…
Location is secret – but if you are in the Old Town at 2.30 you will see and hear Dance Troupe
Glasgow artist Amy Marletta is currently working with film, dance and music
8. INVERNESSIAN CLANJAMFREY
A gathering of a ‘rabble’, the Clanjamfrey will be an occasion for presentation, consideration and debate. Seeking to engage your voice, this two-day debate is conceived around a series of three sessions in which Invited speakers will act as catalysts, introducing a topic before extending the dialogue to the floor.
Friday 11th in the Townhouse Saturday 12th in the CathedralRegistration for the Clanjamfrey is at http://www.invernessoldtownart.co.uk/clanjamfrey.asp
The Clanjamfrey is curated by Matthew Hearn
9. THE PHILOSOPHERS SALON RECONVENED
A discussion about the changes experienced within the Old Town since the first Salon was held in march 2007 to discuss the appropriateness of the virtues suggested for inclusion in Matt Baker’s installation 3 Virtues – now sited on Church Street.
The Philosophers Salon is organised by the Intersections (Newcastle University) attendance is by invitation only
10. NEVILLE GABIE LECTURE
Neville Gabie is one of Britain’s leading public artists – his work is particularly noted for the highly creative way in which he draws ordinary people into the artwork process.
Inverness Cathedral 10am Saturday 12th September
For more information on all of the above events and up to date news visit our website www.invernessoldtownart.co.uk
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Big Fat Electric & The Secret Life of the Victorian Market
by Sarah Grant 1 Aug 2009
An exciting event which will be part of RE:IMAGINING will be Big Fat Electric which will be in the Victorian market on the evening of Friday the 11th September. This will be the creation of musician and producer Dave Martin.
Dave Martin has worked nationally and internationally with a number of theatre, production and dance companies, solo artists and groups including the national theatre of Scotland, Royal Shakespeare Company, 7:84, The Tramway, Poorboy, Ankur Productions, Grid Iron, The Fall, Suns of Arqua, Dodgy, Tigerstyle, John Cooper Clarke.
Dave recently emailed me to give an overview of what the event would entail and his own excitement to be able to create such a spectacle in Inverness;
“As the anticipation builds the door of the market opens, slowly revealing a fantastic world of light, sound and stunning visuals telling the story of the Secret Life of the Victorian Market.Big Fat Electric will be an intense and atmospheric live multi media, multi arts, club experience featuring DJs, VJs, costume and dance, original electronic music, recordings, original visual art and live performance.
Im really happy to have found some great artists to collaborate with on Big Fat – The amazing and very Irish Jen Cantwell, the hilarious and powerfull Annie Marrs, the smaller but perfectly visual Graeme Roger, the bigger and louder – Monkey Magic, The lady with the Cello – Christine Hanson, the dancing diamond Caroline Coomber and Steve Coomber, the boy with the piano fingers David Allen, the family guy Ali Ross and the illuminating Arla Keen
The work that is being produced for Big Fat is looking and sounding fantastic, we are all really excited about the event and know that it is going to be something special…….Hopefully!!!!!!
Been wanting to create something like this for a long time and it is amazing to get the opportunity through re imagining the centre and amazing to be able to use the Victorian Market as the venue.”
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The Weirdness Returns
by Sarah Grant 30 Jul 2009
The forthcoming RE:IMAGINING THE CENTRE event is starting to gain interest amongst the local community and further afield amongst the arts community.
I have been tasked with assisting with promoting the event, which is a pleasure for me as it allows me to get my ‘arts boost’ out with my day job as a marketing advisor. I have been discovering the world of social networking as a means of promotion and have of late been twittering, face booking, myspacing and of course – blogging, for RE:IMAGINING and I have to say it’s been quite fun. I check my emails in the evening to get updates on what the artists have been getting up to, or what the organisers have been planning and use these snippets of information to update the various online mediums.
‘Sundog’ duo – Jennifer Cantwell and Annie Marrs – whom are the creators of the YARNBOMING event have been great in sporadically sending me photo updates of their guerrilla knitting crusade around the town. I received an email late the other night with no title, but just simply an attached image of a graveyard headstone covered in red yarn [see images]. This gives us a taste of what is to follow………
And on our Twitter and Myspace site we are starting to stir up an interest and encourage a dialogue amongst our ‘friends’. Much excitement occurred the other day to find that Yoko Ono …..yes, THE Yoko Ono, is following IOTA on twitter! [links to sites below]. Do you think she would come along in September? This led me, encouraged by artist Jennifer Cantwell, to actively pursue celebrities via Twitter. It may be somewhat optimistic to presume that Alan Cumming, Ewan MacGregor and Gerald Butler alongside a collection of predominantly male celebrities [yes….we are being somewhat selective in our target market!] would come to RE:IMAGINING but why would they not?!…..we had actresses Sue Pollard and Joanna Lumley in the Old Town a couple of weeks ago! The secret is out, Inverness is the place to be!
The IOTA project and artists involved have stirred up a collection of national press of late, with the article in The Scotsman weblink in April and resident artists DUFI street art featuring in last week’s Sunday Herald weblink. GANGHUT’s show at the DCA [Dundee] is this months recommended best show to visit in hip Scottish culture magazine The Skinny.
Our areas definitive cultural magazine [ICA] will feature the RE:IMAGINING event in next month’s issues describing it as ‘The Weirdness Returns..’ and recollects the starting point in 2006 when IMAGINING the Centre took place.
So watch this space, or if not this space our myspace, twitter or facebook page. Our new website will also be live at the end of this month and will disclose more information on the exciting events that will take place in September!
www.invernessoldtownart.co.uk
www.twitter.com/invernessart
www.myspace.com/reimaginingthecentre -
its coming.....RE-IMAGINING THE CENTRE 2009
by Sarah Grant 9 Jul 2009
Paper mache pants, eagles, cake revolutions, graffiti and rock and roll. …….
That was 2006’s Imagining the Centre.
Hot of the press!! The latest news is that the city’s biggest art event is returning to Inverness this September [8th]!
The rumour mill has begun…..locals are whispering…….someone is knitting…..
19 artists they say?
12 Events?
6 days?whispers ……… sporadic knitting …… yarnbombs ….. graffiti invasions ……. outdoor projection ……. philosophy ….. dance …… music ……. secret venues ?!?!
REIMAGINING THE CENTRE 2009
Sept 8.09 – 13.09…………………………Watch this space
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Drip, Drip, Drip...
by Fin Macrae 26 Jan 2009
It is scary how quickly time moves on, and technically we are now in our 3rd year of the Streetscaping project (having had initial discussions about the project way back in 2006…). It might seem that we haven’t been up to much over the last 5 months since we last blogged (sorry!!). But, as the blog title suggests, this project was always going to take time. And we can assure you that DUFI has been incredibly busy!
The actual physical work is now well underway in Baron Taylor Street (BTS) and we have been delighted with the installation so far. The stone and ironworks are blending seamlessly into the street and Stewart, Stevie and the boys from Rok are doing a great job of installing the artwork as they progress down the North end of BTS.
The nature of our work as graffiti artists tends to be about utilising pre-existing surfaces and the cosmetic changes you make to that surface. Sometimes that is done simply to catch peoples attention with slogans, images and tags. However in some cases – such as this – we are afforded more time to think about the usage of space, and how people will interact with it (one of the joys of public art!).
Right from the beginning of our brainstorming sessions DUFI felt that it was important to keep the individual character of BTS as much as possible, and we wanted the journey down the street to be a self contained experience within the wider Streetscaping project. It will be interesting when the street has been completed (sometime in March 2009) to see how other people relate to this.
I think the major difference between this and our Street-texts aspect of the larger Streetscape was that we wanted a more instant reaction from the public. The other street-texts are scattered throughout the Old Town and are more likely to be discovered randomly. However, if you walk on BTS you are more likely to walk at least half if not the full length of the street. We therefore wanted to create the artwork as a whole, in some ways more obvious than our other stones. Something that gives the street an independent sense of place but still obviously connected to the street-texts by our use of similar themes and visual aesthetics.
On BTS we have deliberately avoided using our ‘subtexts’ that we used elsewhere, so that these are not physically layered artworks. The words and statements we have used are more emotive and not as obtuse or headscratchingly bizarre as our other texts (a cow falling through a flat for example…see the next blog entry for that one!).
Through our work with the kids at Cauldeen Primary we came up with five word pairs that beautifully capture the ideas of watery weather – words that can maybe help to conjure up childhood (or certainly childlike!) memories. These word pairs are being installed with a single word on either side of each of the drains on BTS. Go on, close your eyes and see what images these word pairs bring to life…
FOG LIGHTS
SLIDEY ICE
SUN SHOWER
SNOW ANGEL
HAIL STORM
RAIN COAT.
As you know we also have designed the bespoke drain covers (see blog on 26th June for more on that…) which incorporated the quote “”There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather” by the great critic/writer and artist John Ruskin. He once beautifully described Inverness as being “Placed by the shore of one of the loveliest estuaries in the world; placed between the crests of the Grampians and the flowing of the Moray Firth, as if it were a jewel clasping the folds of the mountains to the blue zone of the sea”.
We had to use something from a man who obviously knew a good thing when he saw it!
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Cake Today, Scone Tomorrow
by Sarah Grant 2 Dec 2008
Sold on the promise of cake I headed into the city centre last Friday afternoon to see the BTW Cart High Tea Event in the Victorian Market. The artistic team are currently working on a commission to create new entrances for the market and as part of the process, there are several unique events planned. This was the first hence everyone was intrigued to experience….
Like some kind of sugar-enthused Pied Piper, I swooped into the cities ICA [Inverness City Advertiser] magazine office on Friday 21st Nov and enticed the four guys in the team to follow me on my pastry procession to the market.
"Come on guys – there is CAKE, cake, cake, cake, cake. LOTS OF CAKE".Now generally you should NOT [are you listening kids?] accept invites from strange people who promise you sweets or cake but as I’m a familiar face and ICA team have promoted many of IOTA projects, they were not (or so we all thought) in much danger………. How wrong can you be?
So off we went….
Entering the Victorian Market, we could see artists Nicola Atkinson and Hanna Tuulikki busily running around in their High Tea branded aprons looking like mother ants shuffling cake after cake onto the long (and very much public)dining table running through the centre of shopping arcade. Noting multiple table settings and empty seats, it quickly became apparent that this was going to be, unbeknownst to us, a participatory event! Our plan of rocking up to the event, helping ourselves to a plateful of cake and lurking behind the scenes scoffing our faces quickly dissipated when we were met by apron-clad helpers who ushered us to our seats.
We sat down and tried to make sense of the fine china tea-set in front of us, having been cultured into a society only accustomed to ‘coffee-to-go’ paper cups.
How do you use a saucer?!
Pour tea out of a what?!
At this point some, elderly ladies who were in the market shopping – true to form – had sniffed out that cake was being served and sat down opposite us. Masking my fit of uncontrollable laughter, I looked down the table to see the four guys from ICA looking fairly startled about what was going on as they were formally presented with slices of strawberry cream cake and tried to fit their male fingers into dainty little fine china tea-cups. A somewhat camp scenario for four cool music/journos! Each of these guys sat facing a gentile retired dining companion and couldn’t help thinking this was a kind of bizarre speed-dating event for Sugar-Grannies! Not bursting into giggles was almost impossible! At the same time, though, was really great to see such an unlikely mix of folk taking part in this special event and conversing over a nice cup of tea and cake.
And so we started to eat…..and we ate LOTS of cake………
Finnish Strawberry cake, Ginger cake, Carrot cake and even Courgette cake [which was surprisingly yummy!]….mmmm those cakes were good. We even were sung to about the delights of cake while we dined. Nicola harped like some kind of ‘cake-angel’ about the virtues of cake as Hanna accompanied the song on xylophone.
A rather surreal experience, like some kind of Invernesian Mad Hatters’ Tea Party.
Could this be the start of more cake related events?Please? -
Usman Haque, Super Mario and Reflexing Plants!
by Sarah Grant 27 Oct 2008
Meeting with artists in varying cafes on Church Street seems to be a frequent occurrence for me of late, and this frequency is due to the increasing number of talented creative’s visiting the city to bid for the varying Old Town projects that are live at present.
At my most recent ‘Church Street Café’ meeting I met with the latest visitor and bidder for the Ramada Jarvis Hotel project – Usman Haque who was accompanied by his wife Ai.
Over coffee, Usman discussed his interest in coral and the way in which its life-form could be cultured to grow un-naturally by ‘man’ and this had led him to consider creating a living face for the Ramada Jarvis Hotel. I recalled a time when studying in Paris when I walked past the National History Museum and being taken aback by this beautiful vertical garden that appeared to be living on the museums entrance and asked Usman if he was familiar with this. He was, and was hoping to create something not too dissimilar; perhaps on a smaller scale for the Ramada but with an ‘Usman’ touch to the creation!
Usman was very good at describing his ideas showing Susan and I sketches of their design scrawled on a napkin over dinner the night before. He said he had been influenced by a ‘land’ which features in a recent Super Mario computer game, in which the character manoeuvres its way up a Galaxy land. I had visions of little cyber men [aka Super Mario and friends] hopping up and down the face of the hotel and shooting down drain pipes as per the original Nintendo game [or am I the only one that remembers this version?]. Usman talked about the use of reactive fibres being placed on the hotel front that would move like living plants and reflex to passing movement. The night and day aspect of the design would also vary with ‘stars’ within the living creation to come alive at night; each star to have a hidden meaning.
The involvement of the community also appeared to be very important to Usman, where his proposal appeared to involve the community in the creative process to ensure that a legacy came about the project where in years to come participants could reflect on their time spent helping change the face of the Ramada Jarvis Hotel and the visual of the Old Town itself.
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Acclaimed Artists Head North
by Sarah Grant 1 Oct 2008
At the end of August I was fortunate to meet Glasgow based artist Alex Frost who was visiting the city to bid for the Ramada Jarvis Hotel Commission. Alex was in the city to meet the project co-ordinators and to gain further understanding of the commission and to gather some inspiration for his proposal.
Alex is among a collective group of artists in Glasgow making a name for themselves in the national arts scene; and with this increased recognition comes increased demand. Having recently completed exhibitions this year in Hampshire (England) and Berlin (Germany) he was working towards an October’s viewing at the acclaimed Sorcha Dallas Gallery in Glasgow and these pieces were also to be exhibited later at the Frieze Art Fair in London. With his evidently tight schedule it was fortunate to have met with him over coffee and to hear first-hand about his previous work which has included some spectacular sculptures and pixelated drawings. To see some of his work visit www.alexfrost.com. Alex was a pleasure to meet; extremely modest and evidently interested in the task at hand.
Alex, Susan and I looked up to the Ramada Jarvis Hotel as we sat in an opposite café and discussed the huge task at hand. I would assume that the hotels massive ‘canvas’ would be a sheer joy for any artist and Alex certainly seemed to be intrigued by its potential. Also it was fantastic to have Alex in the city showing an interest in this particular commission having never exhibited in the public realm before. The commission offers flexibility for the artist’s proposals, which must have been an appeal to Alex. This commission unusually does not dictate time frame, size of project as per the norm in the Public Art industry. I would assume that this freedom would allow for increased creativity and in turn some interesting proposals to be put forward from the bidding artists.
I met up with Alex and Susan later that day out-with the city centre at the fantastic new Centre of Health Science [CoHS] building situated beside the Raigmore Hospital, and inside we met with lead artist Jacqueline Donachie as one of her creations, the newly opened heated garden, was being photographed by the press. We were fortunate to be shown all the art instillations [by five differing artists] within this fantastic modern building and its new state-of-the-art Dental Surgery. The art featured in the CoHS is separate to the Inverness Old Town Project however I felt it was important to mention within this blog as it highlights yet another impressive public art commission that the city has seen of late; all of which were created by a selection of renowned Scottish and International artists. (www.centreforhealthscience.com)
For more information on all of the new public art within the city centre or featured in this blog, visit http://www.citypartnership.org.uk/Public-Art-g.asp
And as I complete this blog another new exciting project is put to my attention. The Inverness Old Town Art (IOTA) programme has just launched ‘THE WALL’ which is an exciting opportunity for artists, designers, makers, students, community groups and schools to put forward submissions to transform a large expanse of curving wall facing the cities shopping centre. More information is available on www.citypartnership.org.uk.
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Singin' In The Rain
by Alister MacInnes 18 Aug 2008
So, a bit of background on how the BTS project is developing… As you are probably aware – DUFI have been working with Cauldeen Primary School to develop the street texts for BTS.
DUFI started the Old Town street project early 2007, and over the following months the first few street text started to appear – all based on the central concept of water.
Around the same time, totally separately – but by incredible coincidence (or, for those of us from a more Highland tradition, providence!) – Cauldeen Primary School started working on a larger international project on the subject of water, with an exchange of information between themselves and schools in Iceland and Lebanon. Unbeknown to DUFI, the school had already been using some of the first few street texts as part of their studies!
When the connection was finally made, DUFI contacted the school to find out more. It turns out that the P5/6 class of Cauldeen Primary are budding poets, writing beautiful pieces around the theme of water. What’s more, many of these poems touched on aspects of the weather (ice, snow, rain, etc) – themes of water that were missed by the poetry submissions from ‘grown up’ poets already received by DUFI.
It was therefore then agreed that DUFI would do a series of workshops with the class to develop these themes further in order to use some of their work as the street texts for BTS.
this is still a work in progress, but just to give you a little taste of their poetry here are a couple samples of the poems that got us intrested…
SNOW
Soft white blanket
Reflecting the sun’s golden glare
melts in a warm touch
Connor P5/6TEARS
Clear glistening tears
filling up sad blue eyes
full of unhappiness
Courtney P5/6OCEAN
The ebb and flow of the ocean
waves smooth and cold
boat bobbing silently
Declan P5/6 -
I Pity the Fool That Hates the Rain!
by Alister MacInnes 18 Aug 2008
As Part of the ongoing work on BTS, DUFI asked musician extraordinaire Andrew Howie of calamateur to work with Cauldeen Primary School to produce a musical response to the street text project. The result is two great pieces of music: one is a song written by Andrew and then sung by the P5/P6 class; the second piece of music is a rather exquisite track mixed by calamateur in the studio – true to form the track is a beautiful blend of live music and audio samples taken from BTS, Cauldeen Primary and beyond.
We will post these tracks for you shortly, but first here are Andrews musings on the whole experience:
calamateur at Cauldeen Primary School
When Fin Macrae of DUFI, one of the artist groups involved in the Inverness City Streetscape Project, phoned me up to ask me to do “something musical” with the kids at Cauldeen Primary School, my initial reaction was, to be honest, total fear.“Work with children?!” I panicked. “Write a kids song?!”
Not, in my defence, that there’s anything wrong with children (I do have one after all, with two more on the way) but, given a choice between playing to a rowdy crowd in the Market Bar on a Saturday night and doing a musical workshop with children, I would take the former, thank you very much. “But”, I thought, “it’s a few weeks away, the money’s good…..I’m sure it’ll be fine…gulp”.
How wrong I was…as it wasn’t just fine, it was fantastic. The P.5 & 6’s at Cauldeen Primary are an amazing bunch – full of life and enthusiasm, bright, and pretty good singers to boot.
When it came to writing a song for the class to sing and perform, DUFI themselves provided a lot of the ideas. The drain covers being designed for Baron Taylor Street read: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of weather.” When Fin told me about it, I thought the phrase would make a great chorus and, knowing that the overall theme that DUFI had taken on board was based on weather and water, I thought it would be good to take 3 examples of wet weather and write a verse for each – snow, rain and hail. Later on in the song you’ll hear the sound of some very heavy rain…. or at least you think you will have. Maybe the BBC Radiophonic Workshop should re-open, employing the Cauldeen P.5 & 6 class, as their job of re-creating the sound of wet weather with just their fingers, hands and feet is pretty incredible. The finishing touch on the song is a great organ part by Mark Hilditch, a fantastic keyboard player who I’ve played with for several years now.
Recording the song with the class was a total joy and, when I visited the school again two weeks later, they could remember the words and melody straight away, despite having not heard it since the day we recorded it – I told you these kids were bright. On that visit, I recorded the children individually, reading out some haiku’s they had written for DUFI a few weeks previously and also some silly phrases you’ll hear scattered throughout ‘The Bad Weather Song’. The recordings of their haiku’s will be used in another musical piece I’m currently writing – a more ambient, more typically Calamateur-esque track, it features the children’s voices as well as a recording I made later that same day in Baron Taylor Street of it’s everyday comings and goings.
Thanks to DUFI for this great opportunity and to the P.5 & 6 teacher & class at Cauldeen Primary for making it a lot of fun.
Andrew Howie writes, records and releases his own music under the name Calamateur. He lives in Beauly with his wife and son and is now less scared of children than he used to be.
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Magnifying Glasses and the Golden Cow
by Sarah Grant 4 Aug 2008
Lately I have been keeping up-to-date with the Victorian Market Commission and the forthcoming Ramada Jarvis Hotel Commission.
I was fortunate to meet one of the groups from the Ramada shortlist in the form of Taiwanese duo Hsiao-Chi Tsai and Kimiya Yoshikawa; both graduates from the London Royal College of Art. They had arrived in the city a few days prior and were spending their time getting inspiration from the city in order to devise proposals for the project.
I joined the duo along with project director Susan Christie for lunch at a ‘Rendezvous’ café on Church Street The duo showed me pictures of their previous work which included sculptures made out of magnifying glasses in Taiwan and a recent commission where they instilled bright designs into the windows of Harvey Nicols exclusive department store in Knightsbridge, London. All of their previous projects seemed to focus very much on bold colours with a strong aesthetic design. They had an impressive range of projects already on their curriculum vitae having only graduated in 2006.
The duo was on their second ever visit to the city and I asked them what had captured their interest when they were walking around the city. They both had spent a lot of time looking at the older buildings in the city and the detailed architecture each possessed. I was intrigued to find out how they planned their work and how they used their visits to the city as a means to visualize a proposal design. They explained that they took many photographs on their visit here, and then would begin to draw numerous sketches and designs based on these snapshots. These drawings would galvanise a design abstracted from the initial photographs which would eventually lead to the final proposal.
Later in the week I attended a public opening within the cities Victorian Market showcasing the three final proposals for the Victorian Market Commission. I met artist Gordon Robin Brown who was on-hand to meet and greet the attendees and talk about his proposal in conjunction with Sam Barlow, their proposal a mystical design not too dissimilar from the Hans Christian Anderson Fairytales. On display were the proposals from the other two groups; a colour proposal from the trio Nicola Atkinson, Karen Vaughan and Hanna Tuulilu whom I had met a few weeks prior and a strong design proposal from artist Ekkhard Altenburger featuring a Golden Cow to feature on the market entrance. All three proposals were entirely contrasting of one another and each design I feel would not be incongruous to the Victorian Market.
I look forward to seeing which out of the three designs becomes the chosen one. -
Victorian Market Project
by Sarah Grant 4 Jul 2008
I have been back in Inverness a couple of weeks now and have been able to, since my return, discover some of the new projects undergo with the Inverness Old Town Project. Meeting with Susan Christie, Project Director, two weeks ago I was updated on the Victorian Market commission and the Ramada Jarvis project and the impressive selection of high calibre artists from around the world applying for the posts!
Susan invited me later that week to meet the first of three groups who were devising proposals for the Victorian Market commission. So last Wednesday I met artists Nicola Atkinson, Karen Vaughan and Hanna Tuulilu [Group One] alongside project co-ordinator Louise Mor [and fellow blogger] and Susan for an informal chat about the project over some Thai Soup in the Old Towns Hootenanny’s restaurant.
The trio had arrived in Inverness that morning, and for Nicola this was her first time in the city [she presently lives in Sweden]. All had worked independently and collaboratively on a wide range of projects prior stating that they would, if successful, take on the Victorian Market project like a Rock Band with a lead person supported by strong band members! I agreed to meet with the team at the end of the week [Friday] to be updated with there few days in the city discovering the Old Town and the Victorian Market.
Over some coffee at the Old Towns Rendezvous café I met the trio Friday lunchtime and asked them what their impressions of the market were and their feelings on the task at hand [redesigning three out of the four entrances to the Victorian Market]
They seemed excited and enthusiastic about the project, and as Nicola showed me photos of them looking around the market Hannah and Karen were busy jotting ideas on paper for their proposal. Realising they had a blogger present [me] the doodles were promptly hidden from my view with Nicola stating their ideas were presently top secret. I should inform that the trio are competing for the project with two other groups, so did not want to let any ideas be known just yet.
What they did disclose however, was their proposal would aim to reflect the different personalities of the market, its uniqueness and at the same time compliment the current markets architecture. Hannah said the project should be a celebration of its uniqueness and all agreed that the project would be the beginning of the markets transformation foreseeing that the project, which specifically focuses on the exterior entrances, would encourage future interior design/renovation to take place……
Gordon Brown and Sam Barlow are the second group developing a proposal for the market, and artist Ekkhard Altenburger working independently on the third and final proposal.
I am excited to find out which group will be selected and most eager to see the proposals come to fruition when work begins later this year!
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“Condensation, Sublimation and Consternation”
by Fin Macrae 26 Jun 2008
In our last blog we touched on the BTS drainage channel and thought I would write a wee bit about the trials and tribulations of the process…
Running down the length of the street is the drainage channel, which is quite heavily cambered to the centre. Its purpose is very obviously to get rid of surface water and it does this via a series of 7 drainheads. The street is mostly used as a thoroughfare for pedestrians but is also used by traffic for loading purposes.
The channel itself is a three part granite fabrication- a bowl shaped central stone bordered by a sill on either side. Total width is about 1200mm so it means we can work with much larger scale text (about 150mm as opposed to the 35mm we have used in the rest of the Streetscape Project). As well as utilising the stone for further textwork based on watery weather (working with Cauldeen Primary and more on that in another blog) we thought that we would look at designing a bespoke drain cover.We set about looking at weather and the three states of water (solid, liquid and vapour) so got into things like triple point and sublimation (not all snow melts to water – check it out on the web…). For a while we felt like amateur meteorologists rather than artists but we very quickly came up with a number of ideas which we based on a standard drain cover. This went through a number of refinements before we submitted a few sketches for consideration by the client and steering group. We had rationale a-plenty but had a fair bit of “to-ing and fro-ing” before settling on a design that fitted the brief. So what started of as pure aesthetics evolved over a process of discussion with both the client, the architect, the manufacturer and the contractor into our final functional design. Along the way we have had frustrations and challenges but I think we have learned some more valuable lessons – particularly the art of negotiation!
The drain covers are all cast at Ballantines Iron Foundry in Bo’ness and we have made a couple of trips to see the good people there. It really is an amazing place and it would be
a fantastic study in itself to document the foundry and its people (add that to my list of photography projects…) The foundry covers a large area and includes the patternmakers – a group of highly skilled woodworkers who make the moulds by hand with wood and resin. Vast storage spaces are like Alladin’s Cave – filled with old moulds from Victorian gas works, through to modern day town crests emblazoned on inspection hatches.The foundry itself is quite an impressive place – a bit like something from Lord of the Rings or a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Darkness, black sand, hot iron, flames, smoke and blackened workers, together with the hiss of steam, clanking of metal and chatter of voices…going through that door at first was like wandering through the gates of Hades! Maybe there should be a sign above the door reading “Abandon Hope, all ye who enter”
Working with these guys, and Willie Neil in particular, has helped us understand a lot more about the practicalities of our design and helped us find a solution to what essentially has to be a load bearing D400 standard piece of street ironwork. We think we have cracked it now (metaphorically speaking – don’t really want cracks on our ironwork…)
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Baron Taylor's Street - The Beginning...
by Fin Macrae 18 Jun 2008
Things have been mad busy with lots of things recently and DUFI has been on a steep learning curve while we deal with the challenges of working in the public art world.
We thought we would give a bit more background to our work on the Baron Taylor Street Project (henceforth referred to as BTS).A brief description of BTS…
Believed to be one of the four original streets of Inverness, it was known as the Black Vennel in the Middle Ages but then became Baron Taylor’s Lane. To quote someone very close to this project “Who the hell was Baron Taylor?!” John Taylor was a lawyer in the early to mid 18th century and he owned a lot of the properties in the lane. He “acquired” a superiority with the title of Baron and the street came to be named after him. Eventually in the 1930’s it became Baron Taylor’s Street.
Today BTS is a busy pedestrian thoroughfare linking the Old Town to the Eastgate Centre. Running from Church Street in the West to Academy Street in the East it is roughly split in the middle by Lombard Street and Drummond Street. It has smaller stores in the area that include health food, tailors, fashion, charity stores, fast food and the odd pub and bookies. A bit of a microcosm of Inverness we guess…
Our main concern was to have a series of interlinking works that would unify the whole of the street to create a strong identity for BTS but at the same time make it obviously a part of the much larger Inverness Streetscape Programme. With this in mind we have carried the same visual language, from the rest of the Streetscape into BTS. However, rather then sticking to it rigidly, and limiting the development of BTS, we have allowed the aesthetic to evolve with the concept for the BTS project.
Water in all its forms has been the basis for our work in the old town. Inverness is intrinsically linked with water, from its geographical setting (the River Ness, Loch Ness, the Caledonian Canal and also the Moray Firth) to its name (‘Inver’ = river meeting the sea, ‘Ness’ = headland projecting from coastline into sea). On top of that there is good old Highland weather. Inverness is truly linked with water!
Running down the middle of this street is a drainage channel, and this has become the key to our whole design idea for the street.
The overall theme for the Arts programme in Inverness is of Inverness being a city in the country and we see the drains as being part of this process. The drains carry the precipitation away back to the environment after washing the city clean of its grime, its memories and dreams.
DUFI is working in conjunction with Cauldeen Primary School in Inverness to come up with text works for the channel and that has been a lot of fun. The way this has happened has been part of the organic process that we seem to be caught up in…more about that another time.
Oh, and one last thing – we lied about the title!
Will write about that another time too. The creative process seems to be a lot easier for us to do practically than write about. I guess that’s something else DUFI will have to learn too. -
Inspiration
by Sarah Grant 4 Jun 2008
I have spent the last week making the most of my last few days here in Paris, meandering around the city with a visiting friend taking in the sights one last time and consuming as many crepes and macaroons as possible (its our duty!). The other day we visited Pere Lachaise cemetery where many artists, poets and writers were buried and paid our respects to the late Oscar Wilde and musician Jim Morrison. Artistes dating as far back to the 17th century are buried there, many not native Parisians, which again highlights how much the city attracted the creatively gifted throughout the past few centuries.
I can understand why art and its many form takes place here on the hills of Montmartre (Paris) where I stay, with the spectacular scenery all around. Sitting on the steps of the Sacre Coeur on the hills of Montmartre you can look down onto the entire city of Paris and see the tops of historical buildings such as the Pantheon and the Louvre on the left side of the city, and closer to us is the bright blue and red roof of the modern art building Centre Pompidou and the Eiffel Tower stands tall in the far distance.
The contrasting old and new, as discussed in my previous blog is also very much representative here in Paris. The city of Inverness is also like Montmartre set in dramatic scenery, surrounded by the Highlands of Scotland. The influential cultural attributes rich in area.
There appears to be many similarities in each area, despite obvious socio-cultural and geographical differences. Returning to Inverness this week I wish there was one other similarity however..……in the form of an Inverness Creperie that would enable me to maintain my daily addiction to Nutella crepes.
One can hope………
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Growth in support of public art does not necessarily ensure an innovative approach or commitment to good practice…
by Louise Mor 1 Jun 2008
As with the Victorian Markets commission, it is likely that an increasing number of public art projects will require planning permission, or will have a connection to the planning system and process.
A propensity for a broad range of public art has been developed in Inverness, spurred by the success of projects like ‘Imagining the Centre.’ Latterly, the projects that exist within the Inverness Old Town Art project embrace the wider social, economic and physical characteristics of place, through the rejuvenation of Inverness old town. The holistic approach facilitated by Inverness Old Town Art enables consideration to be given to the overall, qualities of the development and extends opportunity for dialogue with stakeholders that could open further, lateral opportunities.
In April I attended a presentation given by Inverness Old Town Art, Lead Artist Matt Baker along with Inverness City Partnership Officer, Marie Mackintosh. Planners from across the highlands gathered at Great Glen House the Scottish Natural Heritage HQ. The attendance of a planning officer from Shetland was warmly welcome. Matt Baker’s presentation previewed projects that stretched geographically from America to Glasgow. Primarily, it focussed a debate that asked how public art could engage artists more widely in the planning and development process, whilst being better aligned to the planning system. The event was organised by the Highland Council’s Principal Planner, Jim Harbison, whom as a member of the Inverness Old Town Art Steering Group, has a developed understanding and interest in the underlying value of public art in Inverness.
So, does this recognition and growing awareness of public art in Inverness, prompt a need to adopt a more strategic approach to its delivery?
Any such strategy or vision document for public art would give clear guidance on how to maximize opportunities for the inclusion of public art in new developments. Aimed at artists, council officers and other private sector professionals it would reach more widely those involved in regeneration and design, with potential for further advocacy, critical debate and skills development, across a broad spectrum.
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Perseverance
by Sarah Grant 27 May 2008
Having returned to Inverness briefly two weeks ago (for a friends wedding) I visited the Old Town to see the changes taken place since I was last home, and was impressed by the seeing the Three Virtues installation fully complete and already drawing public interest. I noticed a group of tourists stop and take photos and taking time to peruse the statues which represents the cities newly unveiled virtues….. Perseverance, Open-heartedness and Insight.
As I look down onto the streets in Montmarte (Paris) this morning from my balcony, I see the streets are already bustling with tourists as they walk around taking in the various monuments and displays of public art. The Le Butte apartment where Pablo Picasso famously stayed in the 1800’s, is a popular visitor sight. Van Gogh’s previous studio is further up the street.
Culture and its many forms has long been recognised as a means of consuming the city. Art, particularly public art is increasingly recognised as a significant urban asset playing a significant role in supporting the cities economic success, enticing visitors and enhancing the quality of life for the community.
Inverness Old Towns Projects ambition and modern approach to the previously standing ‘Three Graces’ reflects the city’s visionary strategy to Cherish the best of the old whilst capturing the zest of the new and to develop the city into a Cultural Capital – a burgeoning and authentic European city set in Europe’s most dramatic scenery.
Will the Old Town of Inverness be the equivalent of the artist colony of Montmarte in years to come?.........
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Introductory Blog (3rd Blogger)
by Sarah Grant 17 May 2008
I was asked recently to be the third ‘Blogger’ on the Inverness Old Town Project development whilst I complete my Masters degree in Paris. I am a native ‘Invernesian’ and have worked within the city (marketing/events) for a few years prior to beginning my course in September 2007. At this time I was able to participate in several events in relation to the public arts programme that was developing at the time. I was also fortunate enough to work in the previous city partnership office and observe some of the projects come to fruition.
I listened with excitement yet confusion as my colleague and dear friend (now sadly missed) Evi Westmore, the Public Arts Co-ordinator discussed with me in the Summer of 2006 the planning for the ‘Imagining the City’ event as we stopped for a coffee one day at work.
“So what will this one day event involve?” I asked, having seen some of her sketches on the desk and noticed an influx of varying artists arrive to the building over the previous weeks.
She turned to me and said in her ‘straight to the point’ New York accent “Well, its simple…its basically a one day public art event in Church Street with several projects taking place throughout the street including a project involving Papier-mâché Pants” …..
I stopped her mid-sentence “Papier-mâché Pants you say”?
“Yes” she continued, oblivious to my raised eyebrows “and also graffiti artists invading the city, a one day revolution project, some abseilers descending from the Ramada Jarvis Hotel…oh and Jeep Solid [a local musician] is maybe going to play a concert in the graveyard…although I don’t know if we are allowed access in there as yet”.
“All this, in Inverness?” I thought a bit taken aback to the say the least.
“Yes…in Inverness” she finished and with a smile bounced off coffee in hand.
A month later I have been talked into donning a black wig and am dancing around the Old Town on the ‘Imagining the City’ one day public art event as a “Pants Girl” assisting the artist Sarah Barnes with her project “Inverness is Pants” at the top end of the street.
A beautiful sunny 9th September 2006 the one day event transformed the Old Town area with an array of several ambitious arts projects with crowds of visitors and locals to the area taking it all in. The public’s participation on the day was amazing to see. It felt very surreal asking passer-bys on the street if they would “Fill in some pants” (no…really!!) as I chased after them with a feather duster around a temporarily placed Papier-mâché washing line. Spectators could walk a few metres down the street to see people enter into a hut made of heather (‘Lorg’ project by artists Caroline Dear and Rosie Newman) and a group of ‘revolution’ protestors parading up and down the street opposite with placards declaring we should “Do Justice for Tea and Cakes!”
….Vive la Cakes!
A wonderful day and really the start of the many other exciting projects that the city has seen of late.
….and on the ‘cake’ note I will finish today’s blog and go in search of a fresh Pain au Chocolat (a student budget allows for cake).
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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...
by Fin Macrae 16 May 2008
Having left you hanging on for a few weeks we thought that we should really tell you who we are -
So to start, Fin on Al…
Al is two quarters of DUFI (the DU bit) and the bald one. When I say “bald” I mean shaven headed by choice. With hair? Think Sideshow Bob. Anyhow, Al is among many things a Canadian. This means he is obsessed by things like Tim Hortons coffee, grape jelly and peanut butter sandwiches, Reeses pieces and maple syrup. He is as big as a tree, smart as a beaver and as handsome as a moose – how much more Canadian can you get?! So laid back he’s almost horizontal, Al chooses incredible times to feel inspired (like 4.45am – its not normal). Two quarters of DUFI – ‘good ideas Al’ and ‘have you been at the Zubrowka again Al?’…And to finish, Al on Fin…
Fin is the other four eighths of DUFI, and the one that looks like he has been examining the underside of a hedgerow. Fin stems from a small village in the Highlands called Laide (honestly there is a place called Laide – Google Map it). As head pupil at school, he had to beat off the other four kids for the title. All that being said, the man is talented – former /current roles include: chef, biochemist, global nomad and fine art photographer. Fin is highly creative and brings an artistic freshness to DUFI – along with a level of organisation and ass kicking that would otherwise be lacking. The other bit of DUFI – ‘where’s my schnitzel Fin?!’ and ’ I think we should use a badger Fin’We REALLY promise that our next entry will be a serious one. Even give you the title just now…
“Condensation, Sublimation and Consternation”
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Who are We?
by Fin Macrae 9 Apr 2008
Wow, a pretty intense introduction to this blog. Fear not though good people of the world as this is not a discourse on the pros and cons of Existentialism. Its not even a discussion about where the Highlands are in 21st century culture! Rather this is a brief intro to the lads who call themselves DUFI.
Everyone knows that of all the good ideas many are thought up while sitting in the pub and all the worlds problems can be solved through beer glass spectacles. In truth, very few of these eureka moments live beyond the evenings festivities – thank goodness. Unfortunately/Fortunately (delete as appropriate) the brainchild that is DUFI has survived. Now, through a number of happenstances, DUFI came to be appointed as one of the artist groups involved in the Inverness City Streetscape Project. How did this happen we hear you cry? Em, we don’t know… think that was a meeting in the local too! Bit of a theme appearing here.
Still none the wiser about who we are are you? Might as well start as we mean to go on…