Special feature - Making visual arts visible

Date: 05 July 2008
Author: marcus.wilson
Last updated: 12/02/2007 15:35:20
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Visualising the future

November 2006

Georgina Coburn has been out and about the meeting visual artists and organisations throughout the Highlands and Islands in order to produce a major report on the state of the visual arts in the region. Georgina airs some of the issues raised during interviews and introduces this landmark report on the visibility of the visual arts.

It began in late June 2006 with initial interviews conducted locally around Inverness-shire and then regionally in Caithness, Sutherland, Argyll and Bute, Ross-shire and Orkney. In July research extended to Badenoch and Strathspey and Skye and Lochalsh, and August through to September included Moray, Lochaber, the Western Isles and Shetland.

In all, I have conducted interviews with 132 artists, arts development officers, visual arts education workers and gallery owners. They have revealed a wealth of diversity, expertise and talent. Of those interviews, 126 have been face-to-face meetings, which have enabled direct contact with practitioners and their work in context. Discussions usually ranged from one to three hours in length, allowing a thorough exploration of perceptions about the current state of play from individuals and groups.

Highlands & Islands Visual Arts Report 2006

Artists and arts workers at varying stages of their profession, from those developing their skills to well established practitioners, have taken part. They represent a wide range of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, digital art and photography, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, fibre art and environmental art, with a notable and fluid exchange between art and craft practice at a professional level.

The final report on “The Current State of the Visual Arts in the Highlands and Islands”, was launched at a region-wide Visual Arts conference in November, and is now available for download from this page. Active strategy will now be formed by HI-Arts in response to the issues raised by the interviews and the conference.

The aim is to recognise the strength and range of activity that is already taking place, and facilitate future development of Visual Art in the Highlands and Islands in an unprecedented way.

Throughout this process I have been overwhelmingly inspired by the integrity of art practice. The artists I have interviewed have profoundly influenced how I view our cultural landscape. Artists are constantly challenging, reinterpreting and adding layers to that experience.

The method of research was both direct and personal, relating to each artist’s experience and the depth of their practice. Seeing work in context highlights the distance that artists must travel for materials, to have contact with exhibitions and galleries, or to have critical contact with their peers, essential factors for professional development for isolated practice in geographical isolation.

The need for advocacy, promotion of professional practice and the value of art underpin all the issues to emerge. The implications are far ranging, but potential solutions are uniquely and creatively local.

James Hawkins - Five Birches in Assynt

Overall, what is emerging is a profound need for a redefinition of arts funding to encourage professional and independent practice and long term sustainability, a redefinition of “cultural strategy” based on visual arts practice not product, and a redefinition of what it means to be a Visual Artist in the Highlands and Islands.

The strongest foundation we have at present is the commitment of professional artists and arts workers, often working several jobs or part-time posts, and contributing to the growth of visual arts through significant voluntary hours. Their passion, enthusiasm and energy for the practice of visual art in all its forms is the single most positive force to emerge within the study.

I think many practitioners would argue that visual art practice is already central to Highlands and Islands culture; it simply has yet to be recognised or promoted as such. The dots have yet to be joined, and that is the challenge which lies ahead.

As artist-led networks such as An Talla Solas, Elemental Arts, Veer North, Art on the Map, Visual Arts Sutherland, Skye and Lochalsh Arts & Crafts Association and Highland Open Studios gain strength, awareness about the level of artistic activity throughout the region will no doubt be raised.

The emergence of Public Art projects such as “Imagining the Centre” in Inverness, the Uist Sculpture Trail and Shetland’s new museum public art scheme which includes fixtures and fittings within the building are excellent examples of engaging communities with visual art at local level. This is extremely significant in an area such as the Highlands and Islands that does not have a clearly defined tradition of visual art.

Wendy Sutherland exhibition at Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale
Wendy Sutherland exhibition at Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale

Throughout these interviews I have seen multiple examples of individual and group practice engaged with the dynamic of creating an expectation about art as an integral part of life in the Highlands and Islands. As the confidence of those engaged with the visual arts grows, so too will the demand for infrastructure to support that practice in a way that encourages diversity, professional development and excellence.

It is my sincere hope that this expectation be extended publicly to include opportunities for practitioners to meet and to exchange ideas and expertise annually, starting with the regional gathering held by HI~Arts in Ullapool in November 2006.

The publication of this report and the Visual Arts conference in Ullapool have presented an opportunity for us all to take stock of what is currently being achieved, debate the issues you have raised, celebrate good practise and begin to really see what art is capable of communicating. With such brilliant and visionary work being created by Highlands and Islands artists and arts workers, we need an approach to development and creating infrastructure to match.

The way that artists access information and communicate with others working in the sector is one of the greatest challenges to artists working in rural isolation. Isolation is also one of our greatest strengths in terms of creativity, individuality and energy. It is a dynamic force within the Highlands and Islands, shaping perception and allowing artists to focus fully on the essential nature of their solitary practice.

The opening in autumn 2006 of the new Lime Tree Gallery in Fort William with its first exhibition of Goya and the work of local artists is an example of the blurred line between public and private space working brilliantly to address a need for direct local access to art. Our unique geography demands unique solutions.

Seeing work in artist’s studios I have a renewed faith in what art can do. There is nothing more vital, powerful, beautiful or thought provoking. It is an expression of vision and change that I hope our region can embrace as an integral part of its future.

More information on HI~Arts' work in the Visual Arts sector can be found at http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/visualarts.