(Post by Kay)
Today the weather was back to beautiful after several grey days of fog this past week. It was gloriously sunny and ferociously windy.
We started the day off going to visit potential accommodation for next year, which is perfect – a very comfortable, well-appointed flat just down the road in Hamnavoe, Burra, with stupendous uninterrupted views. There is a track leading straight down to a rocky cove next along from Meal Beach (where we went on the sunniest day we’ve had so far to film and encountered an arc of pure white sand with families enjoying the stunning weather and swimming in the sea… so that’s pretty nice!) Burra has the reputation for being where all the artists live. It’s the Brighton of Shetland so we will be at home! Here is a shed we passed on the way out of Hamnavoe.
First place we stopped was Hillswick, a lovely little place with an active community organisation that runs a shop and we came across a wonderful community park filled with quirky, creative sculptures and seating.
Then off to Eshaness. I have heard many Shetlanders express that this is their favourite place in Shetland. It’s in the far north west of Northmavine, which, geographically, looks almost like an island, attached to the rest of mainland by a small strip of land. It feels different. It is more barren, certainly more wind-swept, and the communities feel more remote, which, in fact, they are! I got more of a sense of perhaps what it used to be like on Shetland, when crofting was the way of life. The more time we spend here, the more people we speak to, and learn all the time about this place, which is fascinating and really aides the development of this piece of work.
Eshaness has a lighthouse and is famous for its wild, rocky coastline fringed with vertical cliffs and crashing waves, stacks, arches and sites of special geological interest. We went for a walk, all the time being thrown about by the blustery wind, which made filming very challenging! Joseph did manage to capture a variety of sounds of water on audio – about all he could hear against the background of the wind! Chirping of birds was not really a possibility today.
Then we went off to visit a friend who lives in North Roe, the village which is farthest north on the mainland. Ivona and her husband moved to Shetland 11 years ago and are leading a crofting life with all kinds of animals, growing their own food and basically living “the good life”, producing everything they need to survive. They cut their own peat (everyone in Shetland does – right now it’s “bagging up season” and we often see figures out in the heath turning the stacks of peat into bags for winter fuel). Iwona spins and dyes wool from her own flock. She can even tell you the name of the sheep the wool comes from! Check her out on FB: the Creative Croft. That’s a change since I was here five years ago; on several occasions I have been invited to “like” a Facebook page when purchasing artisanal products. My favourite has been the goats milk soap from the goats we saw at Walls Show. Luxurious!
The last appointment of the day was with Helen Robertson, headteacher of Hamnavoe Primary School. Helen used to teach in Olnafirth primary, where I made the playground sculptures, and she is very keen to get involved in the community element we are putting together to run alongside the exhibition next year. She is also very enthusiastic to get me back to make something for the school grounds, and I’m going there to have a meeting about it this week. Which would be nice!
Anyway while we were there she hauled out her husband’s Jarl outfit that he wore when he was the chief man in Up Helly Aa, Shetland’s main event, a winter festival involving fire, Vikings and Scottish dancing in abundance (equal measures). Up Helly Aa happens in every Shetland community, but the biggest is of course in Lerwick, so to be Jarl there is an honour indeed! I’m not sure how I ended up dressing up in the costume but Joseph was unkind enough to snap me! Oops! (Read expression: upon being told to look fierce!)
