Passing the Artist Newsletter stand yesterday at the Perthshire Visual Arts Forum reminded me that I had not updated this blog for some time…
First congratulations to PVAF for organising a highly successful event though I would have liked to have heard more speakers and open discussions and less networking time. Maybe that's just my opinion.
It was held in the Birnam Arts Centre, a purpose built centre in the tiny Highland village of Birnam, near Dunkeld. Amazing place, worth a visit in itself. Many towns and cities throughout the UK would die for a purpose built arts centre like this.
The calibre of the speakers give some indication of the quality of the event: David Prior from Devon on creating "sonic spaces". He is working with architect Frances Crow to find ways of integrating sound and architecture. He made the interesting point that in our rush to immortalise our heritage in words and images we forget about the sounds of the past.
Environmental artist Kerry Morrison did not have enough time to talk about her fascinating project documenting brownfield sites. Dutch artist, teacher, anthropologist and filmmaker Jan van Boeckel gave an international dimension with his talk on "The Snow Project" in Finland where he worked with other artists to create sculpture inside the snow hotel.
Finally Shauna McMullan spoke about her social and sculptural project for the Scottish Parliament. She interviewed 100 women throughout Scotland and took phrases from their conversations and incorporated them into a wall sculpture. It reminded me of the Rossetti Stone.
Didn't have time to see Sue Grierson ( chair of PVAF) new audio and video poems at Threhold in Perth but hope to in the near future.
