I’m lovin’ it……….exclaimed Blake from primary year 1-3 today in the workshop at Lunnasting school, I feel the same.
Spent the morning at the primary school in Vidlin, a north mainland hamlet which is also the ferry terminal for getting to the islands of Out Skerries and Whalsay. The school was a lovely, small friendly place. Shetland is just breathtaking at times, it gets under the skin, literally it catches my breath as I turn around another bend in the road and I am faced with another spectacular view of rich autumn colours and steely water, and everyone I meet is just so nice.
After the workshop I was due to have a meeting with Douglas a fisherman from Out Skerries, we were meeting at Frankie’s the famous fish and chip shop, UK’s best and most northerly. I had some time to spare before so drove through Brae to Mavis Grind which is a narrow strip of land that joins the mainland to NorthMarin, the Atlantic Ocean is on one side and the North sea on the other, the closest the two seas come in the UK. Up until the 1950’s boats were pulled over the land to save having to make the dangerous sail around the top of the northern island.
You can see both seas in this photo. Walking over the peat bogs, Ravi the dog camouflaged in the mosses and heathers.
Then to Frankies for a late fish lunch, finally….
5 weeks ago I arrived here in Shetland, exactly half way through the residency, and to celebrate it was one of those magical Shetland mornings….the sea a flat calm, a
reim calm like a sheet of steel, maybe that is why I felt the tide beginning to turn to today and a need to focus on the proposals for the final artwork. I am planning to set aside Wednesdays to have the space to let the ideas grow, I am quite slow at this I know and need to probably go off on lots of tangents and spend time on drawing and making things that will more than likely not be used for the end work, such is the process. Including looking at things that have nothing to do with fishing, like this the remains of the bonfire.
This was my journey to work this morning, following the road as it winds around the voes and cliffs to get to Skeld primary school, over on the western mainland. It was a grey, breaking day, the wind is back after a day of calm, the calm after the last and before the next storm. The school is on an exposed site, on top of a hill and as I was unloading the car all the small paper sculptures I had blew across the car park, need to get some lids on those boxes!
The children created some pocket sized ‘fish’ inspired sculptures using very thin metal sheet, as it is a small school of only 17 pupils everybody had a go. They explored drawing forms and then cutting out and translating into a 3d work. We also had a introductory chat about the project and what words like ‘sculpture’, ‘3d’ and ‘abstract’ mean in terms of art.
Leaving the school as the day was closing and the light starting to fade, I was faced with this view, pretty amazing really.
The Fish Van Collection is on its way, tomorrow we are off to Skeld primary school to do a sculpture workshop with the children, all 17 of them. So far I have made 7 boxes which will start the collection, more to be made as it grows. They have been stamped with the logo and the contents so far are the sculptures from the College workshop, printed out photographs and objects found on the beach. we have two more workshops this week. My car has also been customised with its new magnetic stickers.
