Passing Places / Aite Seachnaidh
Whenever you drive on a single track road in the Highlands you can expect to pull into a passing place, but how often do you have the time to look at the scenery beyond? A new art project to celebrate Highland 2007, Scotland’s year of Highland culture, Passing Places/Aite Seachnaidh is involving people in around Ullapool in looking at where they live to create a community art project.
Artist Eleanor White, who is working with local people using photography, painting and printmaking to develop the piece said: “Passing Places holds a double meaning – it’s where we pull in to let other cars past, but on another level it’s about how we “pass places” in our daily lives often without having much time to stop, look and listen to the landscape.”
Over 100 local people, from children to over 60s, have taken part in workshops outdoors and at the Macphail Centre in Ullapool to create 160 photographs and 100 painted images for the project. The workshops were open to anybody whether they felt they had artistic skills or not. One person commented: “It was a fun evening for a terrified beginner!”
Eleanor said, “Through a series of workshops starting with digital photography, we walked in the landscape and took a closer look at where we live, the changing seasons and the colour and texture of the land. The photographs gave us images to work from using painting and printmaking techniques.
“The work is of tremendous quality and when the final piece is exhibited in 2007, it will be a real confidence boost, especially for those who came as complete beginners.”
Macphail Centre Coordinators Chris Brotherston and Fran Harrison who initiated the project, said: “Eleanor provided just the right atmosphere to encourage all sorts of people to join in, even if they hadn’t used a paintbrush since Primary 7 !”
Passing Places/Aite Seachnaidh will be launched at the Macphail Centre in 2007 and it will then go on tour in the Highlands and further afield. The project is supported by Highland 2007, The Highland Council, Leader+, the Macphail Centre and Scottish Natural Heritage.
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