HICA
The Highland institute of Contemporary Art, 20 miles south west of Inverness, is a brave and challenging venture by artists Eilidh Crumlish and Geoff Lucas. It’s ‘white cube’ exhibition space is an extension to a cottage on the shores of Loch Ruthven near Dores.
Four exhibitions were held between 2008 and 2009 and a catalogue with four essays on each exhibition published. The same is planned for the 2009 /2010 exhibitions and I was invited to visit the gallery to meet and have discussions with the artists, Boyle Family, with a view to writing one of the essays for the next publication.
Boyle Family is exhibiting until 28th November. We stayed together in a large house close by and, with three glorious almost windless days of sunshine and clear skies, it became a memorable encounter not least in meeting Joan Hills, now 79.
‘Four Exhibitions’
October 2008 – August 2009
Peter Suchin
Richard Couzins
Alec Finlay, Alexander and Susan Maris
David Bellingham
Essays by Peter Suchin, Lisa Le Feuvre, Colin Glen and Sarah Lowndes.
David
Showing posts with label AHM visits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AHM visits. Show all posts
30 Oct 2010
20 Sept 2010
A visit to John Bellany in Tuscany by Sandy Moffat
A visit to John Bellany in Tuscany
I spent a week at the beginning of September with John Bellany at his
home in Tuscany...in the mountainous Garfagnana area of the Serchio valley, a few miles to the north of Barga which claims the title of “the most Scottish town in Italy”. Although dogged by ill-health in recent years, Bellany has spent the summer producing hundreds of new paintings, returning again to his life-long preoccupation with the fishing communities on the East coast of Scotland ... but with an added Italian dimension ...a new group of works based on the ports of Viareggio and Livorno. These latest paintings have all the usual Bellany trade marks ...blazing colour allied to a completely spontaneous kind
of execution...and are a testament to his unquenchable creative spirit.
The Serchio valley was where Puccini’s family originated from, although
the great man himself was born in Lucca in 1858. That house is now a
museum and the headquarters of the Puccini Foundation...Puccini went on
to live nearbye at Torre del Lago where he composed most of his operas..
..”harlot’s music” according to many of the locals at the time... and where he spent a lot of time hunting and shooting on Lake Massaciuccoli, as does Bellany’s doctor, Rino Settemini today. As well as ducks, it seems that deer and wild boar are the hunter’s main targets. The new buildings of the Festival Pucciniano hug the lakeside while Puccini’s house remains just as it was when he died in 1924...with an added chapel where Puccini, his wife and son are buried.
The other great artistic figure of the Serchio valley is the poet Giovanni
Pascoli who lived on the outskirts of Barga from 1895 until his death in 1912.
His house too, has been turned into a most beautiful museum with the attic
floor now functioning as a research centre in conjunction with the University
of Lucca. The recently retired mayor of Barga, Umberto Serini, has done
much to promote the cultural history of the region, linking figures like Pascoli,
Puccini, and now Bellany, and others such as Shelley, with the special colours and lights of this magical landscape.
Sandy Moffat
I spent a week at the beginning of September with John Bellany at his
home in Tuscany...in the mountainous Garfagnana area of the Serchio valley, a few miles to the north of Barga which claims the title of “the most Scottish town in Italy”. Although dogged by ill-health in recent years, Bellany has spent the summer producing hundreds of new paintings, returning again to his life-long preoccupation with the fishing communities on the East coast of Scotland ... but with an added Italian dimension ...a new group of works based on the ports of Viareggio and Livorno. These latest paintings have all the usual Bellany trade marks ...blazing colour allied to a completely spontaneous kind
of execution...and are a testament to his unquenchable creative spirit.
The Serchio valley was where Puccini’s family originated from, although
the great man himself was born in Lucca in 1858. That house is now a
museum and the headquarters of the Puccini Foundation...Puccini went on
to live nearbye at Torre del Lago where he composed most of his operas..
..”harlot’s music” according to many of the locals at the time... and where he spent a lot of time hunting and shooting on Lake Massaciuccoli, as does Bellany’s doctor, Rino Settemini today. As well as ducks, it seems that deer and wild boar are the hunter’s main targets. The new buildings of the Festival Pucciniano hug the lakeside while Puccini’s house remains just as it was when he died in 1924...with an added chapel where Puccini, his wife and son are buried.
The other great artistic figure of the Serchio valley is the poet Giovanni
Pascoli who lived on the outskirts of Barga from 1895 until his death in 1912.
His house too, has been turned into a most beautiful museum with the attic
floor now functioning as a research centre in conjunction with the University
of Lucca. The recently retired mayor of Barga, Umberto Serini, has done
much to promote the cultural history of the region, linking figures like Pascoli,
Puccini, and now Bellany, and others such as Shelley, with the special colours and lights of this magical landscape.
Sandy Moffat
12 Jul 2010
AHM met Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion
A couple of weeks ago AHM made a trip to Dundee. Whilst they were there they met up with Dalziel and Scullion and had a recorded conversation with them.
This conversation will be edited and made into a podcast at some point in the near future (AHM are currently very busy with the preparations for their symposium).
23 Jun 2010
Over the weekend David attended the 'Littoral' events in Leith and Edinburgh to mark the 60th anniversary of Kurt Schwitters' arrival in Leith on a fishing boat from Norway in June 1940.
‘Littoral’ ( literally - at the edge) of Ian Hunter and Celia Larner
has been responsible for numerous seminal conferences and
seminars over the years. Based in Lancashire it has in recent years
been concerned with the influence of Schwitters on post 2WW
British art. Central to this has been securing the original site of
the Merzbarn in the Lake District and turning into a centre for the
study of Schwitters life and work.
Professor Hamish Ritchie described the impact of Holocaust
refugees on the cultural life of Britain. Around 60,000 came to
Britain in the years up to 1940 and their contribution has been
massive. (see attached paper)
Sir Alan Peacock concentrated on one, the composer Hans Gal,
who taught at Edinburgh University and became a well-known
Edinburgh figure.
At the Plenary session David asked if there was a definitive published
text/book on the influence of Schwitters on British art. It seems
that there is none. Does anyone know if there is one. If not then
obviously an urgent task waiting for someone to do.
"Historical note. Sandy Moffat while at the 57 Gallery in
Edinburgh curated a show of Schwitters’ work in 1976. The
catalogue is a collector’s item."
David Harding June 2010
‘Littoral’ ( literally - at the edge) of Ian Hunter and Celia Larner
has been responsible for numerous seminal conferences and
seminars over the years. Based in Lancashire it has in recent years
been concerned with the influence of Schwitters on post 2WW
British art. Central to this has been securing the original site of
the Merzbarn in the Lake District and turning into a centre for the
study of Schwitters life and work.
Professor Hamish Ritchie described the impact of Holocaust
refugees on the cultural life of Britain. Around 60,000 came to
Britain in the years up to 1940 and their contribution has been
massive. (see attached paper)
Sir Alan Peacock concentrated on one, the composer Hans Gal,
who taught at Edinburgh University and became a well-known
Edinburgh figure.
At the Plenary session David asked if there was a definitive published
text/book on the influence of Schwitters on British art. It seems
that there is none. Does anyone know if there is one. If not then
obviously an urgent task waiting for someone to do.
"Historical note. Sandy Moffat while at the 57 Gallery in
Edinburgh curated a show of Schwitters’ work in 1976. The
catalogue is a collector’s item."
David Harding June 2010
10 Jun 2010
Sam in Liverpool
Sam is going on her travels again, this time to be External Examiner to the new MA Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University
7 Jun 2010
Sandy and David spend the day in Edinburgh
Sandy and David met in Edinburgh yesterday and, in addition to working on AHM documents, they went to the RSA show and Dutch Landscapes at the Queen's gallery.
30 May 2010
New extension to the Osthaus Museum
This is a new extension to the Osthaus Museum, designed by Lindemann Architects.
It's named after the painter Emil Schumacher (1912 - 1999) and has a permanent collection of his works ...and his studio.
Georg Kolbe sculpture
The sculpture in the entrance hall to the Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum is b George Kolbe.
Sandy's holiday in Germany
Last week Sandy made his annual trip to Germany to stay with some friends. Over 4 days they visited 4 cities and absorbed lots of culture and art.
Here are some photos from his travels.
These are interior shots taken in the Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum in Hagen....the first museum in Germany to acquire works by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, The German
Expressionists, etc.
It was designed by one of the great pioneers of modern archictecture and
design, the Belgian, Henry van de Velde in 1904.
Here are some photos from his travels.
These are interior shots taken in the Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum in Hagen....the first museum in Germany to acquire works by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, The German
Expressionists, etc.
It was designed by one of the great pioneers of modern archictecture and
design, the Belgian, Henry van de Velde in 1904.
18 May 2010
Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession) Exhibition at the Swiss Cultural Institute Gallery - Rome
This was my first time in Rome so it was a great feeling to be there at long last. Ross and I didn't manage to visit much as we were held up by technical problems and lots of hanging around the gallery waiting for things to happen and to be resolved. We stayed at the Swiss Cultural Institute near the via Veneto and the villa Borghese. It is a massive 1906 villa set in a fantastic Italian garden and the view from its tower , second only in height to the top of St Peter's, is magnificent. Set below the garden is the modern gallery. Next door is an Irish Franciscan monastery and church - well it is Rome.
Part of the exhibition was in the Keats - Shelley House which forms the lower right side of the Spanish Steps so that one can look out of the room in which Keats died onto the steps. At the Saturday lunchtime reception there we met the 'great and the good' of the mainly British and American colony including Christine Melia the head of the British Council in Rome. The main opening in the evening went very well and, so different to UK openings, people were very serious about looking at all the works. Ross had composed a short piece of music for the viola which we rehearsed with a young Italian woman, Georgia Franceschi. On the Sunday afternoon she performed the work at Keats' graveside. The music, based on Keats’ last words, ‘Lift me up for I am dying…..’ was very moving.
All dinners seemed to start at 10-00 pm and finish around 1-00 am - not quite my style now! - falling into bed very tired. Maria Theresa and Jimmie were back in Rome and a had some work in the exhibition as well. So it was nice to hang out with them.
Managed a visit to the Pantheon, some churches, Trevi fountain (I guess more people go to sit/stand and look at it than go to the cinema), St Theresa of Avilla (in ecstasy) but not much else except through taxi windows.
We got back from Rome managing to nip past the ash clouds that had affected our outward journey.
david harding 17 May 2010
Part of the exhibition was in the Keats - Shelley House which forms the lower right side of the Spanish Steps so that one can look out of the room in which Keats died onto the steps. At the Saturday lunchtime reception there we met the 'great and the good' of the mainly British and American colony including Christine Melia the head of the British Council in Rome. The main opening in the evening went very well and, so different to UK openings, people were very serious about looking at all the works. Ross had composed a short piece of music for the viola which we rehearsed with a young Italian woman, Georgia Franceschi. On the Sunday afternoon she performed the work at Keats' graveside. The music, based on Keats’ last words, ‘Lift me up for I am dying…..’ was very moving.
All dinners seemed to start at 10-00 pm and finish around 1-00 am - not quite my style now! - falling into bed very tired. Maria Theresa and Jimmie were back in Rome and a had some work in the exhibition as well. So it was nice to hang out with them.
Managed a visit to the Pantheon, some churches, Trevi fountain (I guess more people go to sit/stand and look at it than go to the cinema), St Theresa of Avilla (in ecstasy) but not much else except through taxi windows.
We got back from Rome managing to nip past the ash clouds that had affected our outward journey.
david harding 17 May 2010
More photos from Paris
Universite Paris Sorbonne...Institut d'Art et Archeologie
No 7 Rue des Grand Augustins where Picasso painted 'Guernica' in 1937
.jpg)
Gericault The Raft of the Medusa (in the Louvre)
4 May 2010
AHM will be visiting Jupiter Artland
Later in the month AHM are planning a trip to Jupiter Artland.
Jupiter Artland is a contemporary sculpture garden in the private grounds of Bonnington House on the Western fringes of Edinburgh.
Works by many of today's leading artists, sculptors and land artists have been commissioned and then constructed in situ.
The relationship of each artwork with its specific topographical location is a crucial feature of the artland, that is, art within the landscape.
For more information please visit www.jupiterartland.org
Jupiter Artland is a contemporary sculpture garden in the private grounds of Bonnington House on the Western fringes of Edinburgh.
Works by many of today's leading artists, sculptors and land artists have been commissioned and then constructed in situ.
The relationship of each artwork with its specific topographical location is a crucial feature of the artland, that is, art within the landscape.
For more information please visit www.jupiterartland.org
26 Apr 2010
Sam and Sandy visited Douglas Hall and Matilda Mitchell
Last week Sam and Sandy took a trip to the Borders to visit Douglas Hall and Matilda Mitchell.
Douglas Hall was the 1st Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. He single-handedly built up a collection of 20th Century art in Scotland on a very minimal budget.
Douglas Hall was the 1st Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. He single-handedly built up a collection of 20th Century art in Scotland on a very minimal budget.
24 Apr 2010
Photos from Berlin
I.M. Pei's extension to the German Historical Museum (2003) and....
Karl Freidrich Schinkel's Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) of 1816
More photos from Berlin
The staircase of the Neues Museum...reopened for the first time since 1945 in October 2009.
The museum was rebuilt by the English architect David Chipperfield (BBC Scottish Headquarters in Glasgow) combining careful preservation of the historical remains with
completely new sections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
AHM are happy for resources on this website to be used for non-commercial purposes and unless otherwise noted, have released this content under a