Trailhead

Unusual landscape with natural wall on the right hand side and geological outcrop in the background. Boulder in the foreground.

Created: 2004

Categories: Exhibition Works

Solo exhibition Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland

After a successful public art residency at Scalloway Booth in the summer of 2002, I was invited to have an exhibition at the Bonhoga Gallery.

While on the residency I was struck by the variety in colour and texture of beach sands, reflecting the diversity of Shetland’s geology. At Scalloway Castle a friend noticed how the masonry had been restored at various times with a variety of mortars of different colours because of the sands used, this observation was the origin of the cast works in the exhibition. The works are made using a process involving pattern making, mould making and casting.

Installation shot of wall mounted relief sculptures. There are 2 sets of 4 works, and 2 smaller works in between. The set furthest away has grids, and the set closest has horizontal lines. The smaller works have horizontal lines of the same width.

Set of 4 wall mounted relief sculptures. These get increasingly lighter, with the darkest one on the left hand side. The works have fine horizontal stripes.

Set of black paper boxes with white writing on them in capital letters of place names in Shetland. From left to right; Levenwick, Dale of Ure, Stennes, Bannaminn, Scaw. The boxes are also dated 2004 and have edition numbers on them.

Opened boxes, each showing on the inside of its lid a photograph from the place written on the outside of the box. Inside the corresponding box is a disc cast from sand from the beach there. The sands are of different tones and colours. Only half of each disc has been rubbed back.

In September 2003 I travelled to the USA on a Thyne Scholarship from the English Speaking Union, Scotland. Photographs in the Trailhead exhibition show some of the phenomenal landscapes that I encountered. ‘Trailhead’ is the general term used to indicate the beginning and end of a path in the National Parks.