ALISON BLUNT & BIRTHE JORGENSEN: Self-Directed Residency, 2014

( For full enjoyment of the audio clips we suggest wearing headphones ) Alison and I are old friends. We first collaborated as Live Violinist and Live Visual Artist in the experimental, interdisciplinary company Apocryphal Theatre in London between 2005-2011 and having moved to Glasgow in 2012, it was great to be able to spend a week working together based at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg, sowing the seeds for a new collaborative project.

NIKKI KANE: Self-Directed Residency, 2014

I think it began with departure, not arrival. I arrive on the Eigg after a beautiful train journey from Glasgow to Mallaig the day before, and a couple of hours on the ferry over. After a warm welcome from Eddie and Lucy, I finally carry my enormous bag to the bothy. It has been so thoughtfully designed and feels like grown-up den, cosy and with an incredible view across the water to Rum.

MICHAEL BARR: Glasgow School of Art Residency, 2014

According to Seamus Heaney’s version of the Buile Suibhne, Sweeney – having got into a spot of bother, and been turned, naked, into something between man and bird – lived a life in fear of human contact. His avian roamings took him all over Ireland. He flew to various parts of the British Isles as well, and spent six weeks living ‘in a cave that belonged to Donnan on the island of Eig off the west of Scotland’.

KEN COCKBURN: Self-Directed Residency, 2013

It’s May 2011, and Alec and I are at the Mull of Galloway, the south-western edge of the Scottish mainland. It’s the penultimate station of The Road North, and here we’re following St Medan; there is a ‘Kirkmaiden’ on both sides of Luce Bay named after her. Medan is a difficult figure to pin down. Her dates are uncertain, even her gender is disputed. Different identities are concealed in 'her' name.

The Design (I)

sketch for Bothan Shuibhne, AF, 2013 / / the thorn //memory of Suibhne’s spear and the harsh brang of battle is the riddle for our design// to resolve circle poem, Alec Finlay, 2005 / / how shall we bring//the thorn ///into translation / how shall the sharpness//& aggression of the thorn thicket//come into a settled configuration that will flower//as dwelling / / ///WARD & WELCOME / /////////blackthorn / / sketch for Bothan Shuibhne, AF, 2013 / / sketch a spicule//its sharpness will give severe offense to health & safety regulations / the thorn marks//Suibhne’s aloneness which inspires us ///////////////////////& challenges us / / sharing the bothy//creatively heals this sense//of isolation / / despite what thorns represent it was never our intention to make a hedgehog hut a form of schiltron / / / / ///HAWTHORN / //////schiltron / / the feisty folk of the thistle borrowed from nature / the schiltron//which the Scots armies were famed for//stretching back to the Picts / a compact bristling mass of spears and sharpened stakes//schiltrons epitomize the grim resilience of folk who had less//heavy horse knights//the tanks of their day ////////////than their foes / / an eye-witness at Bannockburn describes a rectangular schiltron armed with pikes & axes advancing /////////////like a thick-set hedge / / such a hostile prickily bothy wasn’t our aspiration//nevertheless military themes endure//in contemporary survivalism outcasts of the cabin / ////(a theme discussed by the American poet Susan Tichy ////in her post on the mountain huts of Colorado) / / / / the thorn trees morphology is torn with intensity / a form of wildness//characterized by a seemingly chaotic//dense ////patterned structure //////an arrow shower //////a needled bower / / the thorn has it’s reason / it grows through a series of internalized//rejections / / //////////the thorn proceeds //////////by throwing itself //////////out of symmetry / /poem-label, Alec Finlay, 2013 / / we began our design looking at the thorn considering the trees form getting lost in the thicket / / ///////T /////H//H ////O////O ///R//////R //N////////N / / an early sketch shows thorns as arches like crossed spears or a pair of whale tusks / a cruciform to cradle the shelter capsule / suspended above the ground the floating hut would recall Suibhne’s levitation at the battle of Magh Rath / / //when the giddiness //came over Shuibhne //intoxicated with horror, //panic, dismay, fear, //flightiness, giddiness, & terror //his joints a shaking mass //& he rose into the air / / ////R ///O/O //N///N //A///A //N///N / / Suibhne’s thorn-filled glen recalls the scene of battle so the suspended hut could also echo//Ronan’s bell / / sketch of thorn-pilotis for Bothan Shuibhne, AF / / drawing the thorn over and over again the blackthorn’s profusion reduced to a single articulation /a figure / /a thorn motif that Iain could translate into architecture / / //////////////////////////////////////////////////////T//////T /////////////////////////////////////////////T/////H//H ////////////////////////////////////////////////H//O /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////R /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////N / / / the working design raised the simplified thorn turning its points skywards away from delicate flesh / / the thorn column//embedded in the slope of the roof / in some sketches//thorns stuck through the building’s fabric / / thorn-pilotis, architectural rendering, 2013 / / the thorn had found a purpose as pillar, or pilotis which Iain described in his first computer drawing / / /////////LOOSE SKY /////////TAUT STEEL / //////////////stele / / we discussed how//our thorn supports might have a bearing on//the hut’s final built form / the thorn column//suggested extending the angled roof//outward beyond the bothy walls? / a space began to open //a verandah within which the thorn-pilotis //would hover / / I thought back to visits a0t the hostel on Berneray where on sunny days people would laze in the generous stone mantles of the blackhouse windows sheltered from the breeze / / /////////AS FAR AS //THE MOMENT SEES / /////////////view / / / /////////AS FAR AS //THE MOMENT SEAS / /////////////blue / / / / in a small hut like Sweeney’s a verandah deepens the sense of being//in the wilds / the platform//creates a zone that is part-interior//being sheltered & at the same time part-of-the-surroundings / / when the sun shines people can use the verandah as a workplace / / we began to consider the threeness//of the interior / / ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////work / / /////////////////////////////////////////////////////live/////////sleep / / other ideas began to crystallize as poems & sketches / / three thorns are decided on each one defined by its purpose / / / threeness//of the//thorn / / ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////roof / / ////////////////////////////////////////////////////bed///////shower / / / Bothan Shuibhne, Iain MacLeod, 2013 the shower thorn is visible / / Bothan Shuibhne, Iain MacLeod, 2013 showing the original thorn pilotis / / the canopy floats a hands-width from the walls / / Bothan Shuibhne, Iain MacLeod, 2013 / / / / /////////FLOATING BED / /////////////thorn-tree / / / text: AF images: AF & IM / / Bothan Shuibhne | Sweeney’s Bothy / Alec Finlay & The Bothy Project commissioned as part of Creative Scotland’s ‘Year of Natural Scotland 2013’ / Sweeney's Bothy: Introduction Some Huts