HALLO DAVID

RYAN ARTHURS: Self-Directed Residency, 2016

Strata. “The island is pervaded by a subtle spiritual atmosphere./ It is as strange to the mind as it is to the eye. / Old songs and traditions are the spiritual analogues / of old castles and burying-places and old songs / and traditions you have in abundance. / There is a smell of the sea in the/ material air / and there is a ghostly something in the air of the imagination… / You breathe again the air of old story-books.” -Alexander Smith, ‘A Summer in Skye’, 1885

 

Sweeney's Bothy, Isle of Eigg, September 26, 2016

 

Massacre Cave, Isle of Eigg, 2016
Massacre Cave, Isle of Eigg, 2016

Outside of Massacre Cave on the Isle of Eigg, I refreshed my iPhone and read about the tragedy that occurred immediately in front of me. There was a longstanding clan feud that ended when a raiding party found the entire town hiding in the cave. They started a fire at the entrance and asphyxiated roughly three-hundred and ninety villagers who hid inside.

Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Cathedral Cave, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)
Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Cathedral Cave, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)

For the past year I have been photographing thresholds. On Newfoundland Island; Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; and the Isles of Skye and Eigg, Scotland. I have recorded remote, outport communities that, in the modern age of globalization, remain isolated. These islands are situated between worlds, both geographically and metaphorically. They’ve come to embody the old and the new—spaces where time collapses, where past and present collide.

Fishing Stage, New World Island, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Sea Cave, Burnt Cove Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland, 2016 (right)
Fishing Stage, New World Island, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Sea Cave, Burnt Cove Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland, 2016 (right)

These spaces share the quality of liminality: they occupy positions at boundaries and borders; their dimensions include physical, temporal, and spiritual registers. They are property lines, rivers and bogs, lochs and ponds. Some have obvious boundaries and borders, while others are transitional and ambiguous.

Drying Cod, Cape Norman, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Low Tide, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)
Drying Cod, Cape Norman, Newfoundland, 2016 (left) | Low Tide, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)

On the threshold of a cave, I can sense an ancient past. “Old songs and traditions are the spiritual analogues / of old castles and burying-places.” The opposite must also be true. Caves’ rocky recesses trapped the heat of our fires. They served as our earliest shelters, our first stages, and the soot-blackened walls provided us with our first artistic canvas to depict the world around us.

Residence, Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia, 2015 (left) | Tally Marks, Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, 2015 (right)
Residence, Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia, 2015 (left) | Tally Marks, Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, 2015 (right)

Liminal spaces disorient us. While we recognize some of these locations for their features, we sense others as a feeling, a sort of thin veil between our world and the next. We experience these feelings in isolated or remote places that instill us with fear and the sense that we aren’t welcome. These feelings are often heightened at certain times: dusk and dawn, under the glow of a full moon, or other celestial events, or during certain holidays, particularly Halloween. Liminality is a key concept in supernatural thinking, liminal times and spaces often serve as settings for supernatural occurrences in storytelling.

Motorcycle, Isle of Skye, 2016 (left) | Two Horses, Isle of Skye, 2016 (right)
Motorcycle, Isle of Skye, 2016 (left) | Two Horses, Isle of Skye, 2016 (right)

Storytelling arises out of an experience of disorientation. It seeks to explain what we cannot rationalize or understand. In a time where satellites orbiting the planet can triangulate our physical location in seconds, the experience of disorientation is more distant. My ongoing body of work explores some of the ancient sites that connect us to the past via the strange folklores, myths and legends that have been passed down. I distill history into visual elements, photographing to prompt future stories. The role of the historian or storyteller is to piece together the fragments she has, and spin them into a narrative. While I have arranged my images, my work asks the viewer to become the storyteller himself.

Sgurr na Banachdaich, Isle of Skye, 2016
Sgurr na Banachdaich, Isle of Skye, 2016

Stories relating to these liminal spaces have accumulated over thousands of years. Information packs into layers of sediment; the mineral strata describe millennia. As the most permanent surface in the natural world, rock formations carry etchings, paint, and the wear of thousands of footsteps. To the trained eye, rock faces read like sentences and paragraphs. The landscape reveals its history.

Ying Yang Wolf, Mallaig, 2016 (left) | Sandstone, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)
Ying Yang Wolf, Mallaig, 2016 (left) | Sandstone, Isle of Eigg, 2016 (right)

The accumulation and superposition of narratives and culture is not a seamless process. North America—where I grew up—hosts a strange and troubled convergence of societies. The people who moved here in the past 500 years have almost completely covered those who first arrived over 13,000 years ago. Indigenous Americans tell stories of creation and origin; people of European descent tell stories of exodus. Two separate histories cohabitate the same spaces.

Burning Pallets, Portree, Isle of Skye, 2016
Burning Pallets, Portree, Isle of Skye, 2016

On a planet of constant change, thresholds are inevitable. Through my work, I hope to understand and record these transitional spaces, to return to the viewer a sense of liminality, history, and disorientation, and, in the process, reopen the door to storytelling.

Ryan Arthurs was the artist in residence at Sweeney’s Bothy in September 2016. www.ryanarthurs.com 

OX ART: Self-Directed Residency, 2016

 

Ox On Eigg – Isle Land Life. Psychic Experiments and Site Worship is the Ox Art residency at Sweeney’s Bothy, on the Isle of Eigg, selected and hosted by The Bothy Project. Ox Art are collaborative artist duo Annabel Pettigrew and Rob MacPherson. During our time on Eigg we performed daily psychic experiments using Zenner cards, and read the Tarot. We filmed and captured lots of footage in view to making a film of our time in Eigg, which will be exhibited later in 2016. We explored the island and performed ritualistic respect to the sites we visited.

 

isle-land-life

Isle Land Life, image by Ox, 2016

 

cave

Black Hole Cave, image by Ox, 2016

Isle Land Life (audio)

 

Isle Land Life

13.00:57          A black hole of the mass of the sun

33.03:18          About to begin

34.01:04          Low 150 miles South-West

30.01:44          Now for ten years

14.03:26          But there’s another kind of Hawking radiation

18.00.00

13.15:06           Fragile from the storm

04.03:35          Smile a certain sadness

28.00:10          Tears must be cried

32.00:52          To forget

31.01:00           Sun is high

03.02:21           And the Loan Piper walks off into the distance

10.00:55

04.04:48          (Instrumental)

10.00:24

20.00:30          We get so close, near enough to fight

05.02:06          Recognised, if that makes sense

13.06:11            Know the positions of particles

27.05:34           Promise, melt the ice

13.11.:17            But you couldn’t come back to our universe

12.00:18

Isle Land Life, poem and audio by Ox, 2016

 

Isle Land Life, ‘The Collector’, film short by Ox, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 20.03.03

Isle Land Life, ‘The Collector Suggests The Tarot’, image by Ox, 2016

DSC_0077

Isle Land Life, ‘The Collector Deals The Tarot’, image by Ox, 2016

Ponies

Isle Land Life, ‘Polarised Ponais’, image by Ox, 2016

Isle Land Life, ‘An Sgùrr’, film by Ox, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 10.14.55

Isle Land Life, ‘An Sgùrr’, film still by Ox, 2016

Ox would like to thank the people of Eigg, and Lucy and Eddie for their tremendous hospitality.

Further credits can be found on oxart-uk.com

All images, audio, text, and moving images remain the intellectual property of the artists.

 

 

LISA BECKERS & MARLOES MEIJBURG: Self-Directed Residency, 2015

TIME EXPERIENCE: No clock…no forced Greenwich Time…but inner time experience which gave me concentration, enthusiasm and lucidity.

CHILDHOOD: Exploring the land, playing with soil, plants and light. Freedom, no boundaries, no property. Spending time as a kid.

PIGMENTS: Seize colours from the ground, catch them on camera, collect stones, plants and moss. In search for natural colors, deep and pure.

Marloes Meijburg

Meijburg-Beckers_Lisa and Marloes Bothy


                                       www.lisabeckers.nl / www.marloesmeijburg.com


Meijburg-Beckers_Moonlight


I’m standing in the night. The Moon is shining and the snow is lying as a blanket over the plants and trees, giving off a warm silent vibe. At first I’m a little bit anxious, standing there alone. I look around me and listen if I hear something. …Nothing… Then I realise there is no reason to be anxious and I feel a calmness come over me.

The Bothy is surrounded by small hills. It feels cosy, I almost forget it’s cold outside. I’m walking back to the cabin, where I can sit by the fire and dream on.

I’m slowing down. Everything is at ease.

Lisa Beckers


ANALOG DIARY

Meijburg-Beckers_GreenGarden

Meijburg-Beckers_stone Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Moonlight2Meijburg-Beckers_DeadBlackbird


-WELTRUSTEN LIEVE SNEEUW-

Meijburg-Beckers_Landscape Snow


-GOEDEMORGEN KLEUR-

Meijburg-Beckers_Cairn

Meijburg-Beckers_heather Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_heather Lisa2

Meijburg-Beckers_Stoneshadow Lisa and MarloesMeijburg-Beckers_DeadDeer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meijburg-Beckers_Landscape Marloes

Meijburg-Beckers_River near Bothy

Meijburg-Beckers_Landscape near Bothy

Meijburg-Beckers_Sunrise


PROJECT MARLOES

I’ve collected soil during long walks, looking for the right colour and texture.  In the Bothy I dedicated my time to make my own pigments with it. With these pigments I’ve made my own paint. My time in Inshriach gave me the opportunity to be outdoors for long hikes and to collect the mood of the forest.

Meijburg-Beckers_Marloes collecting pigments
Meijburg-Beckers_work and moss Marloes

Meijburg-Beckers_Work pigments Marloes

Meijburg-Beckers_textandpigmentsMarloesMeijburg-Beckers_Pigments soil Marloes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PROJECT LISA

My idea for my Artist’s Residency at the Bothy was a research into colour. I normally focus on shapes, but since I’ve started using pigments I’ve begun to realize how important colour is. I duplicated some colours of the Scottish nature as accurate as possible and explored different colour combinations at the Bothy location.

My eyes were constantly drawn to the different shades of colours in the faded and dead heather plants. Or fascinated by grass turning into a greenish blue because it’s lying in the water.

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 4 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_colour 2 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 14 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 13 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 12 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 6 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colour 10 Lisa

Meijburg-Beckers_Colourstudy Lisa


Because of a mutual fascination for nature and the use of natural paints a spontaneous cooperation developed between Lisa and Marloes.

Fascinated by organic forms, Lisa is seeking details that are reflections of the overall.

In search for emptiness, away from turbulence, Marloes is searching for the essence of raw landscapes. What keeps her busy is the question of how nature provides calm and refuge in a stressed society.

Want to see more? www.lisabeckers.nl / www.marloesmeijburg.com

 

One week after our return to the Netherlands we were selected to take part in a artist in residence in Amsterdam, in which we were interviewed and filmed by the national art and music radio program ‘Opiumop4’. During this week we had the opportunity to develop our projects started in the Bothy. In the following link you can see our process.

http://www.radio4.nl/opiumop4/thema/3/de_toren_kamer/98/lisa-beckers-en-marloes-meijburg

LENA VURMA & THOR KLEIN: Self-Directed Residency, 2015

Thank you Bothy Project! Thanks especially to Rachel & Bobby and Nicole & Matt. Two filmmakers with no electricity going back to the roots of storytelling – what a wonderful & unforgettable time!

 

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
motto of the week
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAstorytelling by the fire
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
long walks every day

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAthe tale of the tree

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
magic forest
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
friends
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
my favorite tree
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
his favorite tree
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
chop chop
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
singing in the rain
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
moon on earth
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
7 nights without electricity
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
the view from the throne
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
after the flood comes the snow
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
love to the bothy

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

 

 

RICHARD ELLIOT: Self-Directed Residency, 2014

hut
hut
lichen acrylic on paper A4
lichen acrylic on paper A4
richard_elliott
tree light

 

richard_elliott
forest hut

 

 

richard_elliott
pipe moment

 

view from hut acrylic on paper A4
view from hut (fog) acrylic on paper A4
bird feeder
bird feeder
penknife
penknife

 

view from hut acrylic on paper A4
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
coffee
coffee time
rainbow
rainbow
lichen acrylic on paper A4
lichen acrylic on paper A4
tree
tree light
morning Inshriach hs
morning Inshriach house
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
trees
tree light
 hut acrylic on paper A4
hut (fog) acrylic on paper A4
Inshriach_hse
Inshriach_house morning
frost
frost
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
lichen acrylic on paper A4
tree cutting
logging
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
forest acrylic on paper A4
fern
painted fern
mud
4 days of boot mud objects
mud
sunday and saturdays boot mud objects
trees
tree light
river acrylic on paper A4
river acrylic on paper A4

 

morning
morning
light
tree lght
tree light
tree light
waterbutt
waterbutt
, acrylic on paper
river, acrylic on paper
drying work
drying work
hut
hut
hut and me
trees
tree light
hut
hut
acrylic on paper A4
one tree acrylic on paper A4

 

mould
tree mould
view from hut acrylic on paper A4
hut acrylic on paper A4
studio
studio
mud
logging tracks
hut
hut night
loch
loch

 

 

 

 

Morag and I
Morag and me

 

Images taken in my too short a stay in this beautiful place,  look forward to posting new work, based on my time here.

Many thanks to Bobby, Walter, Morag and Spook.

www.richardelliott.co

DAVID LEMM: Life Off the Grid Residency, 2014

I was invited to a residency at Sweeney’s bothy as part of Life Off the Grid project with Edinburgh University.  Inspired by the story of the infamous 1806 William Bold map, the project aimed to examine how maps are perceived and used on the island; exploring their significance and value as tools of way finding, instruments of organisaton, material artefacts and repositories of meaning.

Rum_DavidLemm
Rum from the path to up to the bothy.

 

In particular, I was interested in exploring the idea that maps fundamentally describe how we navigate the world through graphic abstraction and also how markings in the land can influence graphic notation or vice versa.

The Bothy is even more perfect than the photos I had previously seen, the ideal spot for contemplation and work.  As soon as you light the fire, the place is beyond cosy and it’s amazing how quickly it feels like home.
The shower, at first a strange novelty, quickly became a source of vitality and the views to the Beinn Bhuidhe cliffs from the bed window beginning as ominous, dark shadows invading my dreams, soon became a comforting blanket, as the weather changed from dreich mist, rain and gales to crisp winter days.

Cliffs_DavidLemm
Beinn Bhuidhe cliffs from the bothy.

Anthropologist Dr Alice Street from Edinburgh University and Co-Leader of Life Off the Grid joined me for the first few days, staying down the hill in a holiday rental, as we set up meetings and began our research.

Firstly we met Camille, a local historian who agreed to show us the maps in the local archive . We met at her house and she chatted us through the history of the island as we walked to the archive at the school. Camille guided us through various maps stored there, including sea charts, OS versions and maps made just prior to, during and after the buyout. It was fascinating to see how the island had been charted through the ages. Each map triggered Camille to recall stories and describe everyday life on Eigg at the time the map was made, uncovering a rich and layered history. The sections showing Cleadale were particularly interesting with the markings describing  old farming systems.  Those printed lines, the borders of the past farms/crofts, now visible as permanent physical scars in the landscape.

Camille shows us the maps in the archive
Camille shows us the maps in the archive.
Sea chart in the archive showing Eigg alongside Rum, Muck and Canna
Sea chart in the archive showing Eigg alongside Rum, Muck and Canna.

The following day I was fortunate enough to go out for a walk with the farmer Alec around his land in Grulin – past An Sgùrr and looking out to Muck and beyond. He gave me a great tour of the land, sharing his extensive knowledge and pointing out ancient settlements, land boundaries and other markings/tracks, invisible to the unknowing eye, as we chatted away.

An Sgùrr as we drove onto Alec's land.
An Sgùrr as we drove onto Alec’s land.

Alec dropped me off at John and Christine’s house, local map enthusiasts who had kindly agreed to chat with me. John was instrumental in the setting up of Eigg electric and the grid. They took me through their map collection, speaking at length about the makers and the social context in which they were made. John also showed me the map of Eigg electric, which was a real insight into how the island works –  the grid an artery keeping the island alive, allowing for modernity, and attracting/keeping the next generation on the island – thanks in no small part to the connectivity afforded by internet technology, “sky roads” as described by Christine.

As part of the residency program I arranged a lino-cutting workshop with the residents in the community hall. Participants were asked to create symbols representing life on Eigg, thinking specifically about how things work, what they do/what  they need/where they go on the island, patterns in the landscape and visible/invisible infrastructures. The end goal was to make a experimental map which explored the idea of what a map of the island might look like without directly representing its geography, which only contained symbols deemed significant and created by the residents.
I also held a map making workshop at the school, asking the pupils to map the island and how they get around, which they accomplished with impressive detail.

Lino workshop in progress at the community hall
Lino workshop in progress at the community hall.

As I entered the second week I began to consider my own work and what I might produce from my experience. Lucy had arranged for a a mini exhibition of the work produced in the workshops on the Friday, and I hoped to show some of my work then too.

I decided to create a series of lino cut prints, turning the bothy into a mini print studio. The idea was to create experimental maps which use narrative, memory  and experience as as a basis for creating a map. The “maps” created aim to represent particular narratives from conversations, journeys and observations made during the 2 weeks – referencing locations, routes and elements of visible/infrastructure. I produced a series of 6 test lino cuts onsite, which I then developed into a suite of screen prints on my return to Edinburgh.

You can see the final collection of prints alongside other new work at my exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers from 17th Jan – 7 Mar 2015. Full details here

Work in progress in the bothy
Work in progress in the bothy.
Print test;s drying in the bothy
Print tests drying in the bothy.
Print test;s drying in the bothy
Print tests drying in the bothy.
Final "map" of the bothy. Digital and Screenprint, 280x380mm, 2015
Final “map” of the bothy.
Digital and Screenprint, 2015

I hung all the work created in the community hall on the last Friday night, coinciding with a dinner and quiz raising funds for the school. I was glad to celebrate my two weeks with the new friends I had made – firstly in the hall, then through the stars in the clearest of skies,  to the tea room and into the night.

Work from workshops hanging in community hall
Work from workshops hanging in community hall.

I left the following afternoon,  with the winter sun hanging low in the sky, inspired, re-vitalised and looking forward to my next visit.

Leaving Eigg
Leaving Eigg.

LESLEY PUNTON: Self-Directed Residency, 2014

Stilled life with moving trees. I arrived during a week of gales. The Cairngorms are windy at the best of times, yet I’m accustomed to being on the brittle granite plateau where the combination of altitude and the persistence of the wind creates a sub arctic landscape, a place where plants hug the land tightly. However because of the wind’s excessive force and unpredictable cloud level, the snow covered plateau became, in essence, out of bounds.

bothy 2b
Inshriach Bothy

 

inshriach forest

 

arrival at Inshriach

I found myself walking in the lower areas of the Cairngorms, along the passes, up into the more modest hills adjacent to the plateau, to hidden lochans, and into the forests – Inshriach and Rothiemurchus, generally less familiar territory for me since I usually seek out high places.

The trees became the most dominant part of my experience. Sat in an elevated hollow, surrounded by a wood of silver birch interspersed with dwarf juniper, the bothy is quite protected and sheltered. Unless you know it’s there, or happen to walk close along the trail, you’d probably be oblivious to its very existence. I spent a good deal of time watching the trees and their movement, and listening to their sound, mixed in with the white noise of the River Spey which flowed in spate and flood nearby.

birch, pine, heather, juniper,

I came with a loose idea of some work I could make, thinking that a plan would be wise, but soon abandoned it, and learned to leave preconceived notions well alone, and simply be with the place. Nan Shepherd’s short text, the living mountain guided me well in this sense, (and, struck by it’s notable absence on the bothy’s bookshelves, I popped out to Aviemore to buy a copy to leave as a gift).

The work didn’t come, but the time to think, and reassess aspects of my life and practice did, and I felt the repercussions of the trip perhaps more clearly once I returned home. I needed the time away, the space to be undisturbed by modern distractions such as the compulsion to check email. Technology has become particularly invasive and guilty of imposing a syncopated rhythm to lives that could be led more simply.

As someone who has always loved solitude, I don’t think I’d appreciated how difficult complete solitude really is however, (thank goodness for a battery powered radio playing Radio 4!). Inshriach can be a quiet place, but on reading the bothy book, it’s clear that for most people, residencies here are anything but solitary, and spur on collaboration.

An Lochan Uaine through Caledonian pine
An Lochan Uaine through Caledonian pine
in the summit shelter cairn of Meall a' Bhuachaille
in the summit shelter cairn of Meall a’ Bhuachaille

But the motion of walking is an antidote to too much solitary sitting and thinking, and a journey to the Lochan Uaine, an outrageously bright green lochan nestled amongst the Caledonian pine trees of the Ryvoan Pass, became like a visit to an old, dear friend. Onwards to Ryvoan, and some shelter from the wind for lunch, I made a spur of the moment decision to climb Meall a’ Bhuachaille, and despite ferocious winds which made standing near the summit difficult, the addictive lure of a vista, of expansiveness, and of physical exertion made it worth while.

map of the Cairngorms and Rothiemurchus

Back in the environs of the bothy, life settles into a regular rhythm.

Wake up, go to the loo (a composting loo a hundred yards from the bothy), light wood stove, place large urn of water on stove to heat, go back to bed and read or listen to radio until bothy warms up, put the kettle on the trangia (I cheated and cooked on a combination of the wood stove and my trusty Trangia 27), have breakfast, shower (deliciously) outside with the water previously heated on the stove, dress, collect wood from the bottom of the hill in rucksack, re-fill the tea urn with water from the Spey, rest of day is for leisure – reading, writing, drawing, walking, eating,.. At nightfall, light candles, last wood on the stove at 6pm(ish) so that the bed platform isn’t too warm later, retire to bed around 9 or 10, …etc.

On my last morning, I wake up to snow, the landscape again transformed. After a hot outdoor shower, with the snow still falling, I pack my things, then make the couple of trips back to the car parked almost a mile down the trail, food supplies diminished, and my load lighter than when I arrived. The weight of the city had also been lifted, and I’m reminded (if I ever really need such a thing) that part of me needs to be in the wild. I anticipate being reunited with my 3 year old son, so the departure isn’t unwelcome in the way it would have been years ago, but the bothy, a perfectly formed small space packed with all the essentials for good living, sends me on my way, nourished, and replete.

the bothy at dusk
the bothy at dusk
nautical twilight
nautical twilight
book found in the bothy library
book found in the bothy library
punton inshriach sun dog b
a sun dog through the birch trees
the view north
the view north

For further information This link here takes you to some video documentation of my residency on Vimeo. My website is at http://lesleypunton.com/  and blog at http://lesleypunton.blogspot.co.uk/

With thanks to Walter Micklethwait and everyone at Inshriach, and to Bobby Niven of The Bothy Project
all images L Punton, 2014