Posts Tagged ‘mull’

  • HI-Arts invasion of Mull

    Date: 2009.05.08 | Category: Argyll and the Islands, Crafts | Response: 0

    Frock Coat by Isle of Mull Weavers

    Frock Coat by Isle of Mull Weavers

    In the depth of winter, we planned a Makers Day with An Tobar on Mull.

    May would be lovely we agreed, as we battled against snow and gales and thought of spring, sunshine and calm seas! Little did we know that the Highland weather would do us proud, and yesterday we once more faced snow, gales and disrupted ferries!

    Not deterred, over 35 makers gathered in the comfortable surroundings of AnTobar and enjoyed a day of good company, delicious food, inspiring stories and enough information to keep everybody planning and thinking for many weeks to come.

    Mull has been a popular destination for HI-Arts staff this year. Indeed, if you have not been to Mull enquiries are made to your holiday plans with ‘are you going to Mull then?’ On Thursday both Avril and myself were there, John Saich came along as he is writing a feature for the website and Fiona Fisher just happened to be there on holiday with her parents so, in exchange for her lunch, she helped out – and on the drive in I passed Iain in the Screen Machine!

    This group approach obviously worked as participants at the makers day were left in no doubt as to what and who HI-Arts are – and putting faces to names always helps!

    Our Makers Days are a great opportunity for people who live in isolation and rarely meet up to do the all important networking – or blethering! I think we will need to extend our lunch break to two hours as the noise level just keeps on rising as people find out what friends and colleagues have been up to. I always think that this is really the essence of what the days are about and love it when people get back and let me know that, without the opportunity, they would never have heard about this exhibition, that supplier and a new retail outlet!

    Our Argyll day really was inspirational as our range of speakers brought home what it is to be a maker and live in this area – and why, despite the odds, we keep on doing it!

    Two talks by representatives of Art Map Argyll and Cowal Open Studios started the day off on a really positive note and is was so good to see groups using their own initiative and skills to really make a difference with very little outside intervention.

    Mhairi Killin’s very moving talk about how her life came full circle and brought her back to weaving silver and metal on Iona was a fitting end to the first half of the day.

    A practical workshop about setting up a website from Nicola Henderson followed the very tasty lunch and many participants benefited from hearing about how to successfully sell online.

    Alex from Mull Weavers really inspired us all by showing how chance meetings and journeys can lead to great things – and he had us all wanting to save up our money and buy a gorgeous coat made from organic tweed!(please see photo above)

    On the ferry back both Avril and I felt that the day was a tremendous success and the combination of wonderful surroundings, positive people- and Mull- was a winner! We will be back – and more than likely for our holidays too!

    Pamela
    8th May 2009

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  • Travels through the Highlands (and beyond!)

    Date: 2009.04.07 | Category: Crafts | Response: 0

    Travels through the Highlands (and beyond!)One of the many great plus points about my job as Craft Development Coordinator for the HI-Arts is that I get out and about throughout the Highlands and Islands to meet many inspiring and positive people.

    On Friday I was fortunate to travel to Iona and Mull on one of the most spectacular days of the year so far. An early drive through Ardnamurchan found me crossing to Mull on my first ferry of the day – a much shorter one (and calmer) that my last trip to Stornoway! The sun was out this time and as I drove on the single track road over the hills to Fionnphort, radio on and hardly a car to pass; I glanced up to see two eagles soaring not very far above me. Even after living most of my life here, I am still awestruck by the beauty of my home!

    My second ferry took me the short 10 minutes to Iona and I walked up the winding street to visit Mhairi Killin at her beautiful studio and shop overlooking the Sound of Iona.

    Mhairi is trained in textiles but came back to Iona to take over her family’s traditional Celtic jewellery business in 1997. In 2003 she set about restoring the steading building where she is now based and, as well as selling her own work, she retails a select group of work by other jewellers.

    Mhairi has always wanted to create a new body of work that reflects her heritage and to move her work onto another level. Having received a Creative Development Award from the SAC, she is now fulfilling that challenge and her exhibition of new work will open at An Tobar on Mull in July before touring. I was in Iona to speak to Mhairi about this work and her future plans and we will be featuring this on our website before too long.

    After a very inspiring couple of hours with Mhairi, it was back on the ferry after a delay while it waited on the Mull side for a cement lorry to bring over fresh supplies for the jetty – giving us a chance to take a breezy walk along the shore side and to make me realise just what a challenge living on an Island must be.

    For craftspeople like Mhairi it is so much more of a struggle than someone, say, living in London or Edinburgh. Inspiration has to come from within and from the landscape as there are no galleries or museums, few colleagues and sometimes little understanding within the community. Every journey, transport of work, delivery of materials has to be planned round the ferry and then, from Iona, it is over an hour on single track to the next ferry to either Oban or Lochaline and then onwards to the Central belt.

    On my way back from Iona I called in at Isle of Mull weavers at Ardlanish farm. Down another muddy single track road to the farm and you are greeted by work that is sold and respected all over the world and worn by models on the catwalks of London and Japan – all from an unprepossessing barn in the middle of Mull. I was going to say ‘nowhere’ but that is not where it is – it is a landscape and life that inspires and allows people the freedom to create work that reflects this in its own unique way.

    Once more, I am amazed by the creativity and drive of makers in the Highlands and Islands. We have some of the very best and it takes a strong and determined person to make it really work given all the obstacles in their way.

    Next week I head for a very different landscape and people – New York! I will be promoting our makers, seeking out opportunities, being inspired and I am sure I will return exhausted but reassured in the knowledge that we do have some of the top makers in our midst and we can stand on an international stage!

    If all works to plan, you should be able to follow my trip on this blog from the 14th April.