Tree of Hope for These Times
While the Bield at Blackruthven was closed to guests in the summer of 2020, over 60 people took part in a retreat from Coronavirus, taking the opportunity to build a garden in their heart and home, from wherever they were. Each of the five gardens in scripture, is a metaphor of our spiritual life. The garden is planted in us, the roots penetrate our souls, and the foliage creates a spiritual environment of vitality, colour and wisdom. The five biblical gardens are:
Participants were invited to create a different object each day; a seed, leaf, flower, bird or butterfly and fruit to be displayed on this tree which now inhabits a corner of the barn at the Bield. Thus, this sculpture represents a coming together and a sharing of those who journeyed together whilst geographically distanced. It is now Harvest Time! Those who journeyed through the gardens and those who enjoy them from afar are welcome to come and read and share in these peoples reflections and creations. Just let The Bield know when you would like to come. |
Dedication
This project centres around autobiographical interviews with people baptised as infants at the small rural Episcopal church of St Michaels and All Angels in Ballintuim. Stories are how we explain who we are, they are our inheritance and our gift to our children. These people's stories, their memories, reflections, challenges, achievements, moments of grief and despair, joy and hope are shared with us here, offering insight into ourselves and what makes us who we are. Extracts from these interviews have been set in the landscape to form the Strathardle Pilgrimage Trail. By seeing and doing and then reflecting, we become fully ourselves. My hope is that by sharing and walking together, we come to a better understanding of ourselves, strengthening our sense of community, and each finding inspiration and encouragement to lift our horizons and make our lives matter |
The Memory Box Project
Residents of a particular village in Scotland were invited to collect together items of personal significance to populate a memory box. In interviews, each person then shared the significance of the objects selected, their thoughts about memory and its relationship to objects, together with their feelings about living in the village. Edited versions of these interviews compare and contrasts the different approaches to making and recalling memories and gives a privileged insight into the lives, preferences and priorities of others, celebrating the richness and diversity that those that live in Kirkmichael bring to the place, making it what it is. |
An Anthology of Artists
Anthology Project Focus days, organised by the Friends of Dundee Botanic Gardens, brought various artists into relationship with one another to explore together the mysteries of the vegetation. This documents something of that process and explores the participant’s sense of identity as artists. Here, the artists, who are normally invisible to those looking at their work, become visible, having become the subject of the artwork. Collaged together with very little context, the composition suggests the liminality that artists can create, where for a short time, perhaps the unimaginable is possible. ‘ The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence’. James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist |
Moments in Time
Designed specifically to be part of the Bield at Blackruthven's twentieth anniversary celebrations, a sundial provides the framework - an interactive structure into which participants can place their own markers or moments in time, sharing memories and emotions of the significance of this particular place over the past twenty years to complete the installation of Time in Eternity. |
Thinking Outside of the Box
Each member of this ecumenical retreat group was given a 'favour' a small boxed gift of some creative materials together with a bible verse for them to ponder whilst on retreat. Their creations and thoughts were shared together in a celtic liturgy of thanksgiving at the end of the week. |
Stones of Promise
The future belongs to those who imagine it today Members of the congregation of St Andrews Episcopal church were invited during lent - a time when traditionally Christians think about and prepare for future events in the life of Jesus, to think about what promises they would like to make for the future. The promise remained a secret between them and their maker, but as a token of each promise a stone was found and decorated and then laid with others to form a temporary labyrinth which became part of the After the Call exhibition. |
Fatal Attraction
Funded by a Barns-Graham Travel Scholarship, this project Highlights the tension between conservation and the impact of large visitor numbers. The work documents the thoughts and feelings of both tourists on the cruise ship Magellan visiting the UNESCO world heritage site of Nærøyfjord and residents of Flåm the small village at the head of this fjord whose livelihood depends upon both the preservation of the landscape and the tourists. The findings were presented at the Relate North Symposium 2017: Art and Design for Education and Sustainability in Rovaniemi, Finland. |
Chance and Choice - The Game of Life
Is life defined by chance or choice? - this interactive game of time, space and place, is a combination of the two. each person is dealt five random cards, and then arranges them in a way that has some meaning for them, revealing something about themselves? - are we all different or all the same? Click on the button see what visitors to the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow made of the cards they were dealt |
Seeds of Hope (II) @ GoMA
An enjoyable day at the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, inspiring visitors to engage with my 'One in a Million' floor piece and add their own trees to the display. Over 30 more trees have now been added from the very international and enthusiastic visitors to Gallery 1 This is part of the 'One in a Million Project
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Words of The Moment
Participants - a group of 14 people on a residential retreat together were invited to write a word or a phrase that described what they were thinking or feeling every time they passed the collection box. the box was emptied each evening and the contributions assembled together to make up a poem which described both the collective and individual experiences of those involved. ![]()
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Seeds of Hope
As part of the creation of One in a Million, people were given the opportunity to make fledgling oak trees, and add a prayer to dedicate them to a new beginning for themselves, a loved one or humanity turning the hypothetical communion into a collaborative communion |
Northern Exchange
Cold War Histories and Nuclear Futures A collaboration initiated by artists Roxane Permer and Susan Timmins working with Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design. I was selected to join them, engaging with communities in Iceland exploring the Cold War period as it exists physically in the landscape and in the memory. Art was used to re-imagine this period and ask how the presence of Cold War military installations impacts on the population in both the past and present. we facilitated discussion about the Cold War period in Iceland and generated a dialogue about our nuclear futures by collecting and sharing people's memories and perceptions and building a creative repository of memories. |
Framing Nature
Do you see what I see? - a day interacting with the landscape, exploring different perspectives and changing our focus, People see the same thing quite differently, but we assume everyone sees the same as us don't we? views change depending on which way we look, and where we are standing - it is all about distance and perspective. Standing back makes quite a difference, and height can be important. sometimes it looks better the lower your perspective. We choose what it is we want to see. Exploring Faith -Exposing the Body
Working with volunteers from a particular church, this project explores their hopes, fears and faith journey in a way that others can relate to. .The material used was collected during a series of 1:1 interviews. Objects selected intuitively as being of significance for each person were then used to frame extracts from the interview notes which were exhibited in the High St of the local town during the run up to Christmas. The exhibition was designed to challenge the commercialisation of a traditional festival of peace and goodwill providing a reflective space in the marketplace amidst the business of shopping for presents and festive feasts. Tidal Marks
Inspiring others to be creative, appreciate and enjoy the natural environment and perhaps engage with this environment in a new way. All the changes lasted only a few hours before the canvas was cleared once again by the incoming tide. The Art of Relationships
Exploring issues of identity, relationships and forgiveness using mandalas. An integrated structure, organised around a unifying centre. represents wholeness or unity - a reminder of our relationship to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family and community. Scottish Independence Referendum
To me a simple YES or NO to the question of Scottish Independence, with little information being given on the how and what ifs of the decision people were being asked to make seemed just too black and white for an issue shaded in much greyness. I embarked on a series of events asking people closed questions and holding a confusing ballot of my own to highlight some of these issues. |
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