Transitional Space: Heartwood Artists

MARTINE FOLTIER PUGH

This project is inspired by the Surrealists’ techniques of chance operations. The aim is to produce texts without conscious intention, for instance by taking printed material and altering it according to certain rules. This method may sound restrictive but it can actually be liberating because of the arbitrary nature of the selection.

I practise these experiments with blackout text, newspaper pickings and collage by restricting the choice of material and by selecting words and phrases in a predetermined fashion. I allow chance to take the lead and do not worry if the outcome does not make sense, at least, not in a conventional way. I leave it to the personal interpretation of others.

By leaving it to chance, the whole exercise becomes meditative. The folding of paper, the blackening of pages, the counting of lines and words, all require concentration.

This process may be discarded as nonsensical or entertaining or it may be perceived as a step towards self-awareness.

The transition from consciousness to chance, from one text to another, from one state to another, can only happen by letting go.

Born in France, of French and Italian heritage, I have lived in Scotland all my adult life. Words and means of communication have long inspired my visual and written practices. 

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SU GRIERSON

Through my daily pandemic walks and in a period of heavy rain I focused on filming water immediately above and below the waterline. One thin film separating two worlds both visually and sonically. Currently I am engaged with the concept of representing movement through the materiality of the - new to me - medium of paint. Not representative of the natural world, but rather creating the essence and the feeling of movement through the  physical possibilities offered by fluid paint.

Major changes in my life during and since Lockdown have pushed me to a more studio based practice using paint and ceramics, embarking on a new artistic journey moving forward and away from the transitional spaces of that time.

In addition I include a challenge work undertaken at that time. I asked the question "Can a video be an artist's book?" Can video be constructed to create meaning within these times of  freely available online text, gifs and graphics. This work 'Book of Regrets' uses re-cycled content, experimenting with free downloaded animations, borrowed text and snippets of re-purposed earlier video as a way of looking at and being in the world.

Since Graduating Master of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art in 1995 my main practice has utilised video, image and sound, exhibiting in Scotland and internationally. 146mm

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FANNY CHRISTIE

I am a sculptor based in rural Perthshire. My practice explores our relationship with nature and environmental change. This exhibition includes works ranging from small intimate sculptures that I made during lockdown to more recent work.

'Shift I 'and 'Shift II'reflect on the adverse impact of climate change on Scottish coastlines. It highlights the decline of Scottish marine kelp forests, which are vital to providing marine habitats and sequestering carbon. Acorn Bell invites viewers to ring a bell to remind us of the importance of protecting and regenerating forests in the landscape around us.

'Tay Fins'' is a new public art sculpture at Broughty Ferry beach. It depicts the social dynamics of a pod of three young dolphins that have frequently visited the Tay estuary during the summer since recent years. A bronze maquette of the sculpture is on exhibition here, together with a series of development works, including a life-size model of a Tay dolphin seen jumping out of the water, and images and information on the sculpture-making process. Visitors will be invited to contribute to naming the three dolphins. The final names will be used in an information panel for the sculpture and also by researchers in an identification catalogue.

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KYRA CLEGG

FOREST RELIQUARY

I am a Scottish artist working with mixed media installations and video. My recent work looks at our interdependence with the natural world within the context of ‘deep time’ and ‘climate change'. Studio experiments and sketchbook documentation of  work in progress have helped create a ‘transitional space’ for ongoing research in my practice. It is the first time that this new series of studio works 'Reliquary' has been presented in an exhibition space.

The installation shows a section of studio space in which  a series of sketchbooks, text and sculptures relate to research ideas concerning our kinship with and interdependence on forests. The starting point for these works are walks in the Scottish landscape gathering ideas and materials to take back to the studio. I am lucky to live close by woodlands that have changed little in my lifetime but climate change and human desire for more land are bringing unpredictable  devastation to the world’s forests. A reliquary is defined as a receptacle for relics. The natural forest materials shown in this installation are ‘relics’ from storm damaged forest trees and plants which I have collected and reconfigured  to form an empathetic connection with not only the  forests near where I live but for all endangered wildwoods. The very air we breathe depends on these ecosystems. You don’t get much more empathetic than that.

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