Rain? What rain? Ready for all weather conditions with my awesome @kerriealdo jacket. From Brooklyn in Springtime, to Scotland in Winter, this hand made garment is always reliable. Support local designers and makers:
The Artist in residence will work with our First World War archive to bring to life some of the interesting stories and characters which exist in the original letters, diaries and photographs kept by Highland soldiers during the conflict.
‘The Highlanders’ Museum is delighted to announce the appointment of Robyn Woolston as Artist in Residence for the first 6 months of 2017. Thanks to a grant from Museums Galleries Scotland, we have been able to appoint our first Artist in Residence who will be working with our World War One collection to generate a creative response, engage local primary school children and interact with visitors to the Museum. The residency will be followed by an exhibition of Robyn’s work alongside pieces generated from the schools workshops.’
Gill Bird - The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection)
It’s been such an odd year for tourism in Scotland that even Loch Ness was pretty silent. Made the photography easier if nothing else and here’s a run through of some of the best things to get up to in the Inverness area….
Some of today’s snowy scenes - heading down the Blackfold Brae towards Inverness this morning and a couple of sundown back at home. We’re in for a chilly night…
“For Here or To Go,” Cliff House, San Francisco, California,
Point Reyes artists Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang collected plastic debris on Kehoe Beach near Inverness and turned it into an assembly line of meals on plates awaiting delivery to Goldsworthy’s clay tables. The piece is so realistic that some visitors to the opening mistook it for the lunch being served.
It was intentional: Fish eat the plastic and humans eat the fish, so we will end up eating the plastic one way or the other.
“We want to bring visitors’ attention to the very complex conversation around climate change,” said For-Site founder Cheryl Haines, noting that the show opened during COP26, the international climate conference in Glasgow. “We shouldn’t just leave this to government and industry to solve. There is also an individual responsibility to effect change in our own lives.”
“Lands End” Environmental art installation Curated by the For-Site Foundation
Courtesy Robert Divers Herrick and Memo (yoshimichi.blogspot)
Hand written (carbon copied) front pages show the nuance and differentiation of potentially different authors. Inside everything is typed.
51st Highland Division. The Capture of Greenland Hill - North of the Scarpe. 18th - 30th August 1918. The Second Battle of the Marne - Valley of the Ardre. 20th - 31st July 1918.
Sometimes sold in commercially available kits and sometimes made out of scrounged thread, feed sacks and woollen cloth taken from uniforms.
The tradition began in the 19th Century with Queen Victoria who, as an amateur practitioner of textile arts, thought soldiers may find quilting or needlepoint a welcome distraction during convalescence or times of loneliness. The tradition carried on throughout WW1 and the archive at the fort contains some fascinating examples of such pieces.
Materials included paper decoupage, glass beads, metal pins and plastic alongside sequins and braids.
Inscription:
‘Think of Me When the golden sun is sinking, and your mind from care set free, when of others you are thinking, will you sometimes Think of Me’
The activity was mostly undertaken by men and the pincushions were stuffed with a variety of materials including sawdust.
The Artist in residence will work with our First World War archive to bring to life some of the interesting stories and characters which exist in the original letters, diaries and photographs kept by Highland soldiers during the conflict.
‘The Highlanders’ Museum is delighted to announce the appointment of Robyn Woolston as Artist in Residence for the first 6 months of 2017. Thanks to a grant from Museums Galleries Scotland, we have been able to appoint our first Artist in Residence who will be working with our World War One collection to generate a creative response, engage local primary school children and interact with visitors to the Museum. The residency will be followed by an exhibition of Robyn’s work alongside pieces generated from the schools workshops.’
Gill Bird - The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection)
I’m lucky to have spent some concentrated time delving into the archives (photographic + object based) at the Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George, Inverness, over the past 6 weeks. It’s provided a fascinating, funny, and at times, incredibly poignant window onto the everyday lives of families, soldiers and regiments during World War One.
Naturally there are War Diaries, which detail strategic manoeuvres and life-saving co-ordinates, but there are also highly personal notes like the one sent from son to father which signs-off ‘Your dying son’or the postcard which reads ‘God bless my DEAR DADDY at the WAR and keep him safe’
Out of this densely woven web of narratives I’m beginning to navigate some ‘pathways for expression’ which will lead to an exhibition on-site from October 2017 - March 2018.
Image: The photographs above show my working space at the museum. It’s an ‘open-studio’ of sorts where I can communicate with people visiting the site, explore ideas and get a feel for the over-arching narratives that are emerging out of my residency.
Whilst working at the archive and museum today I was utterly struck by the embedded intricacy of this painting. Layer upon brushwork upon detail; soldier beside solder. It manages to convey an epic sense of magnitude alongside the minutiae of war. From the ragged, upstanding, flag to bare and bereft trees….
Title: ‘The Seventh Battalion at Hill 70, 1915′
Painter:Joseph Gray
Background:The painting shows the 7th Camerons after taking Hill 70, one of their objectives during the battle of Loos, 25th September 1915. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel JW Sandilands, is depicted rallying the survivors of nine different battalions to hold the hill against German counter attacks. The painting was presented to the Regiment by Miss Eveline Barron. Her father, Major J Barron, died of wounds at Loos on 27th September 1915 while serving with the 7th Camerons.
Biographical info:
‘Gray joined the 4th (Dundee) Battalion, The Black Watch Regiment after the outbreak of World War One and fought with them from August 1914 to March 1916, in the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Festubert and Loos.
There were a number of journalists who joined the 4th Battalion in the early stages of the war and they referred to themselves as ‘Fighter-Writers.’ Once he reached the trenches Gray’s talents as a draughtsman were quickly recognised. He was appointed an observer, a role which involved many expeditions into the firing line to make sketches of enemy positions. He was also called upon to duplicate trench maps, as he did before the Battle of Festubert, marking out the positions of the men of his battalion.
During 1915-1916 Gray sent back many reports to the Dundee Courier but was eventually invalided out of service in March 1916. Back home he was appointed official war artist at The Graphic illustrated newspaper and contributed drawings and articles about different aspects of trench life. All his drawings were based on original sketches made during his time in the firing line.’
“Here are shown no… glittering swords, and noble horses, but plain, steadfast, unconquerable men, standing with their faces to the foe and grasping their fixed bayonets in the firm determination to win or die.”
WAR AS IT IS. THE SEAFORTHS AT NEUVE CHAPELLE / The Inverness Courier, 23 September 1920.
The upcoming exhibition of works from my residency at The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection) at Fort George, Scotland, has been extended into 2018.
It will now run from October 2017 - March 2018
Watch this space for further updates or follow the project blog for research posts as the story develops:
Photo credit: My research photographs show a newspaper from the archive at Fort George. ‘Prisoners of War’ by Jean Pierre Laurens is a testimony on the German occupation during the 1st World War.
It can be found within the Seaforths documentation (No’s 80 - 133 + 84 - 101)
