New commissioned work inspired by The Herring Road is being shown in an exhibition in The Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington at the moment. 


The Preview is this Friday 5.30-7. Please come along for art, wine, music and readings.

For the Herring Road commission, I was instantly drawn to the traditional outfits that the fishwives wore, in particular, their striped double-layered skirts, which are the focus of three paintings ‘A Fishwife’s Tail – West, South and East’. The interesting use of the two layered skirt, with the upper one being tucked up to form a pocket (as well as reveal it’s striped lining) may well have been used by these women whilst selling the herring or bartering them for meal and eggs. With the focus of these paintings being solely on the these skirts, I aim to highlight to their distinctive shape and pattern and, consequently draw attention to their significance in helping to tell a story about the fishwives lives and the culture in which they lived.

In this exhibition I am also showing one of the works made during my artist residency in Timespan Museum and Arts Centre in Helmsdale, Sutherland, where I spent 3 months exploring the crofters homes and their lifestyle in the 1800's. I found this bucket in one of the croft ruins in Wester Helmsdale. It had no bottom on it and a big hole in the side. The crofters were (and still are) extremely resourceful and frugal, and would mend what they could before replacing it. This bucket would have been a vital piece of equipment, so I mended it by weaving it a new bottom and wrapping the hole at the side with string. It’s now a perfectly good bucket again…for everything except liquid!…and is valued once more, transformed from the rejected to the treasured. 

There is also sound work/music and an installation by Wounded Knee and two videos of performance work and some brilliant 'snail drawings' by Ross Combe.

Well worth a visit! 

I do hope to see you there.

Preview Invitation to the Herring Road

Ideas are starting to come together now for the upcoming exhibition at Peter Potter Gallery, inspired by the Herring Road.

Today I'm going to be stuck in a dark room, tracing stripes onto three canvases, so may not be able to see straight by the end of the day!

It would be excellent if you could make it along to the Preview (which happens to be a week after the exhibition actually opens, so as not to clash with the Edinburgh College of Art degree show opening). There will be recitals, music and fishy food, as well as the expected wine and artworks, of course!

The invitation gives a wee clue as to what I'm painting.

Hope to see you there.

Walking the Herring Road

I have been asked by the Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington to create work inspired by The Herring Road, as part of their 'Lost Landscapes' project.


The exhibition opens on Saturday 11th May with a preview on the Friday night. Please do come along.


The Herring Road is the historic 45km route from Dunbar to Lauder, which was used in the 18th and 19th centuries by people bringing home a stock of salted herring for winter use and also by fishwives carrying huge creels of herring from Dunbar to the markets in Lauder.


My research began last Saturday when I spent the day walking half of the route (14 miles) with a group from the gallery including the two other artists who will exhibit alongside me, Drew Wright and Ross Combe.


It was a hard walk with the wind in our faces all the way and I was totally exhausted by the half way point. How they managed to walk all the way with heavy baskets of Herring on their backs is beyond me (however, there does seem now to be a bit of a dispute as to how true this actually is!)


I only have this week to research and next to make, so it's a pretty tight deadline!


It is the women themselves that interest me most, rather than the road itself, and I am beginning my research by investigating the clothes they wore, their creels or baskets and what they may have taken with them on the walk.

'They wear a dress of a peculiar and appropriate fashion, consisting of a long blue duffle jacket, with wide sleeves, a blue petticoat usually tucked up so as to form a pocket, and in order to show off their ample under petticoats of bright-coloured woollen stripe, reaching to the calf of the leg. It may be remarked that the upper petticoats are of a striped sort of stuff technically called, we believe, drugget, and are always of different colours. As the women carry their load of fish on their backs in creels, supported by a broad leather belt resting forwards on the forehead, a thick napkin is their usual headdress, although often a muslin cap, or mutch, with a very broad frill, edged with lace, and turned back on the head, is seen peeping from under the napkin. A variety of kerchiefs or small shawls similar to that on the head encircle the neck and bosom, which, with thick worsted stockings and a pair of stout shoes, complete the costume.'

I also like the stories of their haggling with them always beginning by asking for double what they actually want:


"Come awa, mem, an' see what bonnie fish I hae the day."


"Have you any haddocks ?"


"Ay hae I, mem, an' as bonnie fish as ever ye clappit yer twa een on."


"What's the price of these four small ones ?"


"What's yer wull, mem ?"


"I wish these small ones."


"What d'ye say, mem ? sma' haddies ! they's no sma' fish, an they're the bonniest I hae in a' ma creel."


"Well, never mind, what do you ask for them ?"


"Weel, mem, its been awfu' wather o' late, an' the men canna get fish; ye'll no grudge me twentypence for thae four ?"


"Twentypence !"


"Ay, mem ; what for no ?"


"They are too dear; I'll give-"


"What d'ye say, mem! ower dear ! I wish ye kent it: but what'll ye gie me for thae four ?"


"I'll give you a sixpence."


"Ye'll gie me a what ?"


"A sixpence."


"I daur say ye wull, ma bonny leddy, but ye'll no get thae four fish for twa sixpences this day."


" I'll not give more."


"Well, mem, gude day" (making preparations to go); " I'll take eighteenpence an' be dune wi't."


"No; I'll give you twopence each for them."


and so it would go on!


The information above was taken from: www.inkeeper.net

A wee snippet of the song Caller Herrin'


Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’?
O ye may ca’ them vulgar farin’;
Wives and mithers, maist despairin’,
Ca’ them lives o’ men.


More to come soon.

Review by Giles Sutherland

'[Close-Knit] is a credibly fresh attempt to read a series of deeply felt historical events and circumstances from a new perspective with new materials. It succeeds both as art and as a form of social cohesion.'

You can read the whole review here

Close-Knit Exhibition in a nutshell

Here is a wee image of all of the works in my exhibition Close-Knit, currently showing in Timespan, Helmsdale Sutherland, until October 10th. Please go and see the works in the flesh if you can.

If you'd like to know more about each piece, please click on the link below the image for more photos and information.

see more...

see more...

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see more...

I would love to hear your comments?

I'm also making a wee book which will be available from the end of the month. It contains lots of lovely images and snippets of information gathered during this residency, about the lifestyle of crofters in the Highlands in the 1800s.

I'll keep you posted.

Close-Knit Exhibition work 5

The Old Chanty

The knitted bedpan is designed in the style of one that would have been used by an old or sick man who had taken to his bed. A little worse for wear and bearing the scars of its life, not functioning quite as well as it once would have, but still loved and cared for.

Jean Sargent gets it!

Close-Knit Exhibition work 4

One Perfectly Good Bucket

I found this bucket in one of the croft ruins in Wester Helmsdale. It had no bottom on it and a big hole in the side. The crofters were (and still are) extremely resourceful and frugal, and would mend what they could before replacing it. This bucket would have been a vital piece of equipment, so I mended it by weaving it a new bottom and wrapping the hole at the side with string. It's now a perfectly good bucket again...for everything except liquid!...and is valued once more, transformed from the rejected to the treasured.

If you'd like to see what this bucket looked like when I found it and how the work was created, please read this earlier blog.