The flow of life, art and friendship
A confluence of all three in Edinburgh
Hello Friends
It’s been a giddy week and I’m not quite settled yet from all the commotion and conviviality. I’m just home from a hectic trip to Edinburgh for the opening event of ‘In Time’, the 200th Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition, skilfully convened by Annie Cattrell RSA. I scraped the Birsay mud from my shoes and shook the moths out of my best frock, and put my best foot forward for the ‘strictly black tie’ preview evening.
The occasion marked the bicentenary of an organisation I owe no small gratitude towards; I have twice received valuable funding from the RSA that has allowed me time to focus on developing new work, as well as valuable opportunities to exhibit that work. As an independently funded, self-financing charity, run by an elected body of practising ‘Academicians’ whose broad aim is to support creativity, artists and architects in Scotland, it’s remarkable that it’s still going strong 200 years on from its founding in 1826.
It’s always a thrill to see my work hung in the RSA’s gracious galleries, right on Princes Street in Edinburgh’s city centre. This year’s Open Exhibition is absolutely mammoth, filling the entire building, and the preview event was packed. Artists from all over the country were gathered to celebrate, and it was a giddy delight to run into so many old friends and colleagues from over the years, and from all over the country.
It was also exciting to see my drawing ‘Confluence’ suspended vertically, occupying the full height of one of the galleries. I’m very aware that, although my name is the one on the gallery wall label, this drawing is in fact the work of many, many hands. Some of you will have followed the creation of this work through my residency at ACAC in Aomori, Japan, documented in previous posts. I wonder how many you also contributed a few ‘bubbles’ to the drawing when it first began in Northlight Gallery, Stromness? Do say hello in the comments if you did!
I went back to the galleries on the Saturday morning to take a proper look at the whole show. It was fascinating to quietly observe people enjoying Confluence’s detailed surface (while a pipe band played loudly in the street outside!)
Time in Edinburgh was also a chance for me to reconnect with old friends. I lived and worked in the city for close to thirty years, and each time I return I try to see as many of these dear friends as I can, while attempting to balance this with spending quality time that allows for a proper reconnection.
One such friend messaged me as I was on my way home from a lovely lunch together, remarking how seeing our old friends also reconnect us with parts of ourselves, parts of our past, that we might have lost touch with. When we see them again, she noted, something re-awakens in us, a memory of who we were, with them, maybe many years ago but still a part of who we are now.
Perhaps we are all, each of us ‘confluences’, a seemingly singular river of life into which uncountable other lives have flowed, each leaving their trace in us, so that the notion that we could ever be a singular, static ‘self’ is an illusion, a momentary snapshot of something whose real nature is a great, onflowing participation.
So, as unpack my bags and settle back into my normal home routines, I am reflecting on the gifts of friendship, thankful for the people whose lives have flowed into my own, and for those whose influence is still to come.
The 200th Annual Open Exhibition is open until June 14th, and it’s an absolute jamboree of painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, artist film and architecture. Jam packed. Do go along if you can, or you can view it online HERE.
Join the Life Raft Creative Co-Working Session
Come and join the flow. You are welcome our creative co-working session every Wednesday from 3 pm to 4.30 pm UK time. It’s very simple. We say hello, share what we’ll be working on, then leave our cameras on and work together in quiet companionship for an hour, then sign off with a quick check-in chat. That’s it! If you miss a session or can’t make it live, a recording is usually made available to paid subscribers - though I forgot last week! You can find them in the subscriber chat HERE.
until next week!
Sam
I’m off to see the exhibition this morning. Making a day of it as I catch Ilana Halperin’s What is Us at the Fruitmarket Gallery before it finishes. Can’t wait to see Confluence- as I did indeed contribute to it at its birth at Northlight Gallery which is when I discovered your work. Your exhibition followed the show I curated there on behalf of Edge textile artists Scotland. Gosh - a long time now. Looking forward to returning to Orkney in a couple
of weeks time.
Brilliant to finally see this amazing artwork in person today, so beautiful and original.