Winter Voyage
reader, we made it through the storm!
Friends, we made it!
Through snowdrifts, ice-rutted roads, cancelled flights, unreachable call centres, hasty re-bookings, flurries of text messages, a sleepless night on the ferry to Aberdeen and a train through snowy landscapes, I finally made it to the gallery with my intrepid and determined fellow traveller, dear friend and co-exhibitor, Anne Bevan, in time for the preview of “The Northern Isles” at the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.
It’s at times like this that the realities of island life hit home. Winter travel is beset with uncertainties, stress, last-minute snags and unexpected extra costs. The conversations between the Orkney and Shetland island artists gathered for the ‘meet the artists’ event in the gallery mostly revolved around comparing our various journeys: who had the longest airport wait, the most last-minute cancellations, the roughest ferry crossing, the snowiest hike to the main road, or the most missed connections.
But it all added to the general air of celebration and triumph-over-adversity of the occasion. New connections were forged, old ones rekindled, faces put to names only known online. The importance, not to mention the sheer good fun, of flesh-and-blood, face-to-face meet-and-greeting made all our various travelling travails feel absolutely worthwhile. Nothing digital can ever replace the warmth and depth of human connection and conviviality.
Here’s the Orkney contingent that made it South, L-R: Anne Bevan, Roland Fraser, Kevin Gauld, Sigurd Smith, Edinburgh-based Orkneyphile Andrea Geile, Megumi Barrington and yours truly.
Now we all just have to get home again…
Meanwhile, I’m in the city for a few days, seeing exhibitions, catching up with old friends, enjoying the easy access to galleries, restaurants, cinemas, shops, packing as much in as I can, before I return to the relative seclusion of my studio.
All of which means that I won’t be able to hold the Life Raft co-working session this week – apologies to my lovely regulars! We’ll be back together next Wednesday at the usual time of 3pm GMT so look out for the link in next week’s newsletter.
In the meantime, here’s a few of the paintings I have on show currently at the Scottish Gallery, for those who can’t make it along.
In contrast to all the commotion of the last few days, seeing the paintings again in the gallery reminded me of what matters most to me: the power of stillness in a world of noise, the value of making, slowly, with the hand, in the face of increasingly ubiquitous AI, and a commitment to process, practice, craft, and beauty as an active daily choice in defiance of the ugliness, horror and carelessness that our so-called leaders keep propagating.
You can watch a bit of ‘The Wave’ in progress in my studio too.
Bye for now!
Sam
"...what matters most to me: the power of stillness in a world of noise, the value of making, slowly, with the hand, in the face of increasingly ubiquitous AI, and a commitment to process, practice, craft, and beauty as an active daily choice in defiance of the ugliness, horror and carelessness that our so-called leaders keep propagating." Yes, yes, yes.
I so appreciated your video of your studio showing how you create such amazing art works. Your description of capturing the the light of the wave and you poem was so inspiring. Thank for you amazing art which surely captures the ever changing landscape and ocean surrounding you in Orkney. Alma