Rising artists of Caithness
This mentorship and art-workshop course is running again with a wider range of workshops and a clearer theme in mind. Rising Artists from last year went on to achieve places on art courses at top universities, sold work, exhbitied work and some are running art workshops this year.
The mentees will leanr essential techniques for working in the art world such as social media use, networking, training (in diversity, equity and inclusion), looking for employment and funding. At the same time, they will be attending workshops by local exhibitng artists. The workshops will center on the theme of rocks and mienrals, and some of this work will eb shown in the exhibiton in August. Good luck and creativity to them!
Ocotber Storytelling
To launch the program, mentees were encouraged to explore stories reating to stone in Caithness. By drawing inspiration from existing stories, they can develop work of their own. Thsis could be in writing their own story, depicting a feature of a local story, like the Devil’s Stone on the boundary between Caithness and Sutherland, or the caves once frequented bu the Peedie Sands mermaid.
November: Linoprinting
The Rising Artists got to have a lino-printing session with the fabulously busy Katie Squires. Katie’s solo show ‘War Horse and Other Stories’ is running at the Thurso gallery until the 11th January 2025.
Lino-printing is the technique of carving shapes into linoleum or rubber with a V-shaped chisel. The marks can be made at various depths to affect the sharpness of the print. This method suits clean and clear shapes and this class was run with the theme of brochs and stone structures in mind. One artist made a print of the very recognisable Old windmill at Castlehill heritage centre which powered the flagstone saws in the 18th century.
Find out more about Katie’s work at katiesquiresart.com
December: felting with Eleanor Lee
In December we were hosted in the Halkirk Comm for a really cosy felting session. Felting is the use of real and synthetic wool to make solid items. If you’ve never done it before, it’s hard to imagine how it works but with Eleanor’s step by step kits you see what kind of things are possible! The kits come with a felting cushion to protect the surface you are working on, wool for the basic shape of what you’re making, organic wool to cover the shape, and materials for the details.
We used seagull kits. Each of us began with a different shape which made realistic seagulls and cartoon ones. Eleanor’s works are really characterful and with her instruction we all made a piece that showed our personalities. It was really nice to do such homely work in an environment with a fireplace. We are hooked!
See more of Eleanor’s work on facebook
Look out for her work at the exhibition this summer!
