July 21st, 2010 Doug
Das Narrenschyff _ Original woodcut from 1509 translation
Over the last year or so, I have been developing and planning a series of images based on Sebastian Brandt’s “Ship of Fools”, originally published in 1494. The book has fascinated me for a long time; strangely, I came across it through my interest in gaelic poems such as Tanaig Long ar Loch Raithneach (A Ship Has Come on Loch Rannoch), which is believed to show signs of being influence by Brandt’s poem.
Starting in September I will be producing a series of fifty two images, based on the translated text and original book plates from the 1509 version of the book, by Scottish writer Alexander Barclay. Some of woodcuts in the original publication were created by the master printmaker, Albrecht Durer.
I’ll be posting an image every week, interspersed with notes, sketches and excerpts from the book. As well as creating and interesting new section on the website, the work will form the basis for a new exhibition of work to be shown in 2011/12.
As part of my research for this project, I am deeply indebted and grateful to Sally Evans and Ian King of King’s Bookshop in Callander, who very kindly provided me with a beautifully bound copy of the 1873 reprint of Alexander Barclay’s translation. The book was invaluable to me as it filled in many missing areas of text and images.
Annotated title page from Volume 1 of the 1873 edition of the book
Click on this link, or follow the button on the home page of my website to The Ship Of Fools page, and watch out for regular posts from the end of August.
For more details about King’s Bookshop, with Ian’s superb bookbinding and Sally’s poetry, click on this link and find out more information about the shop and how to get there.
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July 20th, 2010 Doug
Where do I start!
After a lay-off that seems much longer than six weeks, I’m finally getting back into the studio and kick-starting my work (and the blog!).
Over the next few weeks I’ll be trying to catch up on work that was in progress, and developing a few new ideas which will be exhibited at the next show, at the Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham, in September.
I sure that I’m not the only artist or maker that finds that their work and output goes into a period of ‘hibernation’ after producing a major show or collection. Recharging the batteries and stocking up on new ideas is a vital part of making sure that this phase is only a temporary ‘catching your breath’.
So, it’s back into the studio, and rekindle the passion for making art. I’m working on a series of assemblages and drawings based on some fantastic poetry, and I feel privileged to be using the words of writers including Christine De Luca, Robert Alan Jamieson, Norman Bissell, Peter Urpeth, Andrew Philip and Kenneth White, to inspire and evoke new works.
I’ll be posting images of new assemblages and drawings as the work develops, and news of new projects, exhibitions and collaborations which I am currently involved in creating.
Brandan’s Last Voyage - After the poem by Kenneth White
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May 26th, 2010 Doug
Working study of Minotaur for Nuclear Submarines collaboration
As part of my current studio work, I’m developing collaboration projects with several poets. One of these collaborations,
which will be on show during my residency at the Scottish Poetry Library, is with Edinburgh poet Rob A. Mackenzie.
Working study detail for Nuclear Submarines collaboration, from the poem by Rob A. Mackenzie
Nuclear Submarines
One day they will surely betray me.
For now, they seem content to drowse
resolutely without wit or purpose
like autistic sharks balooning
through seaweed, rock and sand
of fish cities deep in blackout.
While I’m trying to trust, one breaks
the Gareloch’s surface and fixes
its stunned gaze on the mirrored sky.
Things are as they should be -
the clouds, the flotsam, the stranger
peering from the shore with my face.
The second it drops, I no longer exist.
It has no memory, no plans.
The water rises, the sky falls,
and I am as blue is to the fish.\
Many thanks to Rob for permission to post his poem. Rob’s book ‘The Opposite of Cabbage’
is available from www.saltpublishing.com, or from any good bookseller.
Rob A, Mackenzie also writes for Magma Poetry Online
Posted in Collecting and researching, Work in progress, poetry | No Comments »
March 29th, 2010 Doug
Work-in-progress notes for my forthcoming collaborations exhibition at The Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh
Koors Saat An Snaa
Twa days effir
he waaks amung
da waashin lyns a’dryin fysh
hingin ootsyd hoosis
laek kut-oot strings
a’choynt-up men
da baerns makk
wie fowldit paepir
an a paer a’sjiers.
Siks munt laetir,
ati’da hert a’Jol,
wie da snaa apo da aert
da unjin ati’da pikkil drum
willa med da maachikk happin
an a saat tung’ll mynd apo
dat lang simmir nyght
da katsh wis taen.
Foula sketch for ‘Pocket Noost’
One of the biggest influences on my work as many people would know is literature, and more specifically poetry, and through my work I have had the opportunity and good fortune to work with some excellent poets. For a long time I’ve wanted to produce an exhibition based around collaborations and work influenced by literature ,and this May I finally have the opportunity to do so with an exhibition at the Scottish Poetry Library, in Edinburgh.
I am working on an exhibition of assemblages and drawings, influenced by the work of various poets including Andrew Philip, Donald S. Murray, Jen Hadfield, Valerie Gillies, Robert Alan Jamieson, Norman Bissell, Peter Urpeth, Christine De Luca, Kevin MacNeil and Rob A. Mackenzie. There will also be a selection of images from a project I am developing, based on Alexander Barclay’s translation of Sebastian Brandt’s ‘Das Narrenschiff’ (The Ship of Fools), originally published in 1494 and translated by Barclay in 1874.
Being given the opportunity to exhibit in the Scottish Poetry Library is also a great privilege for me. During the 80’s and the 90’s I was a regular visitor to the old library in Tweeddale Court, just off the Royal Mile, and was lucky enough to have several pieces of my work featured in Lines Review thanks to the SPL’s founder, Tessa Ransford. I’m thrilled to have the chance to show my work in the fantastic surroundings of the new library building.
Amongst work featured will be several new works, including a sequence of small theatre-like assemblages entitled ‘Horizontals’, based on five one-line poems by Andrew Philip (below), and two boxes inspired by Robert Alan Jamieson’s pieces ‘Koors Saat an Snaa’ (above) and ‘Ta Kompis’.
unreal estates
crammed horizons crowned with crows
bordering
the earth’s limit the sky’s shore the sea’s march
turbulent
sleek white singers of the skyline whistling reels
signals
only the roaring silence of the clouds
questioned
are ye dancin? the wind asks the swell
Over the next few weeks I’ll post some more of the poems along with sketchbook images of the art work. The exhibition will run from the 8th of May to the 14th of June 2010, with the normal SPL opening times applying.
Poems by kind permission of Robert Alan Jamieson and Andrew Philip
Photographs by kind permission of Murdo MacDonald
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December 28th, 2009 Doug
Working study of Kingoodie Bay for
Walking The Coast
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December 27th, 2009 Doug
Working study of Loch na Keal for
Walking The Coast
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December 25th, 2009 Doug
As part of the next exhibition, I have been developing a sequence of works
based on the experiences I have had walking, collecting and researching
my work along the shores of the many and varied coastlines of Scotland.
Ardneil Bay and Arran, on the Firth of Clyde.
Working studies for Walking The Coast
When out collecting and researching for new work, my travels take me to a wide variety different places. I am lucky enough through the years to have had the opportunity to experience the incredible beauty, colour and diversity of landscape, people and folklore of my native Scotland.
During the course of a typical journey my studies will, inevitably, lead me back on to one of those thin strips of land which we call the shore. The edge has a curious and magnetic fascination that has been with me since boyhood, growing up on the shores of the Firth of Tay, and the coasts of Angus and North East Fife.
A snowy Clyde coast and Arran.
Working from my sketchbook notes, I have chosen to create a series of eight coasts which have made a significant contribution to my art. Each piece consists of a painted panel representing the colour and mood of the area (based on the working studies above) with a recessed box containing a small collection of objects, or votive offering to the shore.
The coastline experiences being used in this sequence are from Ardneil Bay, Ayrshire; Abertay Sands, Fife; Uig Bay, Skye; Traigh Mor, Lewis; The Tan, Argyll and Bute; Loch na Keal, Mull; Kingoodie Bay, Tayside; and Stenness, Shetland.
Notebook pages for votive offerings
The following are working notes from my Moleskines for Walking The Coast. They are my ‘memoria technica’ so therefore may seem disjointed, but they should help to get the basic ideas behind each piece. (There are a few references to the working title of Walking The Coast (with Joe’s ghost), and during the development of this idea I was carrying around a copy of Joseph Cornell’s Vision of Spiritual Order in my work bag. Good company on any journey!)
(more text to follow)
Posted in Collecting and researching, Work in progress | 2 Comments »
December 2nd, 2009 Doug
As always with an exhibition approaching, the studio becomes a busy hive of activity.
Preparing carved whales for ‘Endeavour’.
Whenever I’m working towards an exhibition, my studio space becomes both very busy and very cluttered!
One bad practice I have at this time is having several (up to a dozen!) different pieces of work, at various stages of completion/construction, on the go at the same. There is method in this madness. Many of the processes and methods I use for creating the works are both time consuming, and due to the nature of the materials, painstaking.
A perfect example of this is in the assemblage ‘Endeavour’ (pictured above) where I have created fifteen whales, shaping and carving each one, carefully sanding and finishing each one ready to be painted. They are arranged to look like a string of charms or a necklace, tied to what appears to be the side of a ship. This piece was influenced by a Native American artifact, made of bone and leather, which is part of the collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
Sketchbook notes for ‘Endeavour’
So, on the workbench at the moment are works ranging from the initial building up of surfaces and making objects, such as with the eight boxes for ‘Walking The Coast’, to the final finishing and painting stage, which includes several works influenced by Kenneth White’s ‘Western Gateway’, to a triptych entitled ‘Cille’, based on my exeriences and the history of the Kilninian area of the Isle of Mull.
Over the next two months, the work will all pull together to form the March 2010 exhibition at the Bedales Gallery, in my home county of Hampshire. When it is all hanging in a calm and orderly manner in the gallery, it is often easy to forget all the time consuming and manic working that has gone on in the studio.
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December 1st, 2009 Doug
Working study of The Tan for
Walking The Coast
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November 7th, 2009 Doug
Recently I have working on some ideas for producing an online catalogue
for the exhibitions at Bedales Arts and the Scottish Poetry Library in 2010.
Being an old-fashioned ‘pencil and paper’ type of artist, working with various software programs is proving
to be a very big learning curve! Click on the link below to see the latest work in progress.
Exhibition Catalogue Work-In-Progress
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