Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in Lochmaddy, North Uist is delighted to welcome Robert Callender back to Gallery One with his latest installation ‘Plastic Beach’ recreated from plastic items of flotsam collected from the beach.

Robert Callender lives and works next to the sea. His home and studio in Kinghorn, Fife, has spectacular views across the North Sea and its busy shipping lanes. In contrast, his cottage on the Point of Stoer, in Sutherland, allows him to explore the dramatic coastline of the west of Scotland, a place that continues to inspire and fuel his work.

Robert says  “by taking selected elements of discarded plastic and recreating them using the basic materials of cardboard, paper, and paint, my chosen means of constructing, and placing them in a gallery, there are basically two main things that happen.

The collection of objects gives the public a new perspective and confronts them with some serious questions. On the one hand you see a highly decorative display of extraordinary shapes and colours, which allows the imagination to run riot.

On the other hand it illustrates the huge change in our environment over the last twenty years. Unfortunately the substance of what you see in the ‘Plastic Beach’ installation is that plastic pollution seems most prevalent in areas of minimum population where there is no infrastructure to clear away the mess which the multinationals have created.”

The exhibition opens on the 9th of July with a talk by Robert Callender at 7.30pm and continues till the 22nd August. There is also a workshop on the 10th & 11th of July led by Robert where he will be showing participants how to create 3D objects in card, paper, glue and paint.

For more information contact Andy MacKinnon (Arts Officer), Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Art Centre on 01876 500240 andy@taigh-chearsabhagh.org
www.taigh-chearsabhagh.org