The Highlander’s Revenge!

LINDY CAMERON sets the scene for visual artist Jon Macleod’s weblog from Macedonia (with acknowledgement to Bruce MacGregor’s fiddle tune!)

IN 2003 the Cromarty Arts Trust, an organization with an established reputation for hosting residency opportunities, was put in touch with a highly regarded Macedonian post-surrealist painter called Sergej Andreevski. In 2005 Sergej and his family came to Cromarty for a very successful month-long residency. Some of the work he produced while he was here has been exhibited in Paris, and the highly regarded Browns Gallery of Tain has taken three of his paintings for their Christmas Exhibition.

From this experience we have an opportunity for a legacy to emerge that will benefit our own Highland artists. Sergej and his wife Irena run an organisation called Art Point Gumno; they in turn are formally connected to arts organisations in Washington, Paris and Germany. They have a facility in the countryside in Sloestica, by Demir Hisar in Macedonia, which consists of a studio with attached accommodation for two artists. They have been organising residency collaborations there to great success for a number of years now.

Together we saw an opportunity to combine forces to send a different artist across to Macedonia for three weeks in the autumn of each year for the next five years to collaborate with a Macedonian artist of Art Point Gumno’s choosing, and to work on their own projects also.

Macedonia is a country with many similarities to Scotland, not least the landscape which is mountainous, with lakes, rivers and forests. Its parliament was established in 1990, so like the Scots, the Macedonians are beginning to establish their own independence, albeit in more turbulent circumstances. It is said that the bagpipe originated in Macedonia, which throws up all kinds of exciting collaborative opportunities for our traditional musicians.

At the end of their Macedonian trip the artist would also come to Cromarty for up to a week, and there would be an opportunity for our local community to come and see their work, hear their stories and share in the experience. The artist will benefit from the prestige of winning this award, the collaboration with another artist, the contact with Art Point Gumno and all that they will do to publicise them, and the chance to progress their work in a visually and culturally rich environment whist being supported and nurtured by people who understand their specific needs.

This is an opportunity for artists who have been living and working in the Highland Region (which includes the Western Isles, the Northern Isles, across to Moray in the East and down to the foot of Argyll). Each year the competition will be open to practitioners of a different discipline, and will focus on Visual Arts in the first year, followed by Music, Sculpture, Photography and Writing.

Our local Highland based artists have already gained much from our residency programme in terms of forging lasting links with visiting artists and providing an opportunity for cross pollination. We see this opportunity as a natural progression from strong foundations.

© Lindy Cameron, 2006