Highlands and Islands Visual Arts Gathering - November 2006
 

A new study commissioned by HI~Arts, the arts development agency for the Highlands and Islands, sets Five Challenges for the continuing development of the Visual Arts in the Highlands and Islands.

Throughout the summer of 2006 Georgina Coburn travelled the length and breadth of the area, personally interviewing over 270 artists, curators, gallery managers and arts officers. Her resulting report sets Five Challenges in the fields of: Communication, Infrastructure, Professional Practice, Education and Vision.
 

These Challenges were the topics for debate at a major Highlands and Islands Visual Arts Gathering which HI~Arts held at the Macphail Centre in Ullapool on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th November 2006. The two day artist led event was an exciting opportunity for artists, gallery owners, curators, arts workers and arts educators to exchange ideas, share experience and shape an agenda for future Visual Arts development in the region.

Chaired by artist Frances Walker and artist/composer Marc Yeats the two-day programme explored a wide variety of key issues for the visual arts of the Highlands and Islands, as well as providing a valuable opportunity for the regions' artists to network with their peers. Over one hundred artists from the region took part in this landmark event.

Key speakers included Clive Gillman (DCA, Dundee), Roxane Permar (Veer North, Shetland), Claudia Zieske (Deveron Arts, Huntly), Anne Douglas (On the Edge, Aberdeen), Andrew MacLean (Curator, Mount Stuart, Argyll) Denise Collins (Castle Gallery, Inverness) and Mhairi Killin (Aosdana Gallery and Studio, Iona). Organisations represented at the event included Highland Open Studios, Skye and Lochalsh Arts and Crafts Association, Visual Arts Sutherland and Uist Art on the Map and Ullapool-based arts organisation an talla solais.

The “Five Challenges" report is now available for download (see right hand side of this page). Printed copies can also be requested through the HI~Arts office.

As a complement to Georgina Coburn’s "Five Challenges" Report, we are pleased to be able to offer a download of an interesting historical perspective on the arts in the Highlands and Islands, in a paper given by Professor Murdo MacDonald of the University of Dundee, at the Lie of the Land conference in Stirling.