From Studio 21. . .

Sculptor Jennifer Watt from Studio 21 on the Blue Route sent these lovely images from the weekend to the Spring Fling blog.

Doesn't this sum up the feeling at the end of the Spring Fling weekend! Thanks Jennifer.

Report from Studio 57

Every time local papers mention me in connection with Spring Fling they put me down as a ceramicist so sometimes I get highly technical questions I can't begin to answer I must let them know I'm a crazy mixed up medium - hopper for next year.

Anyway had about 226 visitors, several returnees from previous years which is always good, and those who did wash up at my doors were very engaged with what was going on. The door didn't blow off as in a previous weekend, and some lucky punters raided the rhubarb patch, and got to sample home-made rhubarb and ginger hooch, but that's another story.

I felt the level of commitment from visitors was very high. That's all I'll shut up now,all best wishes, Kate Anderson

PS Did anyone spot Bertie in Kate's garden?

From Studio 17. . .

Our byre at studio 17 on the Green route has been open this weekend for Spring Fling's first collaboration between an artist (my friend Catriona Taylor) and a poet (me). The idea for the installation was sparked by poems I wrote after I found a love letter tucked into the stones of the byre. Catriona and I researched the lives of the bothymen, who travelled from farm to farm as itinerant, seasonal workers. These were people who left very little trace - there is little documentary evidence of who they were - often their lives were not even recorded by the census.
Catriona made an amazing installation inside our haybarn, a flickering, candlelit space, where great translucent canvases swing in space, and the lives of the bothymen are captured in a series of simple wooden boxes, lined in shreds and layers of wallpaper, etched with their graffiti. Words from my poems and from the love letter are worked into prints and even painted faintly on the battered limewashed walls of the barn.
Catriona’s family and mine all turned to and helped, and had great fun (even trying to put up a gazebo in tipping rain while clearing up the preview party and bottle feeding the abandoned lamb just as the first visitors arrived - early). And it's made us clear up the garden, which probably wouldn't have happened, so thanks Spring Fling!
We've been inundated with lovely people visiting, talking and sharing ideas - thank you all!

From Jean Atkin

Post Spring Fling Pictures from Studio 1

Gill Shreeve at Studio 1 on the Orange Route has sent us the photographs taken over the weekend and says:
"My visitor figures over the 3 days were 143 - need to attract another artist/maker to Moffat area to create more of a cluster.
The positive side is that I was able to talk at length with everyone who wished to. I had Greek, Italian and German visitors to my studio as well as from Worcestershire, Yorkshire, Ayrshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow, an ex professional punk band lead singer and a composer and viola player with the BBC Symphony Orchestra!"

During the event. . .

Studio 50 in the sun, willow weaving demonstrations with Lizzie Farey.

Studio 59, Kay Ribbens' fabulous hats being tried out and bought by visitors today.

Naomi Lethbridge's Preparations

Naomi Lethbridge doing her preparations for the weekends events. Pop in to Studio 11 on the Orange route to see how she has been getting on and what she has on display at her studio this year.

Qucik last minute pre Fling thoughts.

Hazel Campbell Studio 49 on the Red Route

Radio stars of Spring Fling have included:

21 May – Colin Tennant of Gracefield Arts Centre talking to Bruce McKenzie on West Sound.
22 May - Radio Scotland interview with Natalie Vardey.
Radio Scotland interview (Macauley & Co) with Hazel Campbell.
22 May - South West Sound Friday news bulletins interview with Hazel Campbell.

A huge thank you to them for telling the world about this fabulous weekend that is on our doorstep.


Studio 50 has some of Lizzie Farey's art in the woods, watch out along the drive on the approach to studio 50 on the Red Route to see some willow in the woods.

We have had the sad news that Steven Higginson studio 13 on the green route won’t be able to make it this weekend, as he has been taken ill. Spring Fling wish him a speedy recovery and are very grateful to his brother for stepping into the breach and helping to show Steven’s work in his absence

Finally for the time being though do email your pictures of the weekend to us if you are participant or visitor as we would love to show them on the blog, Robert Leighton in Studio 28 on the blue route would like to emphasize that all Spring Flingers are welcome to use our garden for picnics or just to take time out, he has a large garden ( approx 4 acres) with lots of space to relax, even a small lochen but he advises parents to keep their children supervised especially by the water.

MMV Art Current Exhibition

Dougie and Morag Muego, studio 16 on the green route, have an exhibition currently running at Hullabaloo Restaurant in, Dumfries this goes until the 2nd June. Dougie is showing six paintings of Mediterranean fishing boats there, which he specially made for that show. There are new ideas in these paintings, which are richer and more concentrated than those at his recent show at Kirkcudbright. It enabled him to push his ideas about colour a bit further. The paintings have a cheerful look to them and were made after visits to the south of France in 2007 and 2008. The boats come from the ports of Nice and Villefranche and some from fishing harbours on the Italian Riviera.

Morag is showing paintings on themes related to ideas, feelings, memories and relationships. Her “landscapes” are landscapes of the mind, pictorial maps which chart unseen and intangible worlds.
She uses a vocabulary of favourite motifs placed against strong colour fields and uses the subtlety and richness of oil colours to create mood and atmosphere in them.

McGill Duncan Gallery supports Spring Fling

Before we opened the Gallery in 2007 we enjoyed touring round the region visiting all the Open Studios for Spring Fling. There were so many delightful surprises down country lanes and farm tracks. We have lived in Galloway for over thirty years but Spring Fling gave us the chance to explore the region in an entirely different way. The studio trails often took us to unexplored corners. We both have fond memories of driving along the Solway coast through Rockcliffe on a particularly hot and sunny Spring Fling weekend, eating ice cream, chatting to artists, buying art and genuinely feeling at the end of the day like we had been on a holiday. The reality was we hadn’t ventured more than a few miles from our house!

Last year was a very different experience. It certainly didn’t feel like a holiday as it was our first year being open as a Gallery during Spring Fling. It was a very busy weekend for us in Castle Douglas and what was fantastic about it was the fact that we got so many visitors from far and wide who appreciated our gallery and loved the art that we had for sale.

Some of our most memorable ‘Spring Fling’ customers were from Vancouver, Canada. If we remember correctly they had heard about Spring Fling through an article about artist Lizzie Farey and her work with willow in ‘Homes and Antiques Magazine’. Reading the article made them book a holiday in the region to coincide with Spring Fling. They arrived at the gallery by bus as they hadn’t hired a car and we gave them directions to Rhonehouse. We went through the maps in the Spring Fling brochure and told them they could walk to Lizzie’s studio via Hazel Campbell’s studio.

Rebecca Callis porcelain jugs.

Another couple from London came at the end of the day to collect their art purchases from us and their car was quite literally packed with all their finds from their tour round the Spring Fling studios, there were bits of willow sticking out the parcels in the back of their car! They had had a fabulous day complete with a cream tea in Gatehouse and were going back to London with happy memories of Galloway and many treasures for their home.
This year we are showing work by painters David Sinclair and Jonathan Mitchell with Porcelain tableware by Rebecca Callis, along with work by many of our regular gallery artists. We are also selling tickets for the ‘Spring Fling Ceilidh’ which promises to be a great night out in Castle Douglas!

Zoe Blamire

Kate Anderson has been. . .

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

. . . completing two little screens in hand-painted ceramic and smalti, (a temperamental material!) . I took a break to re-visit The Garden of Cosmic Speculation on Sunday while the sun shone, and then back to work on Monday cleaning and preparing a local historic floor to be returned to after Spring Fling and restored in places. A hectic but interesting week!

Portrack.

You can visit Kate at Studio 57 on the Red Route of the Spring Fling this very weekend coming!

The Myth of Place

Dougie and Morag Muego

Dougie and Morag Muego are at studio 16 on the green route of this year’s Spring Fling at MMV Art, Heathhall Business Centre, Dumfries. Their studio is perhaps untypical of most, but nonetheless ideal for their needs. “We have a wonderful fresh, modern workspace, close to the town, which has very easy access and good facilities. It’s a treat to use and a great place to welcome visitors in. Although we have been mainly working on paintings recently, our IT suite has proved good at handling the digital processes when we’re involved in screenprinting, photo etching and photography. It’s been a great help with the teaching side of the business as well. For our first Spring Fling, both of us have been fortunate in having separate adjacent exhibition spaces. This has allowed us to clearly display our individual ideas. Dougie is showing a range of still lives and landscapes as well as figurative work.

while Morag has been producing larger paintings and has added monoprints and screenprints made after visits to the Cairngorms and Sutherland.

Like everyone else in the Fling, we are working flat out to finish mounting, framing and presenting our new work and the days are too short and too few!
You can see more of our work on our website at:- http://www.mmvart.com/

This week in the Gracefield Office. . .

Colin and Rhiannon in the office at Gracefield Arts Centre.

The past week has largely been spent tying up the final push of press coverage and advertising for Spring Fling. Another thing we’ve been planning to do this year is to commission a photographer to take some specific images of the event that we can then use to publicise various elements of Spring Fling in future (as well as providing a record of the 2009 event). We put this out to tender last month and the job has gone to Angus Bremner (http://www.bremnerphoto.co.uk/) whose work many of us recognise from the stunning images he shot for last year’s Wigtown Book Festival programme. Angus is based in Edinburgh but his parents live just outside Castle Douglas so he does quite a bit of work in the region and is a big fan of Dumfries and Galloway .The other big job has been getting some publicity material designed for Tim Taylor’s residency in Kirkcudbright and sending it out to the Spring Fling mailing list and local organisations. We’re pretty pleased with the result (see picture attached), especially given the distraction of working at Gracefield while the building is undergoing a big refurbishment. Just as the final countdown to Spring Fling began, a team of builders arrived - bearing hammers, drills and anything else that bangs, whirrs or clatters - and started orchestrating a symphony of disruption around our desks. What this picture (sent earlier), which was taken a few weeks ago, doesn’t show is the electrician currently up a ladder re-wiring the ceiling lights above our heads and the flock of confused quilters who wandered through our office earlier this morning having misguidedly taken a scenic route from Gracefield Galleries to the Café Bar.

By Rhiannon Batten, Spring Fling coordinator extraordinaire!

Jason Shackleton Studio 29

On thursday this week I was able to spend the day with Jason Shackleton, studio 29 on the Blue Route at his pottery in Laurieston for a glaze firing of his kiln. I spent about eighteen months working as an apprentice to Jason and have since been making my own pots from my own studio. The time I spent with Jason was invaluable and I still have an enormous amount to learn from him hence I was back there this week. This kiln is huge and holds a good eighteen months worth of Jason's highly decorated slipware and majolica pottery and takes him around three days to pack before the firing. It was built at a time when the pottery was employing a couple of other potters and at that time it was being fired between four and six times a year. This particular kiln was first fired on 13th May 1984 making it just 25 years since that initial firing.
Around three tons of wood are used over the 14 hour firing the flames from the wood licking over the pots in the chamber to give them their characteristic wood fired finish.


An eight foot long firebox on the kiln means that wood which arrives in eight foot long bundles need not be cut making one less job, saving lots of time and meaning that the wood doesn't need to be handled as many times during the process. The photo above is quite early on in the firing with the two lower fire boxes being gradually built up with a deep bed of embers before the top door is opened and wood is fed into the top section too.

Visitors over the Spring Fling weekend will be able to feast their eyes on Jason's fabulous display of pots and tile panels in the two display areas within the pottery as well as being able to enjoy Lucianne Lassalle's sculptures and the kiln shed and the orchard - remember to allow plenty of time to be able to take it all in.

The subject matters that Jason works with on his predominately functional pots have included the atomic bombs, space, an ongoing interest with predators and sea creatures which stems from spending time in the Bahamas as a child. He likes to take a simple idea and see how far he can run with it in a random direction saying that unless you can work in a progressive manner you get tired and then you get tired pots and it will show.

For example wouldn't supermarkets love it if fish grew in oblongs so that they would be ready to stack one of the results is in the photo above. Or the Boomerang Squid of course then you don't have to go out to try to catch them as they come straight back to you.

So a five day wait now for the kiln to cool and then the unloading can begin. All being well, the firing seemed to go very smoothly and according to schedule so fingers crossed it's a good one, the results will be there in their newly finished glory for all to see at the Spring Fling weekend. Pop along and see for yourself.

By Hannah McAndrew, Studio 50 Red Route.

Lisa Hooper in Port William

Lisa Hooper is an artist printmaker based in Port William. She can be found in Studio 61 on the yellow route throughout Spring Fling (photo above by Euan Adamson). Here follows a slice of Spring Fling life by Lisa.....

With Spring Fling approaching fast and a busy summer ahead I seem to be flitting from one thing to another – one minute printing labels and cards, the next finishing frames and cutting mounts - seldom, at the moment, managing to squeeze in much creative work. This week, I have a couple of chaps coming to do woodcuts with me for the day on Wednesday, and on Saturday I have three women coming to do batik on paper, so I’m also having to keep the studio clean and tidy which is a bit of a discipline! The workshops will be a prompt to have a think about my demonstration during Spring Fling, which is likely this year to include doing some batik on paper for the first time. I’ll be trying to think of a fairly short but productive demonstration so that visitors see as much as possible of the technique whilst also allowing me to produce something of quality which I can perhaps use on greetings cards for instance.

This year there should be quite a buzz at Seymour House as, following on from last year’s one day experiment with teas, two of our neighbours will again be occupying the kitchen and offering cakes and hot drinks (proceeds to a local charity): this year on the Saturday and the Sunday.

I’ve been very fortunate this summer with my exhibiting opportunities, which means that I am now thinking two or three exhibitions ahead of Spring Fling! In June I have a solo exhibition at the Rockcliffe Gallery in the Baron’s Craig Hotel, followed by almost continuous exposure right through until October. Last week I was offered a stall in the Art Marquee at the annual British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water in August, which although I’d been hoping it would happen, came as a bit of a wake up call. So, I started yet another list of works and set about finding a B&B for four nights. I’m now doing evening shifts making 300 cards featuring birds….

In spite of all these distractions, I’ve been working on a new piece featuring a fox (perhaps to go with all my hares!) and I’m just starting out on a woodcut of the neighbours’ gardens in Port William (featuring fish floats, lobster pots, a boat, a washing line and – why not? – the washing machine as well). But don’t hold your breath for that one….

Lisa

www.hoopoeprints.co.uk

Committee "meeting"

This sunday your dedicated Spring Fling Open Studio committee along with the key Gracefield support stars were mainly falling in streams, falling in bogs and generally enjoying the sunshine and the amazing beauty of the Galloway hills.

Andy Priestman, committee member but this year not participating in the Spring Fling event suggested that we should have a committee hill walk and that he would be happy to lead us as he has walked the Galloway hills for years now and knows them well. I have to say we could not a have had a better guide or for that matter he couldn't have booked better weather for us.

The glorious sunday coincided with Rebecca's birthday. Rebecca had brought cake with her. At the top of the Buchan when we stopped for lunch Natalie unveiled another birthday cake topped with candles and Rhiannon pulled a bottle of fizz out of her rucksack. There is nothing quite like a well earned luxurious lunch in the sunshine at the top of a hill with the most fabulous views.

Spring Fling was discussed as were many other topics and it was fantastic to get together for pleasure rather than just business and without the strict agendas we usually have at the SFOS meetings.

At Andy's house afterwards there was . . more cake! Are you sensing a theme for the day here? Look what fun and great cakes you could be having, remember this when there is next a call for committee members!

A small post from Urpu Sellar

Birds' Eye Point of View

Urpu Sellar is at Studio number 56 on the Red Route of this year's Spring Fling. A self confessed non-blogger she says about the run up to this year's event:

"I AM panicking about the Spring Fling though. Now and then. Usually four in the morning, wondering if I have enough stuff - the right stuff, will anybody come this year, where shall I put all the junk from the exhibiting area, will the cat be fed up with visitors, pack her bags and go... that sort of things. Last year's experience was very good. I enjoyed meeting all the people, all very nice."

Punk Rook

Using ceramics and mixed media Urpu uses recognisable animal shapes and gives then human qualities in a tongue in cheek manner. Visit her website at www.urpusellarceramics.co.uk or even better visit her studio during the Spring Fling.

Thief

John Clark and the Dumfries Howff Club

Unaccustomed as I am to blogging I thought I’d give it a bash and relay some info ‘closet bloggers’ or ‘fellow flingers’ might find interesting. Like many artists I have a dual occupation and juggle my workload between my gallery in Dumfries and my role as an independent financial adviser. Although my gallery is still ticking away after nearly 11yrs, I find it difficult to let go of financial services as most of my clients are personal friends. Tempting though it is to seek the quiet life, if there is such a thing, I would not want to ‘jump ship,’ and leave my clients in a state of confusion especially in this particular climate.

What’s all this got to do with the Spring Fling you ask? Not a lot but in an odd way having nearly 35 yrs in sales / advising does give some ideas that can stimulate interest and ultimately procure sales. The joy of painting on its own doesn’t pay the rent and I do sometimes look at how to make the purchase of original work more appealing and affordable.

Although I undertake some contemporary work, the bulk of my painting is representational landscapes of Dumfries & Galloway. I much admire those brave souls who can work ‘in-situ’ and paint the great outdoors. Wind, rain, daft dogs and mad cows, have made me embrace digital photography. For health and safety reasons this provides me with a quick exit strategy and sometimes additional imagery I had not bargained for! So it is, I return to my cosy studio and transform hopefully the digital image into something that is rewarding both financially and aesthetically. I had a look on Phil McMenemy’s site and the photographic images are truly stunning. I’ll have to get my self a good set of hiking boots!

This being my second ‘Spring Fling’ I thought I’d try, as always, to put some fresh paintings into the gallery. I must remark the ‘Taster’ was very well presented, diverse and ‘inspiring!’ Last year, a painting I put into ‘the taster’ sold just prior to the handing in day and this year I enjoyed a similar experience with ‘The Homecoming Ellisland,’ being purchased by the Dumfries Howff Club.

As the Dumfries Howff Club do a lot of work in promoting Scottish Literature in schools and the local community, I gave some thought as to how I could raise a bit of money for the club via a print run of the ‘Homecoming’ painting. As some of my gallery income is derived from Ltd Ed prints, I proposed to the club I would offer the profit from the first twenty prints to help offset the cost of the original with a further 25% on sales thereafter. Not surprisingly the club accepted my offer and without exception all the committee members and the manageress of the Globe Inn (the exceptionally talented Jane Brown) ordered a framed print on the night of my presentation. Not a bad start and it’s early days, but if advance orders are fulfilled the cost of the original will be recouped by the club by early summer.

The original painting of ‘The Homecoming Ellisland’ was handed over by ‘moi’ to the newly elected president, John Caskie at the AGM held recently at the Globe Inn, official meeting place of Dumfries Burns Howff Club. The painting was received enthusiastically by members and appropriately a framed print was presented to Maureen McKerrow for her excellent work over the years.

If the club take up my suggestion of networking the ‘special terms’ being offered to ‘Burnsians’ via the web they could enjoy additional income for many years to come. The place where the original will eventually be put on public display has yet to be decided but the fact Burnsians will be able to view it hundreds of years hence gives me (a Howff Club Member) a little buzz. Although income will be tempered a little on sales of this particular print I am happy in the knowledge money is being channelled into a very worthwhile cause.

Hopefully additional interest will be stimulated in my website leading to sales of other work and commissions. Oddly enough although I have been involved with sales all my life this is the first time I have ever ‘sold a painting’ in this manner. It was an enjoyable experience and one that I might revisit if it proves worthwhile. It will be interesting to see how things develop?

Best wishes to fellow ‘Flingers’ - John Clark
To view the painting/print in question just log in to http://www.landscapesgallery.co.uk/