An exhibition of contemporary art responding to the themes evoked by Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters.
Travelling Gallery today (Thursday 12 March) launched its Spring 2020 exhibition, Shapes of Water, which tours from today until 19 June across Scotland.
Travelling Gallery, a key event supported by Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, has invited three thought-provoking and exciting young artists to produce new work reflecting their individual perspectives to our relationship with coasts and waters.
The bus - which drives contemporary art to all corners of the country - will feature an exhibition of risograph prints, painting, animation and film work from the three artists when it takes to the road next month.
Its Spring 2020 tour will begin in Edinburgh on 12 March before visiting venues and a range of coastal communities the length and breadth of Scotland until June, including the Borders Art Fair, the Orkney Isles and Aberdeenshire.
Suzie Eggins works across drawing, printmaking and sculpture and uses her imagination as a microscope to examine the cells and structures of our natural environment to create beautiful geometric drawings and installations. For Shapes of Water, Eggins turns her attention to Scotland’s water and explores the idea that our thoughts and emotions can affect our environment.
Amy Gear is a mixed media artist based in Shetland and characteristically uses her Shetland dialect to outline her artistic practice, using local words to describe the coast and landscape. Her drawings and paintings go beyond the traditional ideals of a beautiful landscape and instead explore the connections between body and land. For Shapes of Water, Amy departs from a piece of writing inspired by her Shetland Grandparents describing the comfort in witnessing steely storms and angry waves; knowing that the unrest will benefit the buoyant sea life. The resulting artwork is a playful and cherished tribute to family and the sea.
Rhona Mühlebach is a Swiss filmmaker based in Glasgow and her films capture the atmospheric Scottish landscape placing intriguing narratives into the natural environment. For Shapes of Water, Mühlebach is making a stylish crime thriller set in Galloway Forest Park and investigating Sudden Oak Death which can be transmitted by rainwater and carried via rivers and streams.
Speaking of the exhibition, Claire Craig, Curator at the Travelling Gallery, said:
This is a fantastic opportunity to commission new work by three exciting young artists, all based in Scotland. We can’t wait to go on tour and discuss their artwork with audiences across Scotland as part of the Year of Coasts and Waters.
Convener of Culture and Communities at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Donald Wilson, added:
Once again, the Travelling Gallery has devised a fascinating and varied exhibition which I’m sure will appeal across the country.
As a Council we are committed to making art and culture as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. This is the ethos of the gallery itself and through supporting this mobile gallery, art is brought straight into the hearts of town centres. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to pay the spring exhibition a visit.
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture said:
The Travelling Gallery works to make art more accessible by taking it directly into the heart of communities across Scotland.
I’m pleased to see this special commission of three artists coming together to produce an exhibition celebrating Scotland’s natural beauty, and I hope it inspires both locals and visitors to join in with the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020.