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Lines from Scotland

Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries until May 10th; Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, May 16th-July 25th.

 

The pen-pal style intimations of the title of this independently curated exhibition for Fife-based arts umbrella Fife Contemporary is a very gentle double-edged sword for the broad exploration of drawing it covers. The old-school stencil font of each label for the twenty-three cross-generation artists puts stylistic and symbolic faith in its craft, particularly in relation to the natural world. 

 

Things start simply enough, with Elizabeth Blackadder’s quick-fire capture of Edinburgh in View of North Bridge (1972) and three drawings by Carol Rhodes, Factory Roof and Countryside (2001-02), Reservoir (1999) and Wharf (1999), all so much more than studies for paintings. Blackadder returns later, with reciprocal portraits by and of her and John Houston, that capture the relaxation of marital bliss at its best. 

 

The exhibition’s brief expands by way of musician Inge Thomson and artist Deirdre Nelson, who weave together traditional and contemporary concerns with song, knittedhatsandmusicalnotationsreflectingthehandcraftedknittingpatternsofhermotherandgrandmother.

 

There is music too from Hanna Tuulikki and High Heels and Horse Hair, aka violin and cello duo Sonia Cromarty and Alice Rickards. Separate works named TRANSPLANTED: Heartsease (2014), respond to Baroque composer James Oswald’sAirsfortheSeasons, asetof96 minisonatasforviolinandcello, eachdepictinga differentplant or flower. Where Cromarty and Rickards have recorded a new composition, Tuulikki has drawn a visual score, in which two plant shaped swirls of notation float in space. Hearts and flowers, indeed

 

Elsewhere, there is elemental looking jewellery by Dorothy Hogg, and pithy animation by David Shrigley commissioned by Pringle knitwear. Lizzie Sanders’ meticulous text-book watercolours of leaves and shoots contrasts with Rory McEwen’s 1970s black and white etchings of something similar. This fits with Frances Walker’s Storm Beach Fank (2000/1). two solitary studies of rock formations in isolated islands. Three piece by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham similarly sees the land pulse with swirls of energy from unknown forces.

 

In Lucy Skaer’s Available Fonts (2017), three Church-like wall-hangings patterned with compressed and shrunken versions of much larger images are collated with others to make a monumental display. 

 

Thomas A Clark and Laurie Clark’s series of Small cards are accompanied by haiku-like meditations that recall shades of Hamilton Finlay. Hamilton Finlay’s postcard, zigzag book and silkscreen print, PROEM (1977-98) are as beguiling as Andy Goldsworthy’s own scorched earth look at the relationship between human beings and nature. Best of all is the industrial-domestic detritus of Norma Starszakowna’s wall-mounted collages that looked bashed into shape and surviving its way into the future.

 

Scottish Art News, Autumn 2020

 

ends

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