A CULTURAL project rooted in the Highland landscape is the venue for a forthcoming exhibition which brings together four UK-based artists whose work is closely attuned to the natural world.
It opens on Saturday, May 17, at Cold Paradise, a contemporary art and design gallery based in Shieldaig, between Torridon and Applecross.
Founded by art historian Jamie Morra and Shieldaig native Magnus Livingstone, the aim is to “create a space where contemporary art, traditional craft and ecological thinking can meet”.
They are also working to support artists, engage the local community and foster dialogue around sustainability and place.
Their vision for Cold Paradise extends beyond exhibitions, with plans for publications, residencies and workshops led by local artists and historians on endangered skills and regional knowledge.
Running until mid-September, the gallery’s upcoming summer group exhibition features artists whose practices are materially sensitive and shaped by encounters with the natural world.
The exhibiting artists include Claire Cansick, whose colour-soaked paintings are informed by daily swims and changing weather. Her Shipping Lane charcoal drawings trace barely visible trade routes from a sea-level vantage, producing eerie and ghostly images that glimpse both the industrial past and a post-capitalist future. Her oil paintings, by contrast, immerse the viewer in swelling brushstrokes, muted greens and greys and the quiet rhythm of sea and sky.
Visitors to the gallery will also see work by Gillian Thomson, a tapestry artist whose process is shaped by walking and mapping coastlines. She works first in paint, then translates her impressions into tapestry using wool, cotton, plastic and thread. Her upright scaffold loom allows her to turn her creations into textural landscapes.
Another exhibiting artist is Jack Whitefield, whose mixed-media practice explores geology, memory and language. Submerging Circle maps the tidal shifts over a 92-minute period on the Cornish coast while FURZE was made after watching gorse burn.
Hugo Winder-Lind, Cold Paradise’s first winter resident, is contributing monoprints and paintings made on site in Shieldaig. His works blend observation and folklore – sheep, horses, stone dwellings and fairytale beings populate his vision of a landscape both real and mythic.
There will also be a small presentation of ceramic and wood works by ARD, the collaborative design practice of Morra and Livingstone, rooted in sustainable materials and interdisciplinary making.
The gallery recently joined the Craft Scotland directory and is continuing to grow as a platform for artists working in dialogue with nature.
