Collaboration on a charred and rust cube assemblage

 

One of the goals Fiona and I set for ourselves for this trip to the cottage was to make one or two sculptural assemblages. Using a cube (230mm) off cut from The Fishers Post we have worked together to produce the gorgeous cube above. The Fishers Post was made from 9 long salvaged used fence posts glued and nailed together.

If one is going to make a charred sculpture one of the steps involved is charring the wood. This is a very exciting process as it can appear very dramatic. Fiona and I set the timber cube on a large rusty panel behind the shed on a relatively still day; and used clarified turps to soak the timber for the burn. We always have a bucket of water on hand to quench the flames when the charring has reached an acceptable point. Below are a couple of the images from the burn; and a couple from the quenching.

Our rust stash was added to by five 70mm square washers our friend Karen gave us - along with other rusty bits. After sorting through our rust bank and testing a few pieces we knew we had more than enough for the project - see below.

One of my tasks was to cut the pieces to size and drill them ready for assembling - see pieces below.

The assembling was done in the studio, aka garden shed, as the day was inclement. A few assembling photos follow. Even the nails, nuts, washers and bolts are salvaged and recycled. There is rusty metal and objects on five faces of the cube.

Fiona getting hands on - note the sooty hands in the second photo below!!!

Complete and ready to head outside.

Finally the cube was ready to go out the front and be set inn place on a flagstone.

This was a great art piece to work on with Fiona today - and we are delighted with the outcome. A mix of photos by Fiona and I.

From perilous to peaceful - the sea at the cove

 

A few days ago the sea at the cove was raging - line upon line of perilous waves crashing into the headland and rolling and foaming into the cove itself. The sky was dark and sullen.

Yesterday Tuesday) morning on the other hand the sky was painted pastel and the sea was all but flat - ruffled by an outgoing wind - peaceful.

It is a good reminder that things do not tend to remain the same - that change is the constant.

Inspecting The Fishers Post - in sunshine and in rain

 

As indicated in my previous blog Fiona and I took the opportunity to install The Fishers Post on the sunny afternoon before one of the classes of students were to visit the next day.

The first part of this blog post shows various sides and details of the post in the sunshine; and the last couple of images shows the students braving the rain to inspect their handiwork.

The Fishers Post in the sunshine - above and below.

Students inspecting the post in the rain.

We understand that the post will be relocated and installed down by the Bettyhill harbour as part of a trail that remembers the fisher folk of the area. 

It was such a grand experience for Fiona and I to make this community art piece in collaboration with the Strathnaver Museum, Farr High School and the students of classes S1 and S2.

Installing post and peace

 

My art practice over the last few days has been a bit of a mixed bag. We attached the students etched aluminium plates to the post; installed the post temporarily beside the museum Annex; and hung our peace doves and weather grams for International Peace Day - 21 September..

The Fishers Post

The first part of the blog post is about The Fishers Post. As you can see from the opening photo we dug a hole and planted the post. The post is 1.75m in length and 23cm square - and it is very very heavy.

The plates were attached in the wee shed as it has been raining on and off since Wednesday.

The length of the post was planned as that was the longest post we could get into the van.

We borrowed a sack trolly from a neighbour and after Fiona had backed the van up to the paved area of the Annex we were able to wheel and lug it into place.

We took stones from the five fishing beaches with us so these were used to stabilise the post.

A couple of photos of the installation labourers - the sun shone on the afternoon of the installation.

Installing Peace doves and weather grams

Fiona and I brought some of this year's peace doves and weather grams with us to the cottage. We had salvaged some from 2022. We installed last year's pieces in the wee plum tree; and the 2023 pieces on the barbed wire fence.

Before we travelled to the cottage we had installed some doves and weather grams in the magnolia tree outside our Maleny home - it was good that we could add to that peace energy by installing some at our Armadale home. May we continue to work for peace and kindness - the world surely needs both.

 

Orkney fragments

 

Fiona and I took the ferry to Orkney for an overnight stay. We were taking a wee break away from the cottage after the work setting up the exhibition, opening night, artist talks and the student etching workshop. We knew that today, Wednesday, we would need to attach the etched plates to the sculptural post; and if possible do a temporary installation of the post before the students visited the exhibition on Thursday afternoon - but that is for a later blog post.

The photos are simply fragments - the one night and two day visit started with coffee and cake in the tea room at Birsay given we were up early to catch the early morning ferry there was no time for morning coffee. The first two photos are taken from the table in the tea room. 

The weather on the first day was bleak; but fortunately you can see from the last few photos - day two had patches of sunshine.

We farewelled Orkney for now as we passed the Old Man of Hoy stack in fading sunlight.

We like Orkney for its art, food, history, ancient sights,  a couple of good coffee places and quality shops.