Revived and revisited

Fiona and I gave The Fishers post a clean (see photos above) before the S2 students from Farr High School came to visit and hear about her exhibition Hame.

Last year we did an aluminium etching workshop with two classes (S1 & S2) at the high school; and turned their combined etched aluminium plates into a sculptural memorial post that is now called the The Fishers post. S1 class of course are now S2 and we suspected they might want to check out the post during their visit. As you can see from the photos below, with Tracy their art teacher, we were right. As soon as they got off the bus they made a bee line for the post and spent some time rejoicing in finding their art works on the post.

Following are some images of the cleaning - gently done with a stainless steel scourer, soap, water and cleaning rags. We were removing 12 months of light grey-white corrosion (see last photo) caused by the salt air.

It brought Fiona and I much joy to see the young people expressing pride in their publicly displayed art work. Over the last year some of the students had brought family members to the Annex to show them their work. The following day this year's S1s who visited Fiona's exhibition also visited the post; and some did rubbings of art done by their older siblings. 

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.

Etching workshop and artist's talks

 

On Thursday Fiona and I did a couple of etching workshops with students at Farr High School - one class of 13 and one of 12. It was pretty full on as we had to take each class through the whole process in about 1.5 hours - with changeover for classes etc etc - speed etching and controlled chaos. The aim was for each student to produce one postcard sized etched aluminium plate that related to the fisher folk story that was the subject of my exhibition. The etched plates are to be attached to The Fishers sculptural post. 

Fortunately the art teacher, Tracy whole lives in our village, had done lots of work with the students on thinking about the designs related to the fishers as you can see from the opening photo which shows some of the design drawings and the etched plates created from them.

I could not have managed the workshops without Fiona who totally supervised and controlled the etching process in an outdoors poly tunnel. Couple of photos of Fiona mixing the etching brew. 

Below are the groups of etched plates for the classes and another small group from Tracy and a couple of other teachers or aids.

Following are a few individual plates and a bit of detail from a couple.

A very good outcome. Fiona and I are to finish the etching of the signage and a few other plates where students became enthusiastic. Hopefully that will be done tomorrow. We then hope to attach the plates towards the end of next week.

Yesterday (Saturday) I took part in the Museums's Open Doors event and did three artist's talks for interested folk who did tours on the day. There was quite a lot of interest including a lot of locals who turned up for the last talk as you can see from the following photos taken by Fiona.

Never a dull moment!!!!

Preparation and incidental art

 

Today I finished preparing 66 aluminium plates that Fiona and I will use in an etching workshop with high school students in Bettyhill Scotland in September - all going well. I have been trying to do some workshop and market related tasks associated with our next trip alongside the work on my 100 boats - to periodically give my hands and elbows a rest.

I like to think the opening photo 36 painted plates is an fleeting incidental piece of art. I used some leftover black and gold paint to seal the backs of the plates so that they are not etched as part of the etching process. I had set the plates aside to dry and was just taken by the shades of colour.

The following photo shows the 66 pieces of aluminium - all cut, ground and predrilled to attach to the sculpture post. Most of the plates are postcard size but I've included some other offcuts.

When spraying the backs of the different batches of the plates some nice patterns appeared on the cardboard protecting the workbench - more temporary incidental art???

I also drilled and polished some 300mm long plates that I etched many months ago. I think the circle pattern might fit in with the water design element of the sculpture post; and will also help to bind the post together.

In the workshop we will be using Fiona's instructions for etching aluminium plate with salt and copper sulphate. The page is quite crinkled as it sits in the box with the salt and copper sulphate supplies.

I will finish with a couple more images that could be temporary incidental art???  

Memorial garden

 

The bench seat and 'word-posts' have finally been installed in the grief garden (memorial garden). The short walk to 'rest-reflect-renew' is in the garden on the boundary of the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre.

The bench seat (see opening photo) is positioned to taken in the view of the trees and small creek. Over time the trees behind it will offer even more tranquility to folk who want to pause to remember a loved one who has died.

The posts with etched aluminium words are positioned near the 'bridges' and follow the path to the bench seat.

Next week Graham and I will plant some of his swamp orchids near the posts and bench seat; and also give the etched plates a bit of a clean. Some heart plates are yet to be attached to the tops of the pasts.