What:
Highland Print Studio is working in partnership with Cape Farewell to deliver an exhibition of contemporary visual art called Sexy Peat, celebrating the ecology and heritage of the Lewis Peatlands in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides and highlighting the significant role that peat plays in global climate regulation. Led by Lewis artists Anne Campbell and Jon Macleod, the project will also celebrate the Gaelic heritage relating to the bog and the significance of the bog to the people who have lived with it.

Why we like it:
Beyond their initially austere or barren appearance, the peatlands reveal an abundance of colour, texture and life forms in constant interaction with dynamic weather systems. These features have inspired the people who have lived with the moor for generations. This project will investigate and celebrate that land, those people and their heritage.

Sexy Peat is part of the Year of Natural Scotland, a partnership between EventScotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Creative Scotland.

The artists commissioned for Sexy Peat are: Anne Campbell, Jon Macleod, Kacper Kowalski, Deirdre Nelson, Murray Robertson, Paul Slater and Alex Boyd.

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This is the first collaborative programme developed by the Scottish Print Network (SPN), a partnership between Dundee Contemporary Arts, Edinburgh Printmakers, Glasgow Print Studio, Highland Print Studio, Inverness and Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen.

The SPN has invited 10 artists from Scotland and 10 from Commonwealth countries to undertake research residencies during 2013 and 2014. Artists from Scotland are travelling to Antigua, Canada, India, Malawi and New Zealand; artists from Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan will be on residency in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

Claire Barclay at the Banff centre

The participating artists from Scotland are:
Claire Barclay, Christine Borland, Michael Fullerton, Louise Hopkins, Jim Lambie, Scott Myles, Elizabeth Ogilvie, Robert Orchardson, Carol Rhodes, David Shrigley.

The artists from Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan are:
Sarnath Banerjee, Fahd Burki, Julia Dault, Rohini Devasher, Geoffrey Farmer, Emily Floyd, Janice Kerbel, David Noonan, Seher Shah, Shahzia Sikander.

A number of the Scottish artists have completed their residencies: Claire Barclay spent one month working at the Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada; Jim Lambie travelled to the Caribbean island of Antigua; Michael Fullerton and David Shrigley both travelled to Auckland, New Zealand.

Sarnath Banerjee at Highland Print Studio

To date, Sarnath Banerjee and Emily Floyd have travelled to Scotland to work with Highland Print Studio and DCA Print Studio respectively (Emily’s work is also included in the current DCA exhibition ‘There will be new rules next week’). The SPN looks forward to welcoming the other international artists to Scotland. Many of these artists will be working and exhibiting in Scotland for the first time.

Each artist is working with one of the five print studios on the development of ambitious and innovative new work in print, taking full advantage of the excellent range of resources, equipment and expertise available through each organisation.

The SPN will also organise a series of exhibitions, events and workshops to run in parallel with the residencies during 2013 and 2014. This will include a two-person exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers with Louise Hopkins and Carol Rhodes (in June and July 2014) and a solo exhibition of work by Michael Fullerton at Glasgow Print Studio (in July 2014). The programme will culminate with an exhibition of new work by the artists at Glasgow Print Studio during the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Below another sky is part of Creative Futures, a Creative Scotland talent development programme which aims to promote the professional development, capabilities, connectivity and ambitions of Scotland’s practitioners and organisations.

For further information on the artists, their residencies and the work being produced, please visit: www.belowanothersky.org.

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