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BLUE SKYE THINKING Besides the breathtaking alpine scenery, and mist-cloaked sea views, there are a lot of interesting art and music events going on on Skye, fi nds Claire Sawers
T he devastatingly good looking isle of Skye doesn’t like being patronised. ‘Please don’t call us “remote”,’ one local tells me with only half a smile, as we eat slippery langoustines and drink pints in the bar of the Eilean Iarmain hotel on a Saturday night. After all, the bridge connecting Skye to the mainland is just over a mile long, which makes it a shorter drive than the Forth Bridge. It doesn’t like being misunderstood either. ‘Think you know what to expect from a night out in the Hebrides?’, shouts the Skye-based podcast, Radio Free Hebrides, run by Mylo’s musician/DJ brother Hector MacInnes. ‘Think again!’
Skye wouldn’t like to be considered a cultural backwater either. No sir. Although a lot of weekenders and visitors want their visit to include a night of straightforward fiddles and folk song after an invigorating day of Munro bagging – and Skye can definitely offer some of the best trad musicians, not to mention mountains, around – that’s not all the island can offer the culture lover. It’s becoming increasingly popular as a destination for fans of the experimental, the site-specific, the interactive and the avant-garde.
It’s been selected as one of the spots on the Creative Scotland-supported visual arts trail, GENERATION, a programme of art exhibitions across the country celebrating artists working in Scotland over the past 25 years, including David Shrigley, Toby Paterson and Richard Wright. From August to October, Skye will host a ten-week sculptural installation with the working title ‘an experience being an experience like an experience you just had’, featuring Glasgow-based artists Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan. It’s been put together by ATLAS Arts, a visual arts organisation in Portree. Last May they commissioned sound poet Alec Finlay (son of Ian Hamilton Finlay) to create a work about our collective fascination with mountains. The result,
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‘a company of mountains’, was then celebrated over a ‘PANORAMA’ launch weekend, with performances from Hanna Tuulikki, 7VWWVW and Wounded Knee, in an extravaganza of poetry, music and Tom Weir and volcano-appreciation. The fact that ATLAS Arts doesn’t have a dedicated gallery space works only to its advantage; they’ve had to use Skye’s dramatic mountains and slopes as the walls for exhibiting their art instead. It’s an idea that outdoor-arts mavericks NVA ran with, back in 2005, when they used Skye’s landmark Old Man of Storr as the epicentre for a dramatic seven-week sound and light installation (pictured, above).
‘We work very hard to bring a real variety of work together,’ says Rosie Somerville, project coordinator at Atlas. ‘The hope is that people who don’t think they like sound poetry or analogue synths might end up enjoying it, after coming to hear a talk about mountaineering or geology.’ ATLAS Arts is also currently running a project called Spincycle, inspired by the knitting and weaving traditions on Skye, which has led to screenings of films in launderettes around Skye and Lochalsh, and sonic explorations of ‘cycles, revolutions, oscillations and reels’ streamed on Radio Free Hebrides.
‘It’s not that we don’t think people want to experience traditional music and art forms, we’ve just noticed that often people want to do both,’ says Somerville. ‘Someone who came to last year’s PANORAMA event said “I’m glad I was able to witness this”. It had felt like something really significant to them. And we took that as a huge compliment.’
See list.co.uk for a mini island guide to Skye. See right for more events. Morar B&B offers accommodation in Ardvasar, Sleat, from £45 per night. See accommodation-on-skye.co.uk for more information.
WHAT’S ON . . . ON SKYE FILM SCREENING Grand Budapest Hotel, Aros Centre, Portree, from Fri 28 Mar
LGBT FILM SCREENING Blue is the Warmest Colour, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig/Gaelic College, Sleat, Sat 29 Mar
STUDENT MUSIC SHOWCASE Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Aros Centre, Thu 3 Apr PUPPET THEATRE SHOW The Secret Lives of Suitcases, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Mon 7 Apr
VISUAL ARTIST TALK Talking Art Series: Caroline Dear, Council Chamber, Portree, Thu 10 Apr DJ SET Porridge, with Hector MacInnes, part of SEALL’s 1000th event celebrations, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Sat 3 May
VISUAL ARTIST TALK Talking Art Series: Neil Mulholland, ATLAS Arts, Sat 10 May
ALT-FOLK GIG The Nuala Kennedy Band with Troy MacGillivray, Aros Centre, Fri 16 May
MUSIC FESTIVAL Fèis an Eilein/Skye Festival, various venues, Jul–Aug, see seall.co.uk for full listings
JAZZ CONCERT National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Wed 16 Jul THEATRE In My Father’s Words, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Tue 22 Jul
ARTIST INSTALLATIONS Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan, part of GENERATION, ATLAS Arts, Aug–Oct
BOOK FESTIVAL Skye Book Festival, Aros Centre, Thu 4–Sat 6 Sep
MUSIC FESTIVAL Skye Swing Jazz, various venues, Thu 30 Oct–Sun 2 Nov
VISUAL ARTIST TALK Talking Art Series: Deirdre Nelson, ATLAS Arts, Sat 30 Nov
FILM SCREENINGS The Screen Machine, Highlands touring cinema lorry, see screenmachine.co.uk for info
■ For more info on Skye arts events, visit aros.co.uk, atlasarts.org.uk, seall.co.uk and whatsonskye.com