Curlews and Snipe
1997
Woodcut
74x61cm
ENQUIRE
The general lack of verticals in Shetland also formed a challenge when I first moved there because up to that point buildings and people had formed my subject matter with which I built compositions around.
Help came from the birds when one day I bumped into an eccentric looking long haired birdwatcher frantically running through the landscape looking for a rare bird asking me if I had seen it. This man turned out to be the legendary bird watcher Franco Marovich who let me look through the lens of his telescope and as we peered towards Melby loch a whole new world opened up as I came face to face with curlews and snipe in the glowing vibrant colour and the level of detail that good quality optics can offer. Later that day I made the woodcut print ‘curlews and snipe’ which marks the point that the birds of Shetland entered into my life.
‘Curlews and Snipe ‘also marks a turning point in my own life that in retrospect I might call the beginnings of a decolonization of my mind as my urban vernacular and concerns were slowly shed and instead, I began to tune into the rhythms and ways of nature, a process that is easier to do in the wilds of Shetland.
Through the art school years, I was quite literally bombarded with art in all its shapes and forms, with its conflicting opinions and changing fads and fashions. I was searching for a conception of art that was increasingly informed by my growing spirituality that was at odds with much of what I was encountering in the world of contemporary art. My head was spinning, and I was struggling to find a language because I had not found my subject matter. The very act of drawing birds was for me a radical step in that I let go of being led by the fads and fashions and expectations of the art world and instead allowed myself to be led by nature.
Help came from the birds when one day I bumped into an eccentric looking long haired birdwatcher frantically running through the landscape looking for a rare bird asking me if I had seen it. This man turned out to be the legendary bird watcher Franco Marovich who let me look through the lens of his telescope and as we peered towards Melby loch a whole new world opened up as I came face to face with curlews and snipe in the glowing vibrant colour and the level of detail that good quality optics can offer. Later that day I made the woodcut print ‘curlews and snipe’ which marks the point that the birds of Shetland entered into my life.
‘Curlews and Snipe ‘also marks a turning point in my own life that in retrospect I might call the beginnings of a decolonization of my mind as my urban vernacular and concerns were slowly shed and instead, I began to tune into the rhythms and ways of nature, a process that is easier to do in the wilds of Shetland.
Through the art school years, I was quite literally bombarded with art in all its shapes and forms, with its conflicting opinions and changing fads and fashions. I was searching for a conception of art that was increasingly informed by my growing spirituality that was at odds with much of what I was encountering in the world of contemporary art. My head was spinning, and I was struggling to find a language because I had not found my subject matter. The very act of drawing birds was for me a radical step in that I let go of being led by the fads and fashions and expectations of the art world and instead allowed myself to be led by nature.