Assemblages & Drawings

Douglas Robertson

All images and textDouglas Robertson 2010

www.douglasrobertson.co.uk

ʻThe Net MenderʼAn Exhibition of Assemblages &

Drawings

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Bedales Gallery, Steep, Hampshire

26th February - 27th March 2010

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Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh

8th May - 12th June 2010

‘Douglas Robertson is a landscape Artist in the best sense of that description, committed to a fundamental exploration of the relationship of human beings to their natural environment.

Robertson’s work is steeped in poetry and oral tradition. But he makes use of folklore and poetry rather than illustrating it. Instead the references in his work become themselves part of a living folklore, a poetical visualisation which takes one closer to nature through it’s spirits.’

Murdo Macdonald’s quote in The Scotsman

Souvenir of Cumbrae

Introduction

I was born and brought up on the east coast of Scotland, and this has had a major influence on my work. My world at that time had three main lines of influence: the spine of the Sidlaw Hills and the Angus Glens to the north; the city of Dundee, with its port and industries; and the River Tay, from its Highland stretches around Dunkeld and Kenmore to the wide river firth between Angus and Fife.

Like many other artists, writers and musicians, the foundations for the colours and themes I have used in my work were put in place by the environment and experiences of my childhood. I lived in a landscape rich with folklore and traditions, where the footprints and legacy of the previous people who had passed over the land were not only a memory, but a part of everyday life.

The wide river firth of the Tay had a major part to play in my upbringing. Not only did it provide a workplace at the docks for my father, but it was another great source of ideas and images. Strangely enough, many of these stem from the futility of fishing with homemade drop lines from the pier at Broughty Ferry as a young boy. Hours spent dangling a line into the water hoping that something would bite. Most of the time the hooks were baited with nothing more than homemade milk bottle cap lures, sparkling in the water below the pier. What I didn't know was that what I was 'catching' was a love of the coastline. The stories of the old fishermen, the history of the river in the Castle Museum, and the colour and mood of the changing river that would be a main part of my artistic vision.

I now travel and exhibit widely around Scotland and the UK, and carry with me the same curiosity and sense of place that I developed growing up on the banks of the Tay. The coast still plays an important role in my work along with the countryside. New folklore and traditional tales, similar to the ones I heard as a boy, still inspire me and evoke images and ideas for my art. That wee boy peering into the museum case still lives inside me and is still drawn to finding new treasures in the landscape and imaginations of Scotland.

Fowler Rock

River Tay - The Famous Tay Whale (harpooners detail)

The Wee Boy and the Museum Cases

An important source of inspiration and ideas for me are our fantastic museums and art collections. From the Aladdin's cave of drawers and boxes of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, to national treasure troves such as The British Museum in London, they are a valuable resource to me when researching new themes and images.

As a child, I spent a great deal of time looking into the display cases of the local museums. Many Saturdays and school holidays were occupied in the dimly lit rooms full of local treasures. Pictish stones and objects found in the fields near my home fired my imagination.

Relics of the cities whaling industry including beautiful scrimshaw work and personal possessions gave an insight into the lives of people who had shaped the city I grew up in. Certain exhibits on this subject, such as the Tay Whale’s skeleton, had a magical attraction to me, a window into the cities former life. I believe the occupation of museums, collecting artifacts and how they were displayed, has had a direct bearing on how I have chosen to create my work. The museum cases have left their mark!

Assemblages

Poem Boat(for Ian Stephen)

Assemblages, or box constructions as they are often called, offer the artist a great deal of scope and flexibility for creating a strong style and visual language from which they can create their work.

I have been creating art works using this form for the last twenty years, and still find it a fascinating format and vehicle for the type of narrative work that has become recognised as my traditional language and style.

My sketchbooks play a key role in the development of these ideas, and in this section of the catalogue I have included some notes and working drawings for some of the assemblages. The drawings in the notebooks for me are the truest form of the art, the initial thoughts and ideas before they are put through the complicated process of making and becoming the finished work.

Study forSmall Expectations I

Small Expectations I

Study forSmall Expectations II

Small Expectations II

Working drawing forRiver Tay

River Tay - The Famous Tay Whale

Sketchbook drawing forRiver Tay

Bas Baile (Seol)

Study forBas Baile - Rotal

Bas Baile (Rotal)

Lost At Sea

Emigrant (Departure)

Study for boat detailsof Emigrant

Emigrant (detail)

Working drawingfor Sula

Sula

Study forBlue Men of the Minch

Blue Men of the Minch

Bone Jargon(collaboration with poet Jen Hadfield)

Study for Pocket Noost

Pocket Noost(collaboration with poet Jen Hadfield)

Winter sky studyfor Idle Cranes

Idle Cranes MeansHungry Weans

Sketchbook drawing for King oʼ the Herrinʼ

King oʼ the Herrinʼ(from Martin Martinʼs Journal)

Drawings

Whether creating thumbnail sketches to develop ideas and themes in my sketchbooks, or producing large scale charcoal outcomes, drawing has a fundamental place in my work.

Drawing for me is the purest and most revealing form of art. Working drawings from artists sketchbooks or preliminary sketches for paintings or sculptures have always been a fascination to me.

Caaʼin Whaals

Book Cover Illustration

Craw I

Craw II

Abertay Sands Ardneil Bay

Traigh Mor Uig Bay

Biography

Douglas RobertsonBorn Dundee 1961

Selected one man shows

1991 Ancrum Gallery, Jedburgh1992 Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh

1994 East Kilbride Arts Centre1994 David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre (Artist in residence)

1994 Clydesdale Arts Festival (Artist in residence 1994/7)1996 Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther

1999 Ether Gallery, Southsea2000 Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale

2000 Maltings Gallery, Farnham2001 An Lanntair, Isle of Lewis

2002 Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow2002 An Tuireann, Isle of Skye

2002 McLean Museum, Greenock2003 An Tobar, Isle of Mull

2006 Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland2007 Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther

2010 Bedales Arts, Hampshire2010 Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh

July 2004: Artist in Residence, An Tobar, Isle of Mull; producing seven sketchbooks based on his experiences of the island and its history.

Touring exhibition during 1993/4 on the theme of the River Tay, featured two artists Angus McEwan and Douglas Robertson, and two poets, Valerie Gillies and Harvey

Holton. The River Spirits show travelled to Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Gracefield Art Centre, Dumfries; McLean Museum, Greenock;

Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh; Barrack Street Museum, Dundee; and the Balbardie Gallery, Bathgate.

Work in public collectionsInverclyde District Council, East Kilbride District Council, Scottish Fisheries

Museum, Clydesdale District Council, Biggar Museums Trust, Calderglen Country Park, Borders Television, Scottish Wildlife Trust,

Scottish Poetry Library, Timespan Heritage Centre, Comunn Eachdraidh Nis,Shetland Arts

Catalogues, Publications, and other media

The Dictionary of Artists in Britain Since 1945 - David Buckman (Ed.) - Art Dictionaries Ltd

Cover images for ‘Small Expectations’ by Donald S. Murray 2010

Cover illustration for ‘Praising The Guga’ by Donald S. Murray 2008

Douglas Robertson - Timespan Heritage Centre, 2000

Lines Review 118 - Macdonald Publishers, Edinburgh 1991

Lines Review 124 - Macdonald Publishers, Edinburgh 1993

Mistaken Identities: New Scottish poetry and short stories - B&W, Edinburgh, 1995

Edinburgh Review - Polygon, Edinburgh, 1995

'River Spirits' - Documentary series made for the BBC World Service, and broadcast worldwide, 1994

'Usual Suspects' - Arts Review broadcast by BBC Radio Scotland, 1994. Featured an interview with Douglas Robertson

'Poem Boats' - TV magazine feature about Douglas Robertson and Kevin MacNeill, and broadcast on BBC Scotlands 'Eorpa', the Gaelic arts programme on Burn's Night 2001

Back cover image:Salt Book