September 16th 2024.
Ullapool's first Art Week is currently underway, and one of the featured artists is the well-known Scottish artist, Will Maclean. His latest exhibition, titled "Ghost Boats", is being displayed in the Ceilidh Place Bookshop Porch. Jon Miller takes a closer look at this captivating collection, which delves into Scotland's deep connection with the sea.
Maclean has a long history of incorporating the Highlands and the West Coast into his artwork. He often explores maritime cultures and uses them to challenge our beliefs about tradition and memory. This exploration even extends to his own personal background, as his father hailed from Polbain in Coigach.
In the past, Maclean has created assemblages and sculptures that use objects and tools commonly associated with seafaring communities, elevating them to a symbolic and almost religious status. He brings the mundane routines and customs of those who work on the seas and shores to a level of ritualistic significance.
His latest exhibition, "Ghost Boats", features 23 small mixed-media paintings on watercolour paper, each accompanied by a brief text. These texts include excerpts from poems by renowned writers such as Angus Martin, John Burnside, and Neil Macleod of Polbain. Other quotes are taken from fishermen, skippers, and the Lewis-born poet and novelist, Donald S. Murray.
The common theme among these works is the presence of fishing boats, trawlers, and skiffs. As the title suggests, Maclean's aim is to commemorate the decline of the west coast fishing industry, particularly the Ring Net herring fishing in Skye and Loch Fine, and the Bag Net fishing tradition in Coigach, Wester Ross. In many of the paintings, the boats are depicted in simple outlines, allowing the landscape to show through their shapes and lines.
Some of the paintings, like "The Old Sail Boat", feature white ink drawings of the boats, giving them a ghostly appearance and reinforcing the idea that they are forever embedded in the landscape, sailing the shores of memory. Another piece, "Ghost Pair", shows a ghostly trawler accompanied by a line of ghost fish, symbolizing the loss of both the boats and the great shoals that once filled the west coast waters.
Maclean's paintings may be small in size, but they are rich in texture and depth. He uses techniques like scratching and distressing to give them the appearance of worn trawler hulls. This serves as a metaphor for the passage of time and the fading of memories. Interestingly, Maclean incorporates postcards into his paintings, a nod to their role as physical artifacts that bridge the past and the present.
The imprecision in the finishing of some of the paintings, where colours bleed onto the underlying watercolour paper, suggests a blending of time periods. It's as if the past is seeping into the present, blurring the lines between eras. This thought-provoking exhibition allows us to imagine these ghost boats still haunting the harbours and seaboards of Scotland.
"Ghost Boats" will be on display until September 21st. For more cultural stories, be sure to check out Scottish Field. And don't forget to subscribe for the latest issue.
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