Visitors to Armadale Castle in Sleat during July and August will encounter the unexpected when they experience Fosgailte/Exposed in the coastal gardens of the castle.

This exciting new visual arts initiative, featuring a group of installations by eleven local artists, takes place during the 16th Feis an Eilein, the Skye Festival.

The festival had expressed an interest in developing a visual arts content to the festival and, short of a suitable building, a group of local artists came up with the idea of placing work in the landscape.

A major piece by Julie Brook explores the vertical presence of light, textile sculptures by Carol Kempt will react to the elements and glass panels at the castle entrance by Kim Bramley mark the threshold between the intimate garden and the exposed.

Ceramicist Patricia Shone, who developed the initiative with Kim, explains “So many of us are deeply affected and influenced by the land we live on and we liked the idea of (temporarily) affecting and influencing the land itself by means of our art.  This is a particularly fertile area for visual art with many artists producing varied and exciting work and not much opportunity to see or show the work. 

“Armadale Castle offered us the use of their wonderful, mature gardens overlooking the Sound of Sleat with enthusiastic interest from head gardener Louise Pinkney.

“The title comes from the location at the edge of the sea, from the siting of the work within the gardens rather than a gallery, and from our own feelings of exposure as we agreed to organise something new.”

For her installation Patricia has handbuilt ‘Three pots for three natural plinths’ which reflect her interest in how her work stands on a shelf and the space it occupies, which helps her to make sense of her own place in the world.

Another ceramicist, Maggie Zerafa, who has studied in Australia and Japan and worked with potters in France, has created a piece entitled ‘Every dog has its day.’

Donald MacKenzie, a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, combines the oldest type of sculpture, stone carving, with a theme of music in the garden.

Fosgailte/Exposed is being held at the coastal gardens at Armadale Castle, Armadale, Sleat, Isle of Skye, from 1 July to 31 August 2007.

During the run of the Skye Festival (13 to 27 July 2007) there will be an opportunity to meet some of the artists as well as open air performances.  More details at www.feisaneilein.com/index.html 

Towards the end of the exhibition there will be an evening lighting of the installation by Julie Brook.

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