Summer 2024

ARD's hand-built stoneware and distinctive furnishings draw inspiration from the diverse hues of the temperate rainforest and the unique geological formations of the Northwest Highlands, and incorporate materials sourced from the surrounding area. While many of the ceramics are freeform designs, some are molded from objects found on-site, like vases shaped from lobster buoys.

Lisa Fenton O’Brien's works were made by working outside in the rain. Rather than waiting for dry days, the artist allowed the rainfall to dictate the work, experimenting with different 'exposures' (leaving the paper for differing durations) and variable conditions (heavy rain, storms, light sprinkles). These were then reworked in the studio to evoke the elements and species of plants/animals the artist encountered in the field (namely jellyfish and sphagnum moss).

Christopher Gee's series was primarily inspired by a trip from Mull to Skye. Gee documents his travels through photography and journal entries, taking the form of found images, notes, poems, or quotes collected along the way. When he returns to the studio, he works from the photos and his memories to create small-scale, intimate portraits of specific places that feel eerily familiar, even for those who have never ventured to the sites depicted.

Louise Long's series, Forwander (which translates as 'to wander away, to go astray.'), includes Skelf (splinter), Drow (mist), and Lipper (ripple), are all hand-printed medium-format photographs. The series was created during a trip to the Isle of Mull in 2018, and has been printed for the first time as an edition for COLD PARADISE. The titles come from old Scottish phrases and are meant to suggest isolated scenes from these seemingly simple landscape compositions.

Simone Maestra's two bodies of work exhibited here differ in scale and subject. The small bird portraits are maquettes for a larger body of work, composed on 60x60cm canvases, featuring tightly cropped birds posed on a disembodied hand. The fish paintings began as an experiment wherein actual fish were used to create a stencil on the paper. Gee used this silhouette to draw out and reveal metallic flashes and pops of bright colour that are characteristic of these pelagics.