Biography
Born 1947 Burra Isle Shetland.
Educated Hamnavoe Primary and Anderson High School, Lerwick.
Studied sculpture and ceramics at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen 1965-69.
Retired as Principal Teacher of Art, Stromness Academy, Orkney 2005.
Biography
Selected exhibitions
“Art In Flow” – Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney 1984
“Shorelines” – Collins Gallery, Glasgow 1985
“Conflux” – Pier Arts Centre, Stromness and Zurich, Chur and Mollis, Switzerland
“The Pier Gallery: The First Ten Years” – Pier Arts Centre and Artspace Aberdeen
“1000 Years of Orkney Art” – Pier Arts Centre, Stromness 1990
“Holm”- Pier Arts Centre and Scottish Tour 1990
International Triennial of Graphic Prints – Zurich 1991
“The Black Pig Goes South” – Smith’s Galleries, London1992
“New Works at the Yard” – St Magnus Festival 1996
“Nine Days on Foula” – Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland and Pier Arts Centre, Orkney 1996
“Nine Days on Foula” – Schaffhausen, Switzerland 1998
“Recent Drawings” – Loft Gallery, St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney 2001
“Hansel” – [with Frances Pelly] Pier Arts Centre, Stromness 2002
“Recent Work” – Bonhoga Gallery, Wiesdale, Shetland 2003
“Fragments”- with Steven Henderson, Loft Gallery, St Margaret’s Hope 2006
“The Curious Eye” – group exhibition RSA Galleries 2007
“Shiltron” – Porteous Brae Gallery, Stromness 2007
“Recent Work” – Orquil Gallery, Orkney June 2008
“Carved Modelled and Cast” – with Frances Pelly, Shetland Museum and Archive 2010, Pier Arts Centre Orkney, 2010, An Talla Solais, Ullapool 2011
“Dittty Boxes” – with Cecil Tait, Shetland Museum and Archive August 2012
“Voyage” – group exhibition in Kunstlerhaus Dortmund, 2012
“Voyage Boxed” – 2013 collaborative exhibition
“Sea Change” – Cape Farewell at Edinburgh Royal Botanics, November 2013
“Adrift” – Orkney Islands Museum October 2014
“Conversations with Magic Stones” Stromness Museum 2017
Works in the collections of Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Museum and Archives, Orkney Islands Council and Stromness Library
“Flow” – Scalloway Booth, Shetland 2018
“Laebrak” – Old Library, Kirkwall 2020
“The Swan Sketchbooks” – Orkney Museum, 2021
Biography
Publications and collaborations
“Shorelines”, film by Channel 4 and Collins Gallery 1985
“Cold Kye, Curlew Cry”, poems and prints from Orkney 1989
“Sculpture and Dance”, with Stromness Dance Group – Pier Arts Centre 1990
“Peerie Boat”, illustrated children’s book 1996 [winner of Shetland Art Trust literary award 1997]
Founded Hansel Cooperative Press with Fiona Cumming, Frances Pelly and Christine De Luca 2002
“Still Life”, anthology of dialect writing 2003
“Earth, Air, Water, Fire”, poems and drawings with Christine De Luca 2003
Rhoda Bulter award for dialect writing 2003
“Bicycle Dreams”, anthology of Shetland writing 2004
“Ellie an Da Sail Needle”, illustrated children’s book with Iris Sandison 2005
“A Hansel o Stories”, double CD of short stories in Shetland dialect for children 2005
New Writing Scotland 2007
Triangle Trust international artists workshop Summer Isles June 2007
Triangle Trust workshop Hoy April 2008
“Schiltron”, animated film with Joseph Mahony 2007
“Alias Isobel”, Hansel illustrated poetry pamphlet with Morag McInnes 2008
“Mailboats”, Hansel collaborative project with poets and visual artists from Orkney and Shetland 2008
“White Below”, anthology of creative writing on Shetland’s fishing history 2009
“Bright Pebbles”, anthology of Shetland writing 2009
“Silver from the Farlin”, installation with Frances Pelly and Laureen Johnston 2011
“Villon – le Testament”, translated by WJ Tait edited and published Sept 2011
Sea Journey aboard ‘Song of the Whale’ on the Minch, sponsored by Cape Farewell August 2011
Residency and commissioned prints with Diana Leslie, Stromness Town Heritage Initiative 2012
Biography
Publications and collaborations
“Ditty Boxes”, collaboration with Cecil Tait, Shetland Museum and Archive, commissioned by Cape Farewell 2012
“Voyage 2”, collaborative boxed exhibition of multiples 2013
Sea journey aboard ‘Swan’ sailing fifie, around northern isles of Orkney and Shetland, September 2013 with Cape Farewell.
Public Sculpture for Kirkwall Grammar School with Kevin Shaw, dyker and Steve Husband, engineer February 2015
“Working the Map” – Publication with Cape Farewell and RSPB; interviews, essays, poetry and drawings exploring islanders and a changing environment. 2015
One month residency in Bressay Lighthouse Buildings, Shetland, September 2016.
“New Connections” archival project with Cait O’Neill McCullagh, 2019
“The Art of Poetry and Other Poems” with Christine De Luca, 2020