Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Huntly, Aberdeenshire
29 March – 14 April
Reviewed by: Deborah Schultz
Jonathan Claxton's three-month residency at Gordon Primary School, Huntly, has culminated in a series of exhibitions that were linked by the skyline of the hills surrounding Huntly. Murals on the school walls, resulting from workshops with the children, are structured by this line, dividing bands of colour. At the business centre, Ladder, a fifteen-metre high construction from fishing line and twigs situated in the stairwell, represents rural isolation and a longing to escape the confines of the town. Groundword, displayed in shop windows around the square, combines a drawing of the skyline with text by local inhabitants on life in the town. As one resident commented: "At the end of every street in Huntly are the hills; do they protect or inhibit me?"
Claxton's work explores the dialogue between people and the rural environment that is modified by them. Traditional working methods reflect a sense of repetition and continuity analogous to ploughing, weaving and walking, and incorporate local found materials including water and soil. In recent years Claxton has worked on environmental art projects in Sweden, Russia and Lapland – the latter an ongoing series of symposia in Pallas Aunas Tuntura on minimal and temporary interventions in the landscape. In 2000 Claxton worked with Finnish artist Kaija Kiuru on a joint project of synchronised walks in Aberdeenshire and Lapland. Claxton is one of the artists commissioned to participate in the international conference 'On the Edge: the benefits and challenges of cultural development in remote areas' at Duff House, Banff.
Writer detail:
DEBORAH SCHULTZ
is a lecturer at Central St Martins College of Art and Design.
Venue detail:
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