Joanne B Kaar is a Scottish artist who works with fibre and bookmaking. In 2006 she completed a three month residency in Durness in Sutherland, which she documented in a fascinating blog.
Joanne B Kaar - Sango Sands Seapapers
During the residency she made a series of books from handmade paper, often using local materials. Some of these books were subjected to pretty harsh treatment like being buried or thrown in the sea! It's amazing that they've survived as well as they have - it's easy to forget how robust paper can be as a medium.
Sutherland is a place that is very dear to my heart. Most of my childhood holidays were spent in Achnahaird in Ross and Cromarty and every holiday included a day trip to Lochinver in the neighbouring Sutherland. Although it was very close as the crow flies, it was an hour-long drive on a narrow, twisting and often terrifying road. I've just checked and according to the AA it's 16 miles yet takes an hour and 8 minutes - that should give you an idea of just how bad the road is! It was worth it though - not least for the annual visit to Achins Bookshop in Inverkirkaig - apparently the most remote bookshop in the British Isles. I always saved most of my holiday money so that I could splurge on books and I still remember the feeling of deep contentment that walking out with a bag of carefully chosen books gave me. I also have fond memories of standing on the pier in Lochinver watching the fishing boats unloading and sitting on the seafront eating homemade pies from the incredibly good local bakery.
Durness is a lot further up the coast and not somewhere I've visited but Joanne's photographs of the area, with all their Highland familiarity, certainly brought up plenty of nostalgia. I love living in Bristol and feel very at home here, but so many of my creative roots lie in those summer holidays in the Highlands - long days spent damming little streams with my brothers and cousins, building complex sand sculptures with my Dad, riding invisible horses, grinding down sandstone in an attempt to make pigment (I used to pretend I was a neolithic cave painter!), patiently drawing for hours in the caravan on rainy days and writing bad poetry once I was a teenager. For several years now I've been needing to reconnect with those roots and I know that I absolutely must make a trip to the Highlands soon because the feeling is getting quite desperate. While I don't really subscribe to the idea of a 'muse', I have learnt over the years that it's not a good idea to ignore particularly persistent creative cravings.
Where do your creative roots lie? Is it a place? A feeling? A particular smell? A certain kind of pencil or the feel of a fresh sketchbook?
Sue Favinger Smith
Kirsty~ You really captured me with this post, I love your ability to communicate a sense of place through words. I know that need to reconnect with those places that renew and sustain us. For me it has been the ocean, but there are two large mountain ranges between my home and the coast now so I have had to find substitutes, the wide open spaces, the endless vistas, a big sky. And the excitement of a fresh palette of color and an empty canvas, with the entire day ahead of me.
Sue Favinger Smith
Kirsty~ You really captured me with this post, I love your ability to communicate a sense of place through words. I know that need to reconnect with those places that renew and sustain us. For me it has been the ocean, but there are two large mountain ranges between my home and the coast now so I have had to find substitutes, the wide open spaces, the endless vistas, a big sky. And the excitement of a fresh palette of color and an empty canvas, with the entire day ahead of me.
Katherine
Thanks again for providing support re 'the patient' - it was easier to cope with all the positive thoughts being offered.
I think I covered almost the entire west coast of Scotland during childhood holidays. I have very fond memories of Loch Broom, Stac Pollaidh and the wonderful colour of the water in Gruinard Bay. I have less fond memories of the midges!
Katherine
Thanks again for providing support re 'the patient' - it was easier to cope with all the positive thoughts being offered.
I think I covered almost the entire west coast of Scotland during childhood holidays. I have very fond memories of Loch Broom, Stac Pollaidh and the wonderful colour of the water in Gruinard Bay. I have less fond memories of the midges!
Kirsty Hall
Ouch, yes, Katherine. I wish I could say that I'd blocked out memories of the midges but I think that's impossible. We used to drive past Gruinard Bay and I was always fascinated by the murky history of the anthrax testing - I was a morbid child!
Kirsty
Post authorOuch, yes, Katherine. I wish I could say that I'd blocked out memories of the midges but I think that's impossible. We used to drive past Gruinard Bay and I was always fascinated by the murky history of the anthrax testing - I was a morbid child!
Kirsty Hall
Thanks for your kind words, Sue. And how poetic your own comment is - I can really feel those mountains and wide skies now. I love mountains too although I agree that nothing quite compares to the ocean.
Kirsty
Post authorThanks for your kind words, Sue. And how poetic your own comment is - I can really feel those mountains and wide skies now. I love mountains too although I agree that nothing quite compares to the ocean.