Taynish Art Trail 2023

Welcome to the 2023 Taynish Art Trail. This year artworks are celebrating ‘connections’.

Open from 29th May until 29th September 2023.

This year all artists have created works surrounding the theme of ‘connections’. Whether that be connections to a place, cultural connections, life cycles…

We are surrounded by connections in our lives and the artists this year are celebrating that through numerous forms and stories.

If you would like further information or find out how to purchase any of the artworks on display please contact the artists directly via their webpages or contact Artmap.   

NatureScot would like to express its sincere appreciation to the Artmap Argyll artists who have participated in the Taynish Art Trail 2023.

Further information about the Argyll National Nature Reserves or NatureScot can be found at  Scotland's National Nature Reserves. 

For more information on the art trail please contact Heather Watkin.

Find us on Instagram or Facebook for more reserve news and updates. @taynishnnr and #taynishnnr

If you enjoyed your visit to Taynish Art Trail why not also explore more of Taynish? Follow the woodland trail (5km) a mostly level and well-surfaced route around our ancient sessile Oak woodland.

If you are feeling more energetic try the Barr Mor trail (3km.)  The Barr Mor trail is strenuous with some steep climbs but rewards you with great views from the top across to Jura and beyond. 

Explore the coast by following the coastal trails (100m and 1km) which take you down to the southern shore on mostly level and well-surfaced paths.

You can find out more about the history and wildlife of Taynish by picking up a trail leaflet (available at the reserve car park).

We hope you enjoy the trail and please leave us some feedback in the poets' seat booklet!

Libby Anderson

‘Saved from the Sea’

 Aluminium Ballet Dancer Shoe and Wellington Boot 

See them in their new element, flying in the woodland air. Rediscover it as a musical instrument with a bell-like quality. Feel free to play it!

 The aluminium was found on the shore and came from a little boat that sadly broke up in a storm. The wire is repurposed from a sketchbook binding.

These twin objects can appear as different things to different people. Comments are welcome in the book by the stone bench.

Visit Libby Anderson's website

Kirsty Brady

'Protection'

Nature gives us the opportunity to disconnect and unplug from our busy lives.

So many wonders left undiscovered and yet there for us to see.

If you can only allow yourself to ‘disconnect’ from society and the business it brings.

Unplug yourself, but allow yourself to be reconnected and recharged under nature's protection. 

Helen Butler

‘Chasing Rainbows’

Connections are all around us in many different ways. Our emotional response to the physical world; neural pathways in the brain; within nature and the constant changing of the seasons.

This neurographic piece of artwork represents a bit of each of these in abstract form. The colours of nature, the patterns of neurones and how we relate to all of these things in an emotional state.

Visit H2o Designs website.
www.facebook.com/h2odesigns1
www.instagram.com/h2odesigns1

Melanie Chimelewska

‘The watching otter’ 

This is a sculpture in two parts. I love storytelling in my work and this year of connections the story is up to the viewer.

What is the otter watching and what is the story and connection between them?

That is for you to decide.

Visit Melanie Chielewska's website.

Moira Ferguson

‘Three cultures’

 

We are an island surrounded by sea and known today as a multicultural society. This is nothing new. For thousands of years, this land has been visited, explored, sometimes pillaged and exploited, but eventually settled by those beyond the surrounding waters.

My sculptures represent three such cultures in the form of three obelisks inspired by the Neolithic, Pictish, and Viking societies. Their surfaces are carved with a selection of symbols depicting each culture. None are a direct replica of existing artifacts found and recorded in Scotland, but each is carved with symbols that have attracted me and tell a story.

Visit the Holy Loch Pottery website
holylochpottery/Facebook

Katie Low

'Beavers'

Eurasian Beavers are native to the UK but were hunted to extinction in the 16^th century - they were reintroduced to Knapdale, Scotland in 2009.

“Experience from Scotland and abroad has demonstrated that, overall, beavers have a very positive influence on biodiversity. Their ability to modify the environment means that beavers not only create new habitats but also increase habitat diversity at the catchment scale.” www.nature.scot

 

Using Stoneware clay, I have created two beavers in response to the theme connections and the reintroduction of native species to our lands in particular the beaver and how their presence is enabling other species to flourish and in doing so enriching the ecosystem of the rivers which can only be a good thing.

Artist

I delight in the animal world and being in nature. In creating the form, the shape of the animal I am observing, I also hope to capture something of the essence of the animal.

Visit Katy Low's website.
Katy Low Ceramics/Facebook

Pauline Muir

'The Jay'

“Garrulus Glandarius” - The Noisy Acorn Eater

“Schreachag Choillie” - The Screamer of the Woods

“Without this busy corvid, many European forests would not have oak trees” - (Charles Smith-Jones)

Could this most colourful member of the crow family be responsible for creating the magical oak woods of Taynish? While hoarding its winter provisions, it can move up to 3,000 acorns per month, and the unused hidden stashes are often credited with helping to regenerate oak woodlands through this unintentional planting.

Usually, this bird is shy, restless, constantly on the move, and doesn’t linger in the open – except, that is, for this one!  Taynish is indeed a magical place!

Visit Pauline Muir's website.
Pauline Muir Ceramic Art/Facebook