West Coast Open

This year we are having our annual West Coast Open exhibition in the Summer months of June and July. The Submission date for bringing your work to us is Saturday the 16th June. This will be our 8th West Coast Open so far at an talla solais. Artists are invited to submit up to three pieces - we look forward to reviving your work!

  West Coast Open Submission Form (2012)    

Our next show is going to be all about books. Coinciding with the Ullapool Book Festival we are delighted to be showing An Leabhar Mor na Gaidhlig (the Big Book of Gaelic) alongside LK243, a collection of work made by Imi Maufe during her recent residency with the Tall Ship Wild Swan. Her ship's namesake, the Dutch schooner Wylde Swan will be in Ullapool at the same time, so come and join the dots at An Talla Solais... books? boats? bliss? It will all be here...

International touring exhibition to visit Ullapool

Leabhar Mòr na Gàidhlig / The Great Book of Gaelic

A major international touring exhibition will visit Ullapool in April – May 2012. Twenty Five artworks from An Leabhar Mòr – The Great Book of Gaelic will be on display from April 27 th in three village venues, the Ceilidh Place, the MacPhail Centre and An Talla Solais where the majority of the pieces will be exhibited and where an opening event featuring some of the project’s key contributors will take place.

The Leabhar Mòr was originated by Pròiseact nan Ealan – The Gaelic Arts Agency and for the past ten years it has been touring constantly in the UK, Ireland, France, Austrailia, Canada and most recently opened the Tartan Day 2012 celebrations at Ellis Island in New York City. It features the work of more than 200 poets, visual artists and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland to create a major contemporary artwork in the form of a visual anthology.

The 100 Gaelic poems have been nominated as the favourite works of poets and writers such as Seamus Heaney and Canada’s Alasdair MacLeod. The selection features works from almost every century from the 6th to the 21 st and includes the earliest Gaelic poetry in existence. Comedy, tragedy, love, death, the spiritual and the bawdy are all represented in poems by Sorley MacLean, Iain Crichton Smith, Kevin MacNeil, Nuala Ni Dhomhnall and many others.

The 100 visual artists – fifty from each country – were commissioned to respond to the poetry in a variety of media. The artists include Will MacLean, Alan Davies, Frances Walker, John Byrne, Rita Duffy and Alasdair MacLennan whose works are as varied in their mediums as they are in their utilised materials and influences.

A small team of calligraphers, led by Frances Breen, worked in collaboration with the artists to integrate the key lines of poetry into the art-works. The result is an extraordinary celebration in words and pictures of Gaelic culture from the earliest times to the present day. The exhibition illuminates the richness and beauty of the linguistic and cultural bonds that connect the Scottish and Irish Gàidhealtachds and makes accessible and eye-catching demonstrations of those bonds by bringing them to community forums.

For any further queries contact:
Marina MacLeod,
Project Manager
Pròiseact nan Ealan
mailto:marina@gaelic-arts.com
an talla solais Ullapool Visual Arts, Market Street, Ullapool, IV26 2XE
www.antallasolais.org 01854 612310

Events Calendar

Visit the Events Calendar 2012 to see all the events coming up.

New Community Art Room opens at ATS

From now on, ATS will be running one of its studios as an open-access community art room. It will be available for anyone to do art activities in, whether as a one-off, on a regular basis or for a week at a time - doing your own thing, gathering a group together or teaching others. Please see the CAS rates 2011 (pdf) for information on the rates and Community Art Room (pdf) for full details of the facilities, types of activities and dates of availability.

Please feel free to get in touch to find out how we can fit you in. We'll look forward to hearing from you!