SHORELINE
BLANDINE ANDERSON
SHORELINE
BLANDINE ANDERSON 6 - 27 MARCH 2021
The title of this exhibition, ‘Shoreline’, is very apt; shore + line, suggesting the drawn line, waterline, watermark, artist’s mark. Blandine’s distinctive style relies on her superb drawing and modelling skills and an interest in mark-making, layering and texture. Her ceramic sculptures and oil paintings are inspired by the wildlife inhabitants on the margins of sea lochs and island shores, and memories of places visited around Scotland’s coastline.
Cover Image: Spring at Tobermory, stoneware, 21 x 20 x 8cm
Cape Wrath
Durness
Clashnessie Gruinard _ Mellon Udrigle _>> Loch Ewe _> Gairloch _>
Ullapool
Applecross
Moidart _> Ardnamurchan _> Staffa Iona _>
Mull
Findochty Portknockie
Bla
c
le k Is
Cullen Inverness
Divers, oil on canvas with sand, 50 x 40cm
This new body of work from Blandine Anderson marks an evolution in her creative process, both in terms of technique and subject matter. Slightly larger porcelain pieces have allowed her space to make more use of fluid lines and layers of manipulated coloured slips. Some of her smallest porcelain pieces still have that remarkably intense detail, but the larger porcelain pieces have more movement and variety in mark-marking and are more akin to her other sculptures made of stoneware. This new-found vitality and fluidity in her ceramics seems to have spilled over into the oil paintings which are fresh and exuberant; see for instance, ‘Against the Sun’ and ‘Divers’. Blandine’s paintings follow roughly the same kinds of techniques she uses in her ceramics and can be divided into two categories. Those, such as the Moray coast paintings, which are more precise and akin to porcelain decorating techniques, and the others which can be likened to the ‘splatty’ and carved approach of the stoneware pieces. In ‘Divers’ she has employed the sand/clay resist method, and although most of this substance is removed, a small amount still remains within the oil paint to give a textured surface in places.
Blandine has obviously enjoyed making work for this solo exhibition, and in many ways, it is such a pity that the majority of the work will be shown only online rather than at our gallery premises in Inverness, although there will be a small display in the gallery window. 2020 was undoubtedly a year of refection for many, and for Blandine she found herself looking back fondly on the many places in Scotland she had visited, from Mull to the Moray Coast. When she visualizes a scene from the past she always senses a strong colour bias, which in turn provokes memories of smell, taste, of warmth or coldness. Her sculptures and paintings are a combination of personal memories and a huge amount of research into the cultural history, geology, geography, flora and fauna of a place. Blandine has a naturally enquiring mind and imbues each piece with myriad layers of meaning and this is what makes the work so compelling. - Denise Collins, Director, Castle Gallery Inverness
MULL
Island Otter, Mull, stoneware, 24 x 31 x 9cm
The Incoming Tide, Mull Otters, stoneware, 26 x 32 x 8cm
Loch Scridain Otter, Mull, porcelain, 9 x 11 x 4cm
Loch na Keal Otter, porcelain, 8 x 7 x 4cm
These lochs are where I have seen otters playing on the shore among the bladderwrack. The predominant colour is fresh green. I can recall all the smells and sounds of the sea lochs; these are so sharp because they are so very different to home. The Gaelic for Loch na Keal is Loch na Caol – of the kyle or narrows.
IONA
The Slipway, Puffins, Iona, porcelain, 11 x 10 x 3cm
Although the boat ride from Mull to Iona is very short there is a very special feeling when approaching the shore of Iona and seeing the cottages aligned along the front - it is welcoming. Some pieces show the rounded pebbles found on the beaches of the Isle of Iona, which are of a beautiful pink stone called ‘Ross of Mull Granite’, reckoned to be 420 million years old.
Home to Iona, Puffins, stoneware, 23 x 32 x 7cm
S TA F FA
Little Boats Flee Staffa in a Sudden Squall, stoneware, 29 x 27 x 8cm
The North Landing, Staffa, oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm
The Looming Basalt, Staffa, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
Mendelssohn’s Muse, stoneware, 23 x 18 x 9cm (front and back)
ARDNAMURCHAN & MOIDART
Ardnamurchan Seals, stoneware, 30 x 35 x10cm
Where Are They Now? Moidart, oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm
Urchins, Heron, Moidart, stoneware, 39 x 18 x 10cm (front and back)
Tea-times Past, Sunart, stoneware, 23 x 31 x 8cm
Herons and oystercatchers figure greatly in my memory of these areas. The dominant colour is fresh apple-green, especially on the sunny side of the lochs. Urchins, brittle-stars and pottery shards are everywhere on the shores. I was told that considerable communities once lived higher up the glen, but the people and crofts are long gone.
APPLECROSS
By The River, Red Deer and Salmon at Applecross, porcelain, 15 x 12 x 5cm
All of the Applecross pieces have a strong red and green theme: red deer, red hens, the huge expanse of reddish sand and stones at low tide set against the lush green of the woodland and river valley.
Salmon Await the Tide, Applecross, stoneware, 18 x 18 x 7cm (front and back)
Almost Eden, Red Breasted Mergansers, Applecross, stoneware, 31 x 31 x 11cm (front and back)
LOCH EWE
A Drying Wind, Meallan Udrigle, stoneware, 20 x 25 x 7cm
A place of immense beauty with cormorants, moon jellies, white sand and turquoise seas. My pieces refer to the group of cottages with blowing washing and the dunes dotted with sheep and rabbits.
Sròn Meallan a’ Ghamhna, Divers, Loch Ewe, stoneware, 26 x 34 x 8cm (front)
Sròn Meallan a’ Ghamhna, Divers, Loch Ewe, stoneware, 26 x 34 x 8cm (back)
GRUINARD
Gruinard Island, porcelain, 15 x 16 x 6cm
Over 40 years I have visited Loch Gruinard and always looked longingly at the soft velvety heather of Gruinard Island. The place was quarantined from 1942 – 1990 because the island was used for testing Anthrax and off-limits to humans. I envy the first person who set foot on it after all those years.
Lonely Shores, Oystercatchers, Gruinard Bay, stoneware, 30 x 21 x 8cm
ULLAPOOL
Research tells me that Ullapool was set up as a fishing town to catch herring in the 18th century but, that soon after founding, the herring largely left. They came back in the 19th century but by then the fishermen didn’t have the set up to catch them. In the 20th century Eastern European fleets came to Scotland to fish them. The slip-work detail refers to octopus and squid which are the prey of seals that live locally. The boats are based on the 18th century open fishing boats which had one or two masts but could also be rowed. ‘The Quest for the Herring’ has the shape of a carved stone Viking bowl found by archaeologists and evidence of a much earlier population.
The Quest for The Herring, Seals at Ullapool, stoneware, 34 x 38 x 10cm
CLASHNESSIE
Eider Drake, Clashnessie, porcelain, 13 x 8 x 4cm
Opposite: A Welcome Visitor, Ullapool, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
C A P E W R AT H & D U R N E S S
The Turning Point, Guillemots, Cape Wrath, porcelain, 13 x 8 x 4cm
Walking on the shore near Balnakeil (this is really Baile na Cille – settlement of the cell, church cell) the sheep had been gathered and made a huge din but were completely unseen as the field rose up high above the shoreline. Smoo Caves are, I think, reputed to have been used by Vikings and the name Cape Wrath is in some way derived from the Norse for ‘the turning point’ – it’s believed to be where they would turn back for home.
The Gathering, Sheep at Durness, stoneware, 31 x 20 x 10cm
THE BLACK ISLE
The ‘pear-shaped’ detail in the slip work for ‘The Pictish Kingdom’ refers to the shape of Pictish graves found by archaeologists at Rosemarkie and other sites. The smaller rounded shapes refer to the legend of the Brahan Seer who used an adder-stone to aid his second sight. This stone, with a central hole, would be called a Hagstone in Devon where I live.
The Pictish Kingdom, Hooded Crows, Black Isle, stoneware, 28 x 16 x 9cm (front and back)
PORTKNOCKIE, FINDOCHTY & CULLEN
Cod and Cottages, Findochty, porcelain, 11 x 10 x 3cm
All of the Moray coast pieces have a strong blue/yellow theme. The sun usually seems to shine there! When I last visited the area, the winds were fresh and the washing strung over the roads between the cottages. Whenever I travel to a place I ask myself “how do people live here?” – so things like the construction of dwellings, peat diggings, gardens and washing lines are of great interest to me. Fishing in the area is partly herring and partly white-fish such as cod and brill, which are shown in some of the slip-work.
A Storm Approaches the Harbour, Portknockie, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
Breakwaters, Cullen, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
The Fleet Return at Sunset, Turnstones, Findochty, stoneware, 32 x 25 x 9cm (front and back)
Minke Whales Passing Portknockie Harbour, stoneware, 28 x 26 x 8cm
Watching the Fishing Boats, Gannet at Cullen, stoneware, 23 x 13 x 5cm Dolphin in Cullen Harbour, porcelain, 16 x 13 x 6cm
Great Skua at Portknockie, porcelain, 15 x 10 x 4cm
ST KILDA
The Residents, St Kilda, stoneware, 33 x 28 x 10cm (front)
‘Residents’ refers both to the residents of the past (evidenced by the ruined village) and the current residents – the white-tailed eagles. I have used the St. Kilda dandelion (clock) on the reverse as a metaphor for time passing.
The Residents, St Kilda, stoneware, 33 x 28 x 10cm (back)
Against the Sun, St Kilda, oil on canvas, 50 x 50cm
Oystercatchers on the Shore, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
BLANDINE ANDERSON Education
1981- 84 – BA Hons. Ceramics (Fine Art) at Exeter College of Art and Design.
2003 & 2005 – Two, week-long residential courses in Scottish Gaelic Language, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye. Teaching
1984-87 – Lectured in Ceramics, Sculpture and Drawing at Somerset College of Arts and Technology, Taunton, Somerset. 1987-89 – Lectured in Ceramics, Sculpture, Crafts and Complementary studies at Bridgwater College, Somerset. April 1989 - resigned from teaching to establish ceramics studio.
Selected Recent Solo Exhibitions 2016
Animal Alphabets – Ceramics and Paintings, Ferrers Gallery, Ashby de la Zouch, Leics.
2017
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral - Ceramics and Paintings, Artifex, Sutton Coldfield, W. Midlands.
2018
Islands - Ceramics and Paintings, The Castle Gallery, Inverness.
2018
Words and Wisdom – Ceramics, Ferrers Gallery, Ashby de la Zouch, Leics.
2019
Island of Dreams - Ceramics and Paintings, Artifex, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
2020
Making for the Coast - Ceramics and Paintings, Artifex, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
2021
Shoreline – Ceramics and Paintings, Castle Gallery, Inverness.
Selected Art/Craft Residencies, Talks and Workshops Holsworthy Community College, Devon. Westlands School, Torquay, Devon. Bideford College, Devon. South Wales Potters Association. The Beaford Centre, Devon. The Cill Rialaig Project, Kerry, Rep. of Ireland (2003 and 2004). ‘Size Matters’ and ‘In Tandem’, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen. West Country Potters Association. Clay workshop for children presented in Gaelic, The Castle Gallery, Inverness.
Back Page: Life by the Loch, Moidart, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm
Castle Gallery, 43 Castle St, Inverness, IV2 3DU 01463 729512 info@castlegallery.co.uk
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