An intriguing opportunity to peek behind the scenes at the workplaces of some of Courier Country’s foremost creatives is on offer next month.
The annual Perthshire Open Studios makes its return on September 4 following the event’s cancellation in 2020 due to restrictions caused by Covid-19.
Regarded as a significant tourist boost for Perthshire, Kinross-shire and other neighbouring counties, the multi-venue extravaganza runs across nine consecutive days.
Artists
This year it features contributions from around 200 artists, including active demonstrations from some.
Since it made its debut appearance back in 2008, the Open Studios initiative has steadily grown in size year by year — last year aside, of course — in terms of both its participant and visitor numbers.
An impressive tally of 143 individual workspaces will be available for art lovers to look around and see how pieces are put together.
There are also three showcase exhibitions being staged at Perthshire galleries to give a more general overview of the range of work that’s included in the event.
Galleries
A first glimpse of the creative output that’ll make up this year’s Open Studios will be available at the Barn Gallery, based within the Bield at Blackruthven, when it opens the first of the linked exhibitions tomorrow.
Running until September 12, the Tibbermore display has been set up in Covid-secure conditions and will showcase samples of work by numerous participants, including the POS featured artist for 2021, Aberfeldy-based furniture sculptor Angus Ross.
A wood innovator for the past three decades, the Inverness-raised craftsman draws on diverse wood-work traditions and combines ancient steam-bending of green wood with traditional cabinet-making and contemporary digital cutting.
Projects
Among his most notable projects was a commission by the Willow Tearooms Trust to make the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed tables and ladder-back chairs for a section of Glasgow’s recently restored Willow Tearoom on Sauchiehall Street, while his work has also featured at V&A Dundee.
Five resident exhibiting artists will be present daily at the Barn from 10am until 5pm to welcome visitors, namely abstract naturalist Ros Macdonald, botanical watercolour painter Linda Russell, mixed media exponent Sheila Garden and jewellery makers Diana Law and Gillian Skene.
Open Studios are also working closely with Birnam Arts this year, and the Highland Perthshire venue is staging a second linked exhibition which opens next Friday and continues until September 26. Like the Barn, it’s displaying a selection of highlights, including more work from Angus Ross.
Green and lemon routes
Elsewhere, the Strathearn Arts venue in Crieff’s Comrie Street will be hosting a small sample of work, including pieces by artists included on the event’s “green route”, which covers workplaces west of Perth from Almondbank along to St Fillans.
The sprawling Open Studios patch is being split into eight separate geographical areas that have been colour-coded this year to help visitors refine their itineraries.
East Perthshire figures in the “lemon route”, which takes in venues in the likes of Rattray, Meigle, Kirkmichael and Coupar Angus, where the not-for-profit Quarto Press premises are among the potential destinations.
Established in 1963 — while its proprietor John B Easson was a student at St Andrews — the vintage printing press moved to London for many years, but returned to Scotland and its home at Beech Hill House in 2004.
Orange and lime routes
Dunkeld and Blairgowrie form the “orange route”, which includes a stop at the base of the acclaimed Butterstone Artists collective, while the event’s “red route” covers such northerly locations as Aberfeldy and Pitlochry, with bronze sculptor and digital artist Tim Cracknell boasting one of the farthest flung studios at the tiny hamlet of Invervar in Glenlyon.
The North Tay “lime route” mainly explores the artistic talent to be found along the Carse of Gowrie, including Morag Gray’s funky fabrics at her Kirkside studio at Abernyte.
Turquoise, plum and blue routes
Kinross-shire and Bridge of Earn make up the “turquoise route”, while the “plum route” winds its way from Aunchterarder to Dunblane and on to Callander, taking in the likes of and ceramicist William Haldane and watercolour illustrator Sarah Howard, who work out of Gleneagles’ former schoolhouse, plus Kirkton of Mailer “kilt college” Askival of Strathearn.
Perth and district is the POS “blue route”, which includes the Perth Creative Exchange premises in Stormont Street, offering a look at a host of purpose-designed workplaces that opened in the former St John’s Primary School last year.
