Exhibition by Caithness artist explores boatbuilding techniques and tools
An exhibition exploring the techniques and tools used in traditional boatbuilding is set to open in Bettyhill.
Shipshape, by Caithness artist Joanne B Kaar, will be on show at Strathnaver Museum’s annex from Friday and will continue until the end of July.
It is the culmination of Joanne’s 2024 artist residency part-funded by Museums Galleries Scotland, the William Syson Foundation, the Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. The sum of £5755 was received from the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Joanne, a research-based visual artist, was one of three artists in residence tasked with finding inspiration from the diverse objects in Strathnaver Museum’s collection.
Inspired by Grace, Strathnaver Museum’s community boatbuilding project, Joanne worked with the boatbuilding team to record and preserve traditional techniques and tools.
Joanne’s artwork explores the shapes and structures emerging from clinker-built boats, recording the names of tools and techniques and helping to preserve the cultural heritage associated with boatbuilding.
During March, Joanne visited North Coast Campus and North West Sutherland Schools Group with Tim Curtis of the boatbuilding team to share their knowledge and research. Inspired by the Japanese technique of gyotaku, used by fishermen to record their catches, pupils inked up real fish to print onto paper.
The children gained an insight into the artistic process Joanne uses, such as her “accordion fold books” detailing her research, design ideas and test prints. The accordion books and original woodblocks will be retained by the museum to use in future pop-up displays in public spaces and schools.
On Friday and Saturday (June 6 and 7) Joanne will be on site in the museum’s annex to talk about her work and offer opportunities for members of the public to drop in and make their own prints using the tools and woodblocks acquired and created during her residency.
The woodcut kits used as part of the community engagement work will be retained and available to borrow through North Sutherland Community Forest Trust’s Branching Out project.
Joanne has produced a series of prints available to purchase, with all income from these going to the museum to support community heritage activities such as the continuation of the community boatbuilding project.
Strathnaver Museum manager Fiona Mackenzie said: “We are delighted to be exhibiting Joanne’s important exhibition which helps to record and share valuable aspects of our heritage both now and for the future. In years to come, what we gather today as our contemporary heritage will be a valuable part of our archive for future researchers.”
Shipshape will run until July 26, featuring Joanne’s artwork and the templates used to build Grace.
Debasis Biswas’s exhibition Salt to Plate, exploring the heritage and conservation of salmon fisheries, is due to open on August 1, running until September 27.
Filmmaker and podcast producer Will Sadler will launch the podcast Highlands Reimagined, created in collaboration with senior pupils at Farr High, in early July.