Comments on Re-Soundings from the exhibition visitor book. In the interests of objectivity, comments by friends and family have not been included. And these observations from writer and critic, Georgina Coburn: “I enjoyed the Re-soundings installation at An Lanntair very much- transformation of the industrial material of war recrafted into a resoundingly interior, self-reflexive sculptural/ sound space worked extremely well. The capacity of human beings for mass destruction juxtaposed with our innate creativity as a species and expressed in objects crafted accordingRead more

This month saw Re-Soundings travel back from Lewis to Iona and it will be good to take some time to reflect on the project and what emerges from the experience. While I was up in Stornoway, I met with Father Taggart of St. Peter’s and St. Moluag’s and handed over the prototype handbell; the first one to be cast by Laings Foundry and made entirely of WW1 shells, everyone agreed it had the most beautiful tone. Father Taggart was really delighted and usedRead more

Sound Interventions at St. Moluag’s Chapel, Lewis and St. Oran’s Chapel, Iona On Friday 17th June, John Purser’s composition was played simultaneously for four hours in both island chapels. It was an entirely different experience to hearing the bells within the gallery installation; the sound emanated from the fabric of the buildings into the surrounding landscape, literally carried by the wind beyond the structural confines of the spaces. St. Oran’s and St. Moluag’s are powerful punctuations in the spiritual verse ofRead more

BBC Music Day on Friday 3rd June 2016 saw bells ringing out simultaneously at 7pm right across the UK, in towns, cities and villages and everywhere from Cathedrals to smaller parish churches, including the forecourt at An Lanntair. This provided a vibrant opening to  our artists’ talk which covered our own practices, the process of collaboration on Re-Soundings followed by a question and answer session in the gallery. Many thanks to all who took part, especially father Taggart who rang outRead more

Just a wonderful evening at An Lanntair last night for the opening of Re-Soundings. Conversations, reflections, connections.Read more

We have had a wonderful warm welcome from everyone at An Lanntair and great technical support from Mike, Paul and Donald with the installation so far. We have established the floor projection position and have also worked out the place and position of each of the twelve bells using MDF mockups, the hanging of the real ones will start on Monday and this will be the most nerve wracking aspect of the install. There has been time too, to enjoy some of the events atRead more

A few weeks ago the Cultural Enterprise Office held a webinar by Tim Wright, Director of twintangibles and CEO’s Crowdfunding Industry Associate, which gave an introduction to and some useful tips and advice for planning and managing a crowdfunding campaign. One steep and rapid learning curve later and the Re-Soundings Crowdfunding page has been launched at http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/re-soundings/ It feels a little strange to ask for financial support from friends and family and an unknown crowd, but Crowdfunding is rapidly becoming the norm for arts projects that need some match funding. This isRead more

We definitely needed the ear defenders; grinding is noisy work but quite mesmerising too, especially with the sun reflecting off the surfaces of the bells. Six finishing stages later  one of the bells was ready to hang as an installation test. The old barn at the St. Columba Steadings on Iona is no gallery but it is a great space to try out ideas and perfect for this trial of fishing line, which claims to hold a weight of 40 kilos. OnlyRead more

A softly bright Iona day, bells cast from WW1 shells, a medieval chapel and people willing to take off their shoes and socks, and process barefoot from chapel alter to doorway, and out into the sunlight of the Reilig Òdhrain. Thanks to; Andy Crossan for sound and film work; Iona Village Hall Committee, for the space;  Iona Heritage Café, for the delicious lunch; Historic Environment Scotland for permission to use the chapel; and Ardoran House for the fabulous accommodation. http://www.ionahistory.org.uk/iona/ionahome/ionaexplore/ionaabbey/oranschapel.htm http://ionavillagehall.orgRead more

This was the question posed by Alasdair McIntosh in an insightful and lively talk, which started the day’s events at the Re-Soundings workshop at Comunn Eachdraidh Nis/Ness Historical Society on Saturday 19th March. Alastair spoke about often trying to understand the empty belfry; “one of the paradoxes of the highland church” that leaves him “scratching his head.” In his explanation of how he has come to a closer understanding of the phenomenon, Alastair took us briefly to the writings ofRead more