I WAS married to a self-employed cartoonist, so I understand that there is a breed of creative for whom lockdown wouldn’t have been much of a novelty or too much of a challenge.
They positively thrive on solitude and uninterrupted thinking time.
It’s different for successful writers who have agents and publishers to distribute their wares.
But visual artists in Scotland are often dependant on the personal whims of gallery owners and curators. Which is one of the reasons the open studios movement grew in both scale and enthusiasm.
One of the largest, Dumfries and Galloway’s Spring Fling, went the way of all Covid-19 flesh this May; a great pity, since it combined a fascinating range of activities and skills with some wonderful countryside, four sections of which were mapped out for the visitors’ convenience.
Our own equivalent is Artmap Argyll, and happily it will be going ahead this month, giving us their 12th annual red dot trail all over the county, including Oban, Luing, Kilmartin, Crinan and Lochgilphead.
Some are in handy clusters, like the five studios in Tayvallich, but all of them are on wonderfully scenic routes.
I often wondered, given that we have so many celebrated talents in our own corner of Argyll, why there didn’t seem to be any of them participating.
However this year, for the first time we have an open studio event in Helensburgh – the work of the sculptor and painter Lesley Carruthers, whose lovely custom-built studio is in Upper Colquhoun Street.
The event this year is spread over two weekends from August 21-24 and August 29 and 30, in each case from 10am until 5pm.
Of course many of the studios can be visited at other times of the year with advance appointments, but there’s something really exciting about taking in so many different styles and talents on days when they’ve all made a huge effort to display their best work.
For full details of the Artmap Argyll venues, and more information about the event, click here. One cautionary note: the tours of the studios on Tiree and the one in Kilberry – numbers 1 and 30 on the map – will only be virtual for Covid-related reasons.
READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines by clicking here
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