In Land Exhibition putting down roots at Gracefield Arts Centre
Gracefield Arts Centre launches In Land on 29 August – a major new exhibition exploring farming, land and agricultural heritage.
Art meets agriculture in an exhibition which considers farming traditions and practices in Dumfries & Galloway and throughout Scotland from lowland to upland. Shown across both galleries In Land explores the role of farming, changing ways of life, agricultural diversities, and human connections with landscape and livestock. Including contemporary and archive film, photography, sound, music, artefacts and selected works from Gracefield’s Permanent Collection. Gracefield is delighted to be showing the work of several contemporary artist collaborations: Su Grierson and Kyra Clegg, The Droving Project, and Adam Proctor and Michael Visocchi.
In Land is a fascinating collection of ideas, visual art and local history which come together to offer an insightful experience. The exhibition will appeal to a wide audience of all ages in Dumfries and Galloway and beyond. Gracefield aims for it to be a platform for discussion and meaningful engagement for anyone with an interest in farming; the people, the animals and its environment. With milk prices and the major challenges facing farmers at the forefront of the news in 2015 the theme is very relevant today. The exhibition will show how artists continue to respond to both traditional and modern farming methods and to the landscape it has shaped.
Artist Information:
Su Grierson is a visual artist based in Perthshire, looking at issues related to land and landscape using image, text, sound and video. Having established her studio and project space in Perthshire, Su is committed to making contemporary international art happen in rural locations. Her work ‘Aerial Roots’ is a film bringing together archive and contemporary footage, a visual and creative way of looking at the changes from the last 70 years. Underlying the changes, the farming workforce are still enacting the same routines of continuity like cutting grain, tilling soil or tending beasts and above all, this is still the means by which we as a nation are fed.
Black Tent Video is a collaboration between Su Grierson and Kyra Clegg. ‘We have varied independent practices that include video, sound, sculpture and gallery and landscape installations but we also work together on lens based and sound projects that specifically explore Scottish landscape.’ The Black Tent will be in situ at Gracefield showing a series of short films. The artists have worked with the Arts Officers to curate a series from the Permanent Collection which broaden the theme – including evocative works from Joan Eardley, Chrissie Ferguson and Raymond Moore among others.
The Droving Project is a mixed media exhibition and project about a contemporary cattle drove in Dumfries and Galloway which is produced and co-curated by Katch Holmes. Photographs 
featured by Jerwood Photography Award 2008 winner Alice Myers, film from Stevie Whiteford, text from Catrina Davies and sound design and music from Nick Jenkins, Pete Smith and Gareth Griffiths. The cattle drove in the summer of 2014 re-traced drovers’ footsteps with real life cattle along an ancient drover’s route out of Knockengorroch farm in Dumfries and Galloway to Bellsbank, where they would have stopped off on their way to market in Ayr. The relationship between Scotland’s people, their land and their cattle stretches back many hundreds of years. The project looks at the significance of walking with cattle, as humans have done throughout history and still do throughout the world.
Adam Proctor is an animator, motion designer and filmmaker whose recent clients include STV Creative, BBC, HBO, National Galleries Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy. Michael Visocchi is a Scottish artist and sculptor who has been awarded several national commissions and won the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2009. For the first collaboration between Proctor and Visocchi (‘Repose’) their work employs a variety of animation and live footage techniques and transports the viewer to Ellisland Farm in Dumfries and Galloway where Robert Burns spent three years at the age of 29. The viewer’s eye observes the rook on a journey through an imagined seasonal landscape.
Councillor and chair of Community and Customer Services Tom McAughtrie, commented: “This is a great opportunity for visitors to engage with an exhibition about our farming heritage in Dumfries and Galloway, to see work by creative artists and view highlight works from the Gracefield Permanent Collection.”
The exhibition will open on Friday 28th August 6-8pm with a chance to hear from the artists, sample local produce and hear live music. The event is free with refreshments served.
Look out for the In Land events programme including The Droving Project talks with local and international speakers and practical workshops for adults, families and young people throughout September and October.
For more details about the all exhibitions, classes for adults and kids, events, craft shop and café Hubbub, please give Gracefield a ring on 01387 262084, visit the website, or see us on Facebook. Admission to Gracefield is free with parking available.
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