AN Lanntair and Acair have launched a new retrospective exhibition and book celebrating the work of Lewis born artist Donald Smith.
Born in Lewis in 1926, Donald John Smith attended Gray’s School of Art and would go on to be exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Society of Scottish Artists, Aberdeen Artists, An Lanntair and elsewhere.
From his studio on the west side of Lewis from 1974 to his death in 2014, his "intense, lyrical images of Island fishermen and women celebrate the indomitability of the human spirit."
Accompanying the show is ‘Donald Smith, The Paintings of an Islander’, published by Acair.
Illustrated with drawings, paintings and portraits, it comes with essays in Gaelic and English.
Roddy Murray, An Lanntair Head of Visual Arts & Literature, said: “Donald Smith’s art was – literally - drawn from the community he was born into.
"He imbued his paintings of fishermen, herring girls and crofters with the respect working people deserved but were seldom afforded. In which sense he was political. Never sentimental or romantic, always radical. Powerful yet understated, a vital chronicler, interpreter and champion of the islands of his time.”
The exhibition runs from 6 July to 17 August.
www.lanntair.com
A PROGRAMME of 14 performances and a series of readings, discussions and dinners is to be part of the Edinburgh International Festival's You Are Here strand this year.
The new part of the programme for the 2019 festival which features more than 80 events, You Are Here "offers fresh thinking on class, gender, human rights, racism and climate crisis, probing the status quo and offering future paths."
It will include events including by spoken word artist Kate Tempest, choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly, author Jackie Kay, and new writing from the Royal Court Theatre.
The Departure Lounge hosts special performances by theatre companies such as Complicite, the Lyceum Theatre and Fuel.
Dinners will be hosted by artists including dinner, including composer Missy Mazzoli, poet and playwright Inua Ellams and performance artist Travis Alabanza
Kate McGrath, curator of the events, said: "You Are Here celebrates our presence in the world and invites you to join in a conversation with artists from all over the world about the big questions we’re all grappling with today: the climate emergency, the migrant crisis, class and social inequality, human rights, race and cultural identity, gender equality and fluidity.
"Come and experience fresh perspectives on the world we all live in together from world-class performance makers across theatre, music and dance."
Music in the series includes Amadou & Mariam and the Blind Boys of Alabama, Marcel & Rami Khalife, Shooglenifty: East West and Kate Tempest.
www.eif.co.uk
Home Where Home Is Not is a new research and exhibition project opening this month at Platform, Easterhouse and Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL).
It features Glasgow based artists Sogol Mabadi and Birthe Jorgensen, following a month-long residence at Platform and GWL in early 2019, and the exhibition has been created in partnership with both venues and includes a series of talks and events running until August.
A statement said: "Continuing on from the artist’s coinciding journeys to Iran and Greenland (Aug 2017), places once linked to their respective identities, Sogol and Birthe draw on their own experiences as ‘New Scots’, navigating and negotiating their identities across geographical, cultural and psychological boundaries."
The exhibition of new works includes installations, wood-carved sculptures and sound works, and will stretch across both sites in Glasgow’s East End.
The 3 August will see a closing event at Platform, where both artists join participants who took part in the project to host a closing event.
These events are free but ticketed.
www.platform-online.co.uk
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