Highland Print Studio

Throw Up 20.18

Artist Brief

Introduction

Highland Print Studio Highland Print Studio (HPS) is a printmaking and digital imaging facility based in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The Studio operates from its own premises overlooking the River Ness, in the heart of the city and has facilities for a range of printmaking techniques including screenprint, intaglio, relief print and lithography (photo plate and stone). Its recently upgraded digital suite includes facilities for high-spec digital imaging, large-format photographic printing and high-resolution scanning.

Highland Print Studio is a Creative Scotland Regularly Funded Organisation and is also in receipt of revenue funding from Highland Council. HPS is a unique and vital part of the arts infrastructure of the Highlands and attracts studio users from across the Highlands and Islands and further afield.

In addition to providing an open access workshop, Highland Print Studio has a varied artistic programme. This includes residencies, commissions and professional development for artists and an education and outreach programme that works with schools and community groups across the Highlands.

This original project fulfils one of the organisation’s objectives, which is to engage new audiences with the visual arts and to demonstrate how visual art can connect to people’s lives. We are delighted to have formed these new partnerships with the shinty clubs involved and the Camanachd Association. The participating clubs are Beauly, Newtonmore, Fort William and Skye. www.highlandprintstudio.co.uk www.facebook.com/highlandprintstudio @HighPrintStudio www.instagram.com/highlandprintstudio

Shinty “Swift, sea-going curraghs from the north-east coast of Ireland first shipped the caman and the ball, with Christianity and the Gaelic language, to Scotland.” (R. Hutchinson, Camanachd: The Story of Shinty, Mainstream Publishing, 1989)

Shinty, one of the oldest games in the world, whilst unique to Scotland, shares its roots with hurling, which is played in Ireland today. It is difficult to think of a sport that is more

Highland Print Studio is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC099312) and Scottish Charity (SC004981). embedded in community and culture; its heartland being the Highlands of Scotland. Although established clubs date back to 1861, the sport’s governing body, the Camanachd Association, was founded in 1893 at a meeting in Kingussie. The game has remained amateur, but combines fast action, incredible skill and supreme fitness (the pitch is nearly 1.5 times longer than football). It is now played as a summer league, in spectacular locations across the Highlands.

The flagship event is the Camanachd Cup Final, usually played in September at a different venue each year. There is one international game, the remarkable combined Shinty/Hurling match against Ireland, held alternately in Scotland or Ireland.

Shinty is a great spectacle on many levels and whether it is the sport, environment, people or history, it is rich in imagery. It should be cherished and celebrated.

For more information on shinty, see Camanachd Association website, www.shinty.com

Project Highland Print Studio is commissioning four professional artists to create a series of artworks inspired by the contemporary culture and heritage of Scotland’s iconic indigenous sport of shinty. The artists will spend time with their assigned club over the 2017 and 2018 season, actively engaging with the club and its wider shinty community. They will research the club’s history, with the help of the fans and the players, and gain an insight into the game, its culture and the volunteers who commit their time and energy to their club.

Each artist will produce, in collaboration with Highland Print Studio, a series of original prints that will form a contemporary visual art archive that will be a legacy for the clubs. Despite shinty being an integral part of the Gàidhealtachd for centuries, there have been very few visual arts documentations of the sport.

The artwork will be exhibited at the Camanachd Cup 2018 final, shinty’s showcase event. It will then be exhibited at the International 2018 before going on tour.

Brief Highland Print Studio is seeking submissions from visual artists working in any discipline.

The artists will get to know the people involved in their club, from players to volunteers, and through them find out more about the sport, their club and its history. Shinty is a sport that exists because of the commitment of volunteers. Players have day jobs and the clubs are kept going by people giving up their spare time. With this level of dedication, passions run high in shinty. In a world where sport is increasingly being driven by finance, shinty strips that away and represents the essence of sport in its own unique way. We are looking for artists who will appreciate and be inspired by these aspects of shinty to create work which pays homage to their club; its present, its past and its culture.

Highland Print Studio is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC099312) and Scottish Charity (SC004981). The artists will spend at least four residencies at the clubs from July 2017. The length and frequency of each residency is up for negotiation depending on the artist’s normal place of residence and budgetary factors.

As a guide, we would expect the artists to create around eight images for the exhibition. Any variation from this number is up for discussion as it could, for example, be influenced by the technique the artist would like to use.

The artwork created must be original print. Highland Print Studio staff will support the artist to interpret their work in traditional or contemporary printmaking technique(s). The work will be editioned by Highland Print Studio staff. Editions will be split between the artist, Highland Print Studio and the participating organisations.

Fee: £5,000 (plus agreed travel and accommodation). The artist will be responsible for payment of their own tax and National Insurance contributions.

Timescale of project: June 2017 – Sept 2018 Completion of artwork: We expect this to be ongoing throughout the project. Final deadline for completion of editions is 10 Aug 2018.

Selection Process Artists are invited to submit the following electronically: • A written statement including the following: o Why would you like to take part in this project? o What do you feel you have to bring to the project? o What is your experience of engaging with the public? • Curriculum Vitae • A maximum of eight examples of your work (Jpegs, max size per image 1.5MB). Work in video is limited to three examples. Total submission size is 12MB

Submissions to be sent to: [email protected]

Deadline for submissions: Friday 5 May 2017 Interviews will be held the week beginning 15 May 2017

This project is funded by Highland Culture Strategic Board’s ‘Highland Culture: Take Pride, Take Part’ programme.

Highland Print Studio is funded by Creative Scotland and Highland Council.

Highland Print Studio is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC099312) and Scottish Charity (SC004981).