Cape Farewell Scottish Islands Expedition 2011

John Cumming

Joins the expedition for week 4

John Cumming was born in Burra Isle, Shetland in 1947, where he grew up in a crofting and fishing community, before studying sculpture and ceramics at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen. After teaching in Aberdeen and Fife, he settled with his family in Stromness, Orkney where he was principal teacher of art until 2005. Throughout his teaching career he continued to work independently as a sculptor, exhibiting widely and regularly.

In 2002 along with his wife, Fiona, sculptor Frances Pelly and poet Christine De Luca he formed Hansel, a publishing cooperative dedicated to promoting and publishing literature and the visual arts in Scotland’s Northern Isles. His work was shown most recently in Carved Modelled and Cast a shared exhibition with Frances Pelly at Shetland Museum and Archive, and the Pier Arts Centre during the summer of 2010.

Read posts by John Cumming

First there was an island – then there was a boat

Sea Change Programme

Grown out of the Scottish Islands Expedition, Cape Farewell’s Sea Change is a four-year programme of research and making across Scotland’s western and northern isles. Sea Change involves over 30 UK and international artists and scientists, working collaboratively and independently to consider the relationships between people, places and resources in the context of climate change.... Read more ›

By Cape Farewell
28 February 2012, 4:09pm

A timely reminder of how valuable an outsider’s perspective can be

Community Energy Scotland’s annual conference offered a timely reminder of how valuable an outsider’s perspective can be. It was reported on some research into how different countries are taking forward the development of renewable energy. The study looks at several European countries including Scotland, as well as five states in America. The most striking feature... Read more ›

By Cape Farewell
2 November 2011, 2:35pm
Tags: community, renewables

First there was an island – then there was a boat

“First there was an island – then there was a boat”, so begins a poem by Shetland writer Laureen Johnston. Since owning my first boat at the age of eleven, I have been an obsessive explorer of islands, the smaller and more remote the better. Once, in the grip of a sudden attack of aquatic... Read more ›

By John Cumming
31 August 2011, 12:24pm
Tags: environment, journey

‘On these isles’

Lawrence has a 7am coffee break after feeding cattle.

‘On these isles’ is a project by photographer Ed Smith, whom we had the great pleasure of meeting when visiting the Island of Eigg. Ed has spent large periods of time on Eigg and other Inner Hebridean isles capturing life there in pictures. Have a look at more of his images and this project at... Read more ›

By Cape Farewell
25 August 2011, 12:01pm
Tags: artist, place

A gaelic song

Mary Jane Lamond, Jo Royle and Julie Fowlis Video by Ruth Little

By Mary Jane Lamond
25 August 2011, 11:50am
Tags: gaelic

Cape Farewell – we know what to do, can art help us get on and do it?

The following is an excerpt from Sara Parkin’s article found on the Forum for the Future website. …I was fortunate enough to join the crew for one week of a four week tour of Scottish Islands, starting with Skye and Canna before crossing the Minch to Mingulay, Barra and South Uist. The weather was kind,... Read more ›

By Sara Parkin
25 August 2011, 9:35am
Tags: climate change, sea, sustainability, wildlife

Islands and Visions

There is a sea view when travelling from Eigg to Mallaig where you have a 360° vision of the Small Isles, Skye, the mountains of Scotland, Mull and, far into the distance, the Outer Hebrides. At 6 am yesterday the grey of the sea bled into the numerous blues of the mountains all dramatised by... Read more ›

By David Buckland
13 August 2011, 2:17pm
Tags: adaptation, architecture, artist, climate change, resources, scientists, sea, wildlife

Annie Cattrell and Jo Shapcott in conversation about week 4 of the expedition

JS Annie, what is it about islands? AC I like the fact that there’s a larger proportion of sea than land mass visible. There appears to be a completeness and self-sufficiency about the individual islands even though they are all distinctly different. There seems to be a big distinction between uninhabited and inhabited islands –... Read more ›

By Jo Shapcott
13 August 2011, 8:40am
Tags: sea, storm, weather, wildlife

Spume

(1) On the crossing from Ullapool to Stornaway on the Calmac, I wrote myself a list of rules, a set of behaviours that would concentrate my efforts, or assuage any guilt from any feelings of impotence, in my seven days aboard the ship. (1.1) Rules: (1.1.1) Take photographs, more than you need to, get in... Read more ›

By Siôn Parkinson
12 August 2011, 10:26am
Tags: journey, landscape, place

Shelter

It was my birthday when I went to Rònaidh first. A place I wanted to see since I was little but I had always missed the boat. It is about forty miles north of my house near the Butt of Lewis. I went on the sixth of August aged thirty eight on the yacht ‘Song... Read more ›

By Iain Finlay Macleod
11 August 2011, 10:40am
Tags: change, culture, history, stories

Mary Arnold-Forster

Skye architect Mary shows the house of Fred Taylor she designed and reflects on the progress on Eigg and other green based aspirations for the islands architecture and energy supply. Video shot by David Buckland Sketches by Mary Arnold-Forster

By Mary Arnold-Forster
10 August 2011, 9:01am
Tags: architecture, landscape, skye, sustainability

Farewell and Ahoy: Log of a Voyage

“Back in the kitchen. A new group has joined Song of the Whale. There is an overlap of crew, Cape Farewell folk, and the artists and scientists who will sail together this coming week. They are planning to sail to North Rona, the Shiants and the coasts of Skye. But I’ve left the ship though... Read more ›

By Ian Stephen
7 August 2011, 11:16am
Tags: journey

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