GÀIDHLIG

An Dealbh Mòr

An Dealbh Mòr is the Gaelic/English visual arts and performance project run by the children of Lasair Ealain in collaboration with Julie Brook (lead artist) and Kath NicLeòid (Gaelic artist/An Tuireann) plus a team of artists involving Sleat Primary School and Sgoil Araich, celebrating the landscape of South Skye.

Between April and October 2005 we went out every week around South Skye with artists Julie and Kath or Sarah Jane MacIntyre to draw the landscape from observation in our sketchbooks.

We then went back to the school to make big charcoal drawings (A1) from our sketches.

Once we’d got really good at our drawing we began using watercolour both in our sketch books and on the A1 paper to prepare ourselves for the much larger scale painting.

We had a very successful interim exhibition of these drawings and paintings at An Tuireann, Isle of Skye.
Lasair Ealain held a workshop to teach the public what we have learned and we took them out for a day, drawing. People have asked if we will do this again because it was so popular!

At the beginning of November 05 we did a huge charcoal drawing (3m by 5m). Using our sketchbooks we plotted the whole composition of South Skye representing all the different places we visited. It only took us 3 days!

During November and December 05 we worked very hard (3 days a week) on the enormous painting – the peak of this part of our art project! At 9m by 14m it was bigger than our gym hall!
We could only work on the canvas in sections rolling it back and forward on huge lengths of drainpipe. We quickly learnt how to use acrylic paints, mixing them with different mediums, using layers of bright warm undercolours and texture to give depth to the painting.

The exhibition at Sabhal Mor Ostaig showed how we did the project from beginning to end. Every one of us, including the teachers, had a framed drawing or painting on the wall.

From January until March 2006 we worked in collaboration with choreographer, Claire Pençak, composer, Piers Hellawell, and the visual artists.

The performance explored the geological evolution of Skye. This gave us an exciting excuse to re-enact the volcanic explosions that formed the Cuillin. The big painting was to be placed on the floor of the cafeteria area of Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic College in Skye, next door to our school. We were to perform on An Dealbh Mòr with the audience looking from the balconies above.
We worked with Claire using the big painting and taking ideas from our drawing books to create movement and dance. Piers worked with us to create experimental sounds and music using instruments, our voices and things from outside like stones and fishboxes.
In March all our work came together for 5 public performances and we had the biggest audiences ever.