Earthship Fife : Paula Cowie
Our second ‘film as research’ features Paula Cowie of Sustainable Initiatives Scotland introducing the ‘rammed tyre’ Earthship Fife as it nears completion. Photographs of the finished building have been added. The ‘film as research’ is part of the Changing Places exhibition at the Museum of Model Art held during the 2021 Sanquhar Arts Festival. ‘Artitect’... Read More
Changing Places : Derrie Pearson
One of two ‘research’ films made for the exhibition Changing Places curated by Derrie Pearson. Derrie has been the MERZ ‘artitect’ in residence since late June combining graduate ‘architect’ qualifications to design and plan a new building with the local ‘artistic’ intervention of members of the MERZ Advisory Panel. In her film Derrie explores the... Read More
Life under Lockdown
Trailer for the Life under Lockdown exhibition at MERZ as part of the Sanquhar Arts Festival (open from 11:00-4:00 Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August). On Friday 27th at 7:30 exhibition curator Hans Clausen will chair a panel discussion on the engagement of artists within a hospital and care setting following Covid 19.
Changing Places : Exhibition SANQUHAR ARTS FESTIVAL
Museum of Model Art, St Mary’s St, Sanquhar Saturday 28th August 2:00 till 4:00 Sunday 29th August 2:00 till 4:00 Monday 30th August 11:00 till 12:00 Derrie Pearson is a recent graduate in architecture and since July has been the MERZ ‘ARTITECT’ in residence. Derrie has been working on the design of a small off-grid... Read More
SANQUHAR ARTS FESTIVAL 2021
Collage Unveiling : Performance MERZ Queen’s Road 27th August 6:30 Denise Zygadlo and Amy Marletta began constructing their 8’ x 8’ collage for May’s World Collage Day. Time, weather and events overtook the installation so Denise will perform A Collage Unveiling on the outside of MERZ at 6:30 on 27th August.
Tadpole and Recent Residency Experience at MERZ
Just across Sanquhar High Street from the Bothy, and beside the Museum of Model Art and ZipStudio, Tadpole is our second purpose ‘re-built’ self-contained residency. While Bothy is a rural stone building from the 1830s Tadpole is an industrial brick building from the 1890s. Both Tadpole and Bothy are quiet, self-contained and close to town... Read More
Linda Kosciewicz : Souvenir
Linda Kosciewicz was artist in residence at MERZ for a couple of weeks in June. Linda explored several stories associated with the Napoleonic soldiers imprisoned in Sanquhar between 1812-1814. The soldiers were immortalised in the ‘Sodgers Pool’ on Crawick Water. Here the soldiers spent time and courted local women. Recently overlooked the soldiers had inscribed... Read More
Linda Kosciewicz : Sodgers Pool & Inscriptions
People make history! And Sanquhar is rich in stories. Linda Kosciewicz’s initial quest during her residency was to find her subject in Sanquhar and particularly in stories of human resilience, nature and place. “I wanted to see the extraordinary carvings done by Napoleonic prisoners on the Holm Walk. I had read about them in James... Read More
Rhona Jack and Calum Wallis : Working under Lockdown 2020
Rhona Jack and Calum Wallis arrived for their MERZ residency in March 2020. Overtaken by the limits imposed by Covid the planned exhibition of kinetic sculptures were initially represented on several short films. Here their film of ‘An Isolated Process’ is intercut with Rhona and Calum‘s discussion about working in Sanquhar around industrial themes and... Read More
Calum Wallis & Rhona Jack : An Isolated Process
Rhona Jack and Calum Wallis were artists in residence at MERZ from March through to May 2020. Their tactile hand and wind powered devices could not provide the playful exhibition they had hoped. Drawings of their machines featured in an outdoor exhibition – Inside : Outside – on the street facing side of MERZ. Calum... Read More
Monika Alff : World Collage Day Diary
Monika Alff has been artist in residence at MERZ and curated the 8th May’s World Collage Day in the gallery. Monika’s video diary explores the exhibition and her workshop at the community arts centre, A’ the Airts.
Michele Marcoux : Abandoned Cottage Diary
In April 2021 Michele Marcoux undertook a month-long artist’s residency at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar for the research and development of new work and the opportunity to build relationships with the artists and community at MERZ. While there she developed creative ideas to re-centre her practice working on small observational paintings and drawings to develop... Read More
Olivia Irvine : MERZ Diary # 4 Pamphy Linns
MERZ artist in residence Olivia Irvine was in Sanquhar during March. In her local explorations to paint and draw she visited the celebrated ‘faerie dell’ at Pamphy Linns many times. The Kirkconnel poet Alexander Anderson wrote in ‘A Walk to Pamphy Linns’:- We reach’d a belt of wood at last, And with a lusty cheer... Read More
CARDBOARD CONVERSATIONS
CARDBOARD CONVERSATIONS was a lockdown project at MERZ involving local and international artists, primary school, college and university students. The project was coordinated ‘remotely’ by Lydia Brockless and Millie Laing-Tate of the Royal College of Art. Due to lockdown restrictions on gallery visits the exhibition served as the ‘stage-set’ for work to be assembled and... Read More
Olivia Irvine : MERZ Diary #3
Olivia Irvine writes: ‘I put together the charcoal drawings from around the bothy, the river Euchan and some older drawings to make two large collages. I had worked out beforehand where things would go, but made some changes as I went along. The idea of collaging time is interesting. Although I am not from the... Read More
Olivia Irvine : MERZ Diary #2
Olivia Irvine is the MERZ Artist in Residence for March 2021: ‘After my first week of drawing down by the River Euchan and around the MERZ Bothy, I started thinking of ways to combine the drawings. I went back to the locations to gather more material, in particular, darker drawings and close-ups. I tried mixing... Read More
Olivia Irvine : MERZ residency diary #1
“After a brief visit to MERZ around Hallowe’en I thought this is definitely the place for me – because of the amazing location within a friendly town offering direct access to the countryside and because of the connection with Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Hoch. Not least because the accommodation and work-spaces are self-contained, MERZ offers... Read More
KAZUKO KIZAWA : EXHIBITION
Kazuko‘s exhibition at MERZ went ahead between the 26th and 28th December. Unfortunately the inclusion of Sanquhar in Level 4 from the 26th prevented Kazuko from receiving visitors. This short film provides a record of Kazuko‘s exhibition while in residency at MERZ from November through to early January.