Honoured to see my work included in Salon 2019 at Arti et Amicitiae, the Netherlands’ main fine arts society, which I joined a couple of months ago.
The photograph included in this show was taken during my residency last summer at the Ness of Brodgar archaeological dig on Orkney, Scotland. It’s one of my personal favourites and depicts a Neolithic pathway in Trench P, the largest of the Ness’s areas of excavation.
Some 5,000+ years ago, stone masons hewed these well-considered paving slabs and accompanying walls. Fortunately for me – but not for the archaeologists – it rained quite a lot, so enhancing the colours of stones and creating a meditative quality. This is not inappropriate when you consider how unfathomably old this structure is. So what were the people like? Could my ancestors have been among them? I do hope so!
Salon 2019
Salon 2019 is the latest in a long line of annual exhibitions at Art et Amicitiae, where each member has the right to contribute a work made in the year in question. This results in an astonishing and inspiring variety of art in every conceivable medium and material. Predictably the opening was exuburant!
Arti et Amicitiae
Arti et Amicitiae (Arts and Friendship) is the oldest visual arts society in the Netherlands. It was officially founded on 3 December 1839 at the Cherry Tree café in Amsterdam and is twinned with artists’ associations such as the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Arts Club in London. The artists themselves are responsible for determining Arti’s policy.
