news from the studio

A return trip to the Shiants in September 2022:

recent work and exhibitions

new work 2022

Alison Dunlop has created a “poem to the Shiant Isles” with a masterwork of drawings, watercolours and photographs.  

Two years in the making, her moving paean to these enchanted isles of the Outer Hebrides is collected together in the exhibition  The Spirit of Beyond : The Shiant Isles, in Scotland’s own UK Museum of the Year 2020, Gairloch Museum.

The book, with a foreword by Adam Nicolson, has been produced to accompany the exhibition and comprises the entire collection of work inspired by the Isles - the sketches, watercolour studies and photographs, only a selection of which can feature in the exhibtion. 

Alison has also worked with writers, poets, naturalists and Gaelic speakers to bring their perspectives to bear in this celebration of this special place. The book features Gaelic folklore and song inspired by the islands, as well as poems by Brian Hill and an essay by author and geoscientist Annie O’Garra Worsley. 

A special, hand-numbered and signed collectors’ edition is being produced in a linen-bound hardcover, which will also be available to pre-order at alisondunlop.com.

RRP: £25.00 (soft cover)

Formats: Soft Cover + Special Limited Edition Linen Hardcover

ISBN: 978-1-5272-9403-5

Pages: 136pp

Dimensions: 276mm x 220mm

Publication Date: 03/07/2021

Available to pre-order from from mid-June.

SPIRIT OF BEYOND : THE SHIANT ISLES

A short film, below, of the most recent visit to the Shiant Isles, to gather more material for the 2021 exhibition, posted by the wonderful #Museumoftheyear, Gairloch Museum, on their YouTube Channel, in celebration of their exciting award, announced by the UK’s Art Fund on 12th October 2020. Here it is, below, as seen on Vimeo.

“We see the detail of these islands, hear the soundscape of waves and birds and begin to understand (and maybe even share) her enthrallment with the place.

The exhibition, Spirit of Beyond: The Shiant Isles, will be on display at Gairloch Museum in July and August 2021."

A glimpse into the progress of work in the studio, through late 2020 and into 2021 (below):

For more detail, please click here.

It has been three years since the studio/workspace was opened for the 2016 “Inner Sound” Exhibition, in association with Gairloch Museum and the studio doors will open again, for one weekend at the end of the summer. Both recent and older work as well as work-in-progress will be on view and some of the work will be for sale. You will be most welcome to wander ‘round the small studio garden.

spring 2019 exhibition:

“Abstracted”

Alison will be showing a group of watercolours with Fidra Fine Art (in Gullane, East Lothian) as part of a small group show, “Abstracted”, in April 2019.  It should prove to be a very interesting and varied exhibition, including the work of fellow RSWs John Brown, Christopher Wood and Simon Laurie, as well as that of Dominique Cameron and Chris Brook.

The exhibition will open on Friday, 5th April and run until Sunday 5th May 2019.

recent watercolours: 2019

a small series of watercolours, inspired by dramatic wintry squalls over the Inner Sound and The Minch, during January 2019, as shown on Alison’s blog post “Towers of White and Snow Bows” on “studio and highland notebook”:

“Snow Song, Inner Sound”