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There are only two more days to see Confluence of

There are only two more days to see Confluence of North’s exhibition at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios!

‘Confluence of North’ is an artist-led exchange project between four artists in Scotland and four artists from Spirit of North in Japan.

The project addresses the idea that ‘North’ is always conditional, a direction rather than a location, and that our ideas about it can be fundamental to how we see and relate to our own life and culture.

Open today and tomorrow 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm. Bookings required for tomorrow via confluenceofnorth@gmail.com – no booking necessary for today.

Images: Gillian McFarland 'cloud ear' collaboration with Takizawa Tatsushi; Su Grierson 'Waterlevel' installation’; Kyra Clegg Embodied landscape 'silk banner’; Maruyama Yoshiko, five paintings 'Return to the Home Planet'

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #perthshire #art

It’s the last week to catch Confluence of North

It’s the last week to catch Confluence of North at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios!

We are open at until Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm. If you are planning to visit on Saturday, please book in advance at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com. All other days you can visit without booking an appointment.

Come and see the result of our exchange programme between four artists in Scotland and four from Spirit of North in Japan. Confluence of North addresses the idea that North is always conditional, a direction rather than a location, and that our ideas about it can be fundamental to how we see and relate to our own life and culture.⁣

📸: Maruyama Tokio, Photographic installation, “Being There” performance; Inge Panneels and Asai Mariko “Looking North and Scottish Sakura”

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #perthshire #art

Now on our website! Polaris, from Cuban artist Yun

Now on our website! Polaris, from Cuban artist Yunior Aguiar Perdomo

@yunior_aguiar_perdomo is a first generation resident in Perth, and has created a project and video looking at the cultural diversity of Perth. Polaris establishes an analogy between personal ways of staying culturally connected and the Northern Star as a traditional navigation system that presents itself as a constant guide to those seeking to locate themselves during journeys through unfamiliar routes.

Polaris has engaged with 20 individuals from the first-generation migrant community in Perth, and recorded how they stay emotionally connected to their cultures also highlighting the culturally diverse landscape of the city.

The voices of these individuals, representatives of the Indian, Moldavian, Polish, Iraqi, Moroccan, Italian, Spanish, Syrian, Catalonian, Mali and Cuban cultures, provide a glimpse into the variety of cultures contained within the boundaries of the city of Perth.

These groups have been for many years, and continue being, important contributors to the economic, social and cultural composition of the city, however they are not always visible to visitors, nor permanent residents.

We are open at Perth Creative Exchange until Saturday: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm. If you are planning to visit today or on Saturday, please book in advance at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #cuba #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening. #perthshire #art #polaris #YuniorAguiarPerdomo

Our invited artist speakers’ talks are now live!

Our invited artist speakers’ talks are now live! You can now watch all three videos now on our website (🔗 link in bio).

We are very pleased to have worked with @patriciashoneceramics from the Isle of Skye, @paulbloomerartist from Shetland and @marymorrison.art from the Borders / Harris.

We had originally planned to hold a series of symposiums based around ideas of North, but their cancellation has allowed us the opportunity to include our three artist speakers based in ‘remote’ locations instead. We’re so pleased they were able to join us digitally and add their voices to the project.

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening #perthshire #art #marymorrison #patriciashone #paulbloomer #shetland #skye #isleofskye #borders #harris #artisttalk #remote

Confluence of North continues at Perth Creative Ex

Confluence of North continues at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios today!

We are open from 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. (Also on Tuesday and Saturdays by appointment only – please book for those days in advance at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com)

Image: Takizawa Tatsushu and Gillian McFarland
Installation shot at Perth Creative Exchange

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening #perthshire #art @takizawatatsushi @gillianadairmcf

ZOOM IN ON PERTH AND PSKOV ***TODAY*** 4pm-5.30pm

ZOOM IN ON PERTH AND PSKOV
***TODAY*** 4pm-5.30pm
Free event
(Link to register in bio)

Su Grierson @sugri1 will be taking part in this free event this afternoon with an illustrated talk, Taking Down the Walls. This is the fourth of the Friends of Pskov monthly gatherings over Zoom curated by @iliyana.nedkova and aimed at constructing a bridge built on the foundations of contemporary art, over the rivers flowing through the twin cities of Perth, Pskov and Tartu.

Su's talk will consider international residencies in terms of their wider impact and opportunities for the community. By reference to the outcomes of some of her own residencies, in Lithuania, Estonia and Japan, Grierson will suggest new ways of thinking and doing and will include some very short clips from her artist's films made in response to her residencies.

📸: Su Grierson, Waterlevel
Multi-screen installation at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening. #perthshire #art #event #freeevent #pskov

Thank you to the Perthshire Advertiser and @melani

Thank you to the Perthshire Advertiser and @melanie.bonn for featuring our exhibition! It is open at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios by appointment only today (advance booking essential via confluenceofnorth@gmail.com). Thank you to everyone who has visited so far this week – the exhibition runs until June 26.

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening #perthshire #art #perthshireadvertiser #dailyrecord

Thank you for featuring us in your latest edition,

Thank you for featuring us in your latest edition, @artmaguk! Our exhibition is open until June 26 at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios.

We are open tomorrow but booking is essential at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com. Everyone welcome!

📸: Kyra Clegg
Stone Roots (mixed-media sculpture)

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #exhibitionopening. #perthshire #art #artmag

We’re delighted to be on the front page of @thec

We’re delighted to be on the front page of @thecourier.uk in Perth today, and to declare our exhibition at Perth Creative Exchange open!

Our opening days and hours are Weds, Thurs and Fri: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm, as well as Tuesday and Saturdays by appointment only (please book for those days in advance at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com)

Thank you for the article, @grammour.puss

📸 @kyracleggartist Embodied Landscape ‘silk banner’

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #shetland #exhibitionopening. #perthshire #art @waspsstudios

We open at Perth Creative Exchange tomorrow! (book

We open at Perth Creative Exchange tomorrow! (booking required)

We’re really looking forward to welcoming visitors into the gallery to see the work created by our eight artists.

Our opening days and hours are Weds, Thurs and Fri: 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm, as well as Tuesday and Saturdays by appointment only (please book for those days in advance at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com)

Everyone is welcome – we look forward to seeing you there. The exhibition runs to June 26.

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #shetland #exhibitionopening. #perthshire #art

We’ve been so pleased to welcome some friends vi

We’ve been so pleased to welcome some friends virtually into the gallery for a preview of the exhibition this week. ⁣
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We were joined by our wonderful Spirit of North artists from Japan, and have also had some fantastic conversations with artists and other project partners in Shetland. Thank you to everyone who joined us!⁣
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We will be opening our doors to everyone on Tuesday (booking required), and hope that some of you will be able to come to see the exhibition. Our opening days are Weds, Thurs and Fri, 9.30-1pm and 2-4.30pm. We are also open on Tuesdays and Saturdays by appointment only – contact us at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com.⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #shetland #yell #exhibitionopening. #perthshire

Completing our line-up of invited guest artists is

Completing our line-up of invited guest artists is Yunior Aguiar Perdomo @yunior_aguiar_perdomo, leader of the ‘Polaris’ Perth community arts project.⁣
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“I’m interested in cultural, political, economic and social processes and their impact on our behaviours and identities. I’m currently working on projects that reflect upon cultural processes such as acculturation, assimilation and integration as a way of understanding myself within and beyond the new context of my life in Scotland from multi-dimensional and intersectional perspectives.⁣
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“For Confluence of North my project explores the first-generation migrant community around Perth and surroundings and the ways we keep specific cultural traditions alive as grounding experiences after emigrating. Originally from Cuba and with more than 15 years of experience working collaboratively as part of the duo @celia_yunior, I’m now embarking on individual projects and open collaborations building on the work I have done in the past. ⁣
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“My work transitions between audio-visual, video installation, data visualisation and different documentation methods.”⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #polaris #YuniorAguiarPerdomo #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #artexhibition #cuba #video #datavisualisation

Our third invited artist speaker is Mary Morrison

Our third invited artist speaker is Mary Morrison @marymorrison.art⁣
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Mary is originally from Harris, though now lives in the Borders, and her work is concerned with landscape, mapping and identity. ⁣
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She is drawn to exploring space and light that is particular to the islands in the North West of Scotland, and aims to evoke a sense of place through fluid paint effects combined with graphic elements of annotation. ⁣
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Grids, staves, elements of maps and abstract musical notation recur in her work. The sea is also a constant theme, and relates to an exploration of identity and geopoetics – the relationship between an individual and the landscape that has shaped them, something you carry with you – a ‘geography of the mind’. ⁣
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Her work suggests journeys, edges, tidal lines – always shifting.⁣
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📸2: Mary Morrison, Arctic Journey oil on paper, 20cm x 20cm⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #marymorrison #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #Harris #isleofharris #islandofharris #hebrides #outerhebrides #geopoetics #edges #tidal #landscape #artexhibition #artisttalk #artiststalk #drawing #painting #borders #scottishborders

Our second invited speaker is @paulbloomerartist,

Our second invited speaker is @paulbloomerartist, who lives in Shetland. ⁣
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“I was born in the heavily industrialised Black Country of England, but have lived in Shetland for almost 25 years. Each of these very different areas have been a key influences in my work by forcing me to embrace paradox and seeming antithesis. ⁣
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“Working through drawing, printmaking and painting I explore the threads and connections between culture, nature and spirituality, and specifically the complexity of the human condition alongside the peace and freedom of nature. I work almost entirely by instinct and emotion, letting imagery and narrative evolve as I wrestle with the formal elements of composition and the often-desperate search for visual truth.”⁣
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We’re opening to the public at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios on June 8. Full details on our website (🔗 link in bio)!⁣
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📸: Paul Bloomer with ‘How then shall we now live’⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #paulbloomer #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #north #exhibition #shetland #blackcountry #landscape #artexhibition #artisttalk #artiststalk #drawing #painting

We’re pleased to introduce you to the first of o

We’re pleased to introduce you to the first of our invited speakers, who we'll be working with during our exhibition at Perth Creative Exchange @waspsstudios

Patricia Shone is a ceramicist who has been living on the Isle of Skye for 25 years.

“My work is informed and inspired by this powerful Northern landscape – beneath the thin, eroding soils of the Highlands, lies the constant and immutable presence of rock, the form beneath the surface.

“These two elements of surface texture and form in my work are an expression of the journey towards understanding my place in life. My experience of living in this landscape is part of the continuity of human existence here and is deeply influenced by its Northern location and climate.”

Our first exhibition will be held at Perth Creative Exchange from June 8-26. See the link in our bio for all the information.

📸: @patriciashoneceramics
Erosion Jar 14, (Reduction Stoneware)
Photo credit: @shannontofts

#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #patriciashone #scotland #japan #artistexchange #perth #perthcreativeexchange #ceramics #north #exhibition #stoneware #skye #isleofskye #highlands #landscape #artexhibition #shannontofts #shannontoftsphotography #patriciashoneceramics

Exhibition announcement! 📣⁣ ⁣ We are please

Exhibition announcement! 📣⁣
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We are pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at Perth Creative Exchange from June 8-26, with work by our four Scottish artists and four Japanese artists from Spirit of North, resulting from their partnered exchanges over the past few months.⁣
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We will also be running a series of talks by invited speakers and partners, and will be introducing them to you over the next two weeks.⁣
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Our opening days and hours are Weds, Thurs and Fri (9.30am-1pm and 2pm-4.30pm), as well as Tuesday and Saturday by appointment (book at confluenceofnorth@gmail.com). We look forward to seeing you there!⁣
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@waspsstudios ⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #perthcreativeexchange #perth #scotland #japan #art #exhibition #artexhibition #culturalexchange #ssamember #vasmember

Completing our line-up of artists is Maruyama Toki

Completing our line-up of artists is Maruyama Tokio @tokiomaruyama from the Spirit of North project in Japan, who is working with @sugri1.⁣⁣
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Maruyama’s creative activity is based on fieldwork, carried out in the environment that surrounds us today. He creates site-specific installations and performances triggered by the psychological shifts that occur between the territory he has set up, and the perceptions, cognitions and physical actions of the people who share it.⁣⁣
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He aims to expose the state of civilisation, with its precariously balanced dualities of "existence and disappearance" or "construction and decay", starting from the shifting "here and now" to reorganise, if only temporarily, the natural and social phenomena that make up our environment. ⁣⁣
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📸 “Being There” (performance)⁣⁣
NishiAizu International Art Village, Fukushima, Japan @niav_public (Photographer Ohwada Masaru)⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #MaruyamaTokio #sugrierson #scotland #japan #artistexchange #installation #perth #perthcreativeexchange #ohwadamasaru #nishiaizu

Our third Spirit of North artist is Takizawa Tatsu

Our third Spirit of North artist is Takizawa Tatsushi, who is working with @gillianadairmcf⁣
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“This is first time in the ‘Spirit of North’ project that we have been unable to meet and interact face to face, so I wanted to feel closer to the land of Scotland. ⁣
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“My partner Gillian and I decided to eat together, exchanging recipes from our respective countries. Then we set out on similar journeys, each in a different land. I see the exhibition, which starts in Scotland and tours both countries, as a kind of journey, and look forward to seeing how the work evolves.”⁣
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📸 Origine 2019⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #TakizawaTatsushi #gillianmcfarland #scotland #japan #artistexchange #installation #perth #perthcreativeexchange @takizawatatsushi

Our next Spirit of North artist from Japan is Asai

Our next Spirit of North artist from Japan is Asai Mariko @mariko_yn, who is working with @ingepanneelsartist⁣
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“I turn towards an unknown world, with its array of differing value systems, and keep trying to catch sight of that which is invisible. ⁣
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“Combining all kinds of media – drawing, photography, three-dimensional objects, videography, language, sound, natural light and so on – I create spaces that engage with place and time. Finding poetic and humorous ways to disrupt viewers’ sense of placement, I invite them into an elusive world that runs its course outside of their visual and conscious field. ⁣
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“At this time, when what ‘we don’t understand’ has become so apparent, I had the opportunity to speak to my project partner, Inge, although we cannot meet face to face. I would like to create a careful, detailed visual representation of the world that emerges from the overlaps and gaps in my conversations with Inge through the screen, as part of a journey towards an intangible unknown.”⁣
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📸 Detail, Movable Mountain, Four stories of a valley 2016-2019　　⁣
Installation view at Tomakomai City Museum (Tomakomai, Japan)⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #asaimariko #ingepanneels #scotland #japan #artistexchange #installation #movablemountain #Tomakomai

Introducing the first of our Spirit of North artis

Introducing the first of our Spirit of North artists – Maruyama Yoshiko. ⁣
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Yoshiko started the Spirit of North project in Japan, and for Confluence of North is working with Scottish artist @kyracleggartist. ⁣
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“I work primarily with installations and painting. What interests me is exploring what kind of creatures human beings are, both socially and biologically. ⁣
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“I’m asking the question: how do human beings inhabit the earth, and how should they inhabit it? To find out, I want to meet people from many different parts of the world, identifying what they have in common and how they differ, so as to delve into ‘What makes a Human Being’. ⁣
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“As project leader of ‘Spirit of North’, I’m striving for a profound understanding of, and resonance with, people around the world. On this occasion @sugri1 and I worked together to implement the project simultaneously in both countries.” ⁣
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📸 You Who Are Creation (2019 - 2020). Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi, Finland⁣
[Spirit of “North” vol.10: Sensing Faint Resonances]⁣
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#confluenceofnorth #spiritofnorth #maruyamayoshiko #sugrierson #scotland #japan #artistexchange #installation #painting #rovaniemi

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