Orkney

Unexpected Inspiration

Barns-Graham first traveled to Orkney in 1984 to attend the opening of an exhibition of her works at the Pier Art Centre in Stromness. Enchanted by the island, she decided to stay on, moving into the studio above the Pier Art Centre as “artist-in-residence”. The following six weeks were filled with much inspiration for Barns-Graham, as she spent her time traveling the island, absorbed with the landscape and enjoying new friendships. In 1985, Barns-Graham returned to Orkney for another 6-week visit, in which she prioritised furthering her works inspired by the island. This time produced several sketches, photographs taken for future studio reference, and the beginnings of multiple collages and paintings, the first time since her visit to Spain in the 1950s for a location to inspire a new body of work. Ranging from abstract collages to more literal renditions of the landscape, Barns-Graham’s Orkney period represents her ability to engage simultaneously with a range of artistic styles.

Rock and Sea: Warbeth Beach and Billia Croo

The unique flagstone rock formations found at the beaches in Orkney greatly intrigued Barns-Graham. She frequently visited nearby beaches like Warbeth and Billia Croo, filling several rolls of film for future reference. These works reflect her deep fascination with the materiality, texture, and colours of the Orcadian shoreline. The beaches’ flagstone-like slabs of rocks provided an ideal subject for her interest in how nature could be evoked through the layered forms of collage.

“the black – rust – orange – cream – rock formations – flagstones! Were very close to my collages + interested me as much as anything I had seen. Rowan was excited too as saw the connection + when she comes back to collect me we will explore it further…”

Diary entry, 31 August 1984, WBG/4/1/42/135

Warbeth Collages

The Warbeth collages are not representational in a traditional sense, and are instead evocative: structured, rhythmic, and elemental. The idea of the beach as a pre-existing artwork – an arrangement of color, texture, and form – resonated with Barns-Graham’s modernist approach. In her construction of these collages, she frequently used “sticky” adhesive white labels, which she then painted and “built-up” into their final dynamic, three-dimensional and layered painted forms. Barns-Graham had to specifically request the shipment of these from Rowan James, as she frequently used up the ones available on Orkney.

“Colouring in these parts can change so incredibly – … into blue on left – look right a cold grey – that is the sea. Then the seaweeds! Growth, wonderful orange + rusts + other greens especially after rain. The grey waters too can be two shades of grey sometimes.”

Diary entry, 28 August 1984
WBG/4/1/42/133

Sweep of Emerald Green Fields: The Orcadian Landscape

Barns-Graham became deeply fascinated with capturing the Orcadian landscape. The islands’ patchwork fields, vast skies, and constantly shifting weather patterns offered visual and emotional stimuli, one that resonated with her lifelong interest in the relationship between natural form and abstraction. Her Orkney works represented a return to landscape painting after a long period of modernist abstraction.

“Now it is raining again but today was really beautiful + the sea + lochs were a brilliant blue against the very emerald green fields, ochre fields + heather top brown of the hills. That really describes it, it all vanishes in mists + returns again – very elusive!!”

Letter to her mother, 18 September 1985, WBG/1/1/7/54/v1

A Visual Diary

Barns-Graham approached the Orcadian landscape as a visual diarist, frequently taking “notes” in the form of sketches, colour studies, and photographs that captured her fleeting impressions of the islands’ changing light and shifting weather. Often working en plein air, she would jot down line-work and colour washes that distilled the geometry of patchworked fields, the blues and greys of distant sea, or the fields’ shades of ochre and green. These studies later informed her paintings and collages and served as the foundation for her more resolved interpretations of Orkney.

Orcadian Poetry: The influence of George Mackay Brown

Barns-Graham greatly admired Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown. First meeting him at the opening of her exhibition at the Pier Art Centre, which she excitedly described as “a big moment to contain”, she felt a deep connection to Mackay Brown and his work.

“I know what it is re GMB. I feel very drawn – through his / my work + so when I meet I treat like a precious jewel which when you look into you .. treasure but don’t wear too often.” 

26 August 1984 Diary WBG/4/1/42/132

Mackay Brown and Barns-Graham continued to meet socially several times while she was in Orkney, including having tea together at his home – where she received two signed books, Magnus and Under Brinkie’s Brae. He also attended her farewell dinner. She frequently noted in her diaries that she was reading his works while in Orkney, with his poetry adding life to her own aesthetic descriptions of the island.

Creative Community

Largely facilitated by her stay at the Pier Art Centre, Barns-Graham had several encounters with the creative community living in Orkney. Notable among them was George Mackay Brown and his nephew Erland Brown, curator of the Pier Art Centre – both of whom she met with several times. At her 1984 exhibition opening, Barns-Graham was introduced to Margaret Tait, a filmmaker whom she described as “an interesting woman” (Diary Entry 17 August 1984 WBG/4/1/42/127), and Marjorie Linklater, advocate of the arts and the environment in Orkney and widow of poet Eric Linklater. Further encounters included meeting with Beverly Ballin Smith, an archaeologist working on prehistoric Orkney; Alex Rigg, artist; and Bryce Wilson, an Orcadian author. Barns-Graham’s interview on Radio Orkney with Mungo Dunnett on 24 August 1984 furthered her connections with the community. Finally, Barns-Graham also met with photographer Gunnie Moberg several times, and was gifted by Erland Brown a book of Moberg’s photographs and poetry by George Mackay Brown.

With thanks to Emily Parks for writing this section on Barns-Graham’s work in – and resulting from – Orkney. Emily researched and catalogued material across the collection and archive relating to Barns-Graham’s travel in Orkney and subsequent artistic output as part of a student placement project from the University of St Andrews Museum and Heritage Studies Masters degree.