Artmap Argyll begins birthday celebrations

AS ARTMAP Argyll celebrates its tenth birthday, final preparations are under way for its open studios weekend.

Running from Friday to Sunday, August 25 to 28, this year 49 artist and venue members and nearly 30 associate members will take part, displaying a wide range of disciplines including painting, drawing, illustration, printmaking, sculpture, glass, tapestry, wood, photography, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, lampshades and mosaic.

Known as the red dot trail, visitors are guided to visit the artists’ in their studios, from Appin in the north to Campbeltown in the south, by a network of numbered red dots and direction arrows.

The four-day event is an opportunity to visit artists’ studios without any pressure to buy work – although if anyone does fall in love with a piece, they then have the joy of meeting the artist and seeing how the work is made.

The venues included this year are: The Archway Gallery, Lochgilphead; Auchindrain Museum, near Inveraray; The Dochas Gallery, Lochgilphead; Kilmartin Museum; Loch Melfort Hotel and Arduaine Gardens; Port Appin Studio; SNH Taynish NNR; and the Scottish Sculpture Park, Caol Ruadh.

The 76-page brochure guide featuring the artists’ work with detailed directions to their studios are free and can be picked up at any of the artists’ studios, venues and at most tourist information centres, hotels and B&Bs in the area.