L inda Farquharson – linocut
Kirkcaldy, the linoleum capital of the world, kept 4,000 people in jobs in its seven lino factories in the 1860s, and while the product’s popularity waned in the 1900s, Linda Farquharson – a relief printmaker based in Perthshire who has been producing linocut artwork for over 30 years – has played a part in its recent resurgence.
Creating everything from bold monochrome greetings cards to colourful large-scale prints, as well as a limited edition set of stamps for the Royal Mail to mark the 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth’s birth, Linda still has a few metres of original Kirkcaldy lino from which to carve.
‘When they stopped making the lovely old brown lino with the lovely smell, I bought about 80 square metres of it from a flooring company in Edinburgh,’ says Linda. ‘I’m down to my last couple of sheets. It cuts beautifully.’
Using a trusty workhorse, a Columbian press that dates to 1850, Linda creates works influenced by literature, poetry, folklore and myth, and by Scotland’s flora and fauna. ‘I like stories about the Cailleach,’ she says, explaining that ‘Cailleach’ describes the phases of womanhood. ‘In the winter she’s a hag, but she transforms herself in spring into a beautiful young woman. You have this constant movement between old and new, death and birth.’
‘Using a Columbian press that dates to 1850, Linda creates works influenced by literature’
BAKKA produces Fair Isle textiles to the highest quality and standards. It preserves Shetland’s rich textile heritage by using the oldest Fair Isle patterns and colours in a sustainable, contemporary manner. All pieces are made in a unique reversible Fair Isle fabric. www.bakkaknitwear.com