Students’ artwork paints picture of 100 war stories

Pieces by Dundee artists form part of a Scottish Parliament exhibition to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Michael Alexander reports

While memories are being cast back to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War this week, the work of Dundee artists involved in commemorating 100 years since the end of the First World War last year is featured in a new exhibition at the Scottish Parliament.

WW100 Scotland, the Scottish Government’s national commemorative programme for the centenary of the First World War, is culminating with a unique interactive art installation launched at Holyrood on Tuesday and running until September 20.

The free exhibition – entitled What Do We Learn From All Th1s? – tells 100 stories from across Scotland through the work of 100 young artists.

The works featured were created at five traditional printmaking studios across Scotland, including the print studio at Dundee Contemporary Arts, where students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), Abertay University and Dundee and Angus College created 20 prints based on their interpretations of First World War stories from the Tayside region.

Facilitated by the Scottish Print Network and combining traditional printmaking with innovative technologies, the matrices used to develop each of the artists’ unique prints have been mounted on wooden plinths arranged in a map of Scotland, with augmented reality technology allowing visitors to explore each of the stories in detail with an iPad.

Among them is a piece by Arianna Vettraino, a third year illustration student studying at DJCAD.

She was inspired by the tragic story of Pitlochry-born John Alex Veitch, who died just six months after his conscription.

During his military service, Mr Veitch wrote to his mother, father and two sisters back home in Pitlochry.

In one of the more than 200 letters held by Perth and Kinross archives, a bullet hole can be seen on one of the letters, as well as on an old cigarette case. The archive also contains his final letter and the telegram informing the Veitch family of his death.

Arianna said: “What touched me most about John Veitch’s story was his relationship with his family, sending over 200 letters to them in a relatively short period of time.

“I decided to focus on the letters as imagery for my prints because I felt they were a moving act of love between Veitch and his family – in a time of such overwhelming tragedy and conflict.”

A contribution by third year DJCAD student Niamh Shaw is based on the story of piper Daniel Laidlaw, 7th King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who received a Victoria Cross for an act of remarkable bravery at the Battle of Loos on September 25 1915.

She said: “He bravely rallied the troops by playing the bagpipes, leading the charge across No Man’s Land towards the enemy lines, through poisonous gas at the Battle of Loos.

“When creating my print, I tried to capture the grimaces and determination in the soldiers’ faces, charging towards the enemy lines.

“I also wanted to keep the colours mostly monochrome to link back to the old photographs and show the bleakness of the Western Front.”

Kalinn O’Hare, 19, of Dundee and Angus College, was inspired by the 16,000 conscientious objectors in Britain – particularly Dundee man John McTaggart, who was a long-term member of the Independent Labour Party as well as other political groups.

In September 1915, John’s brother Charlie fought and survived the Battle of Loos relatively unscathed and came through an attack on German trenches at La Basee in June 1916.

He was sent back to Britain after the battle of Beaumont-Hammel in September 1916, just as John was making his first appearance before a local military tribunal – later being incarcerated for two years in Wormwood Scrubs.

“I chose to do my print the way I have because the story is about two brothers, so I looked up the Scottish brothers symbol and added that as part of the background to break up the space,” said Kalinn.

“I decided on using the white feather as people were forced to receive a white feather if they did not join the army.

“Interestingly, the reason white feathers were handed out is that a cockerel with white tail feathers was understood to not be a prize-winning purebred, and hence not a real fighter.”

Rachel Storrier, also of Dundee and Angus College, focused on Florence Mellor from Kirkcaldy, who worked as a volunteer nurse treating wounded troops at Edenfield Auxiliary Hospital, Cupar, and then shell-shocked officers at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh.

During this time, nurse Mellor collected sketches, jokes and poetry penned by the soldiers she cared for.

It was believed the patients would get better if they were engaged in “meaningful” and structured activities such as handiwork and creative tasks.