The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Artists to make mark as they welcome in visitors
These days, garages are used for all kinds of purposes, though one Wormit resident has found an especially novel use for hers – she has installed a printing studio with two vintage hand presses.
Based in the same Tayside village where her grandparents once ran a beekeeping business, art therapist and wood engraver Beth Robertson is inspired by the surrounding Fife countryside, mythology and local history, notably the Tay Bridge disaster.
She is one of more than 80 participants in this weekend’s 19th Open Studios North Fife.
Across the Kingdom’s upper half, artists and craftspeople in a variety of fields allow the public access to their workspaces and studios, to sell their creations or just to blether.
Beth studied illustration and printmaking at Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, though wood engraving was not taught at the time, she points out.
“My tutor gave me some tools and told me to learn myself and I fell in love with it,” she says. “They just weren’t doing it any more, it’s difficult and expensive, though it’s had a huge revival now. People see it on social media and they want to try it themselves.”
Having mastered the techniques, partly through the DCA’S print studio, she starting designing blocks for herself until 2020, when, after seeing other makers online, Beth started selling work under the brand End Grain Prints.
A year later, she acquired the first of two beautiful 19th-century presses, one for engravings and one for letters, christened Dante (after the Italian poet) and Dion (after Dion Fortune, who the engraver considers a pioneer in better treatment for those with mental health issues).
Beth had previously specialised in art psychotherapy, though now practises art therapy while expanding her engraving business and working with St Andrews’ Nook Collective gift shop.
Dion only arrived in March, she adds. “It’s really turned my world around... now I can make cards along with my artwork,” she says.
“I like to walk up the fields every single day to watch nature grow or down to the river. That’s where I find my inspiration.”
Meanwhile, fellow Open
Studios artist Keith Proven stays outside Foodieash, the hamlet north of Cupar.
He displays landscapes and photographs of Fife’s flora, fauna and panoramas, though perhaps most striking are his portraits in oils, a medium he only took up in 2018.
Some practitioners are keen to demonstrate their craft, such as Max Mccance, one of Scotland’s leading woodworkers, who creates sculptures and furniture at Kinloch Gallery, just off the A91. He reveals he looks forward to chatting with visitors.
“I am normally inundated with questions about every aspect of my work,” he says. “Fortunately, I love to talk about it and demonstrate how I make things.
“It’s a big workshop – half the people seem to be fascinated in the making aspects and the other half in the finished product.”
This year also sees a remarkable 18 new entrants, among them one adding a new talent to Open Studios – millinery.
Over three days of the bank holiday weekend, handily just ahead of the wedding season, Cupar-based hatmaker Joss Hindmarsh is displaying her unique creations in a pair of gazebos while creating new ones in her home workshop.
Each year, organisers award a bursary to a newcomer funded by Rotary Howe of Fife and, for 2024, it goes to Newburgh-based painter Aly Beresford.
She is opening up her garden sunroom used as a studio, while erecting a bell tent to chat to visitors about her artistic journey.
Untrained artist Aly explains she originally got into painting seascapes as therapy while recovering from the effects of Lyme disease.
“I wanted to share not only my work, but also my journey from a place of ill health to beginning recovery through connecting to art and creativity,” she says.
“I hope to inspire others who have faced similar health challenges.
“Also, Open Studios supports participation in my local community, encourages visitors and gives younger creatives a sense of belonging within our town.”
≤ May 4-6, see openstudiosfife.co.uk for details, including a downloadable brochure.
Beth with some of her print artwork.