CRITIC’S CHOICE

After a year of exhibitions themed around artists working with found material, An Tobar exhibitions curator Mark Darling felt he had only one option for the grand conclusion of the year, the annual Winter Open, in which artists and makers from Mull (or those who have a strong connection with Mull), Iona and Argyll are invited to submit works around a theme. Found is the result, a series of diverse works from an equally diverse set of artists, including some, such as Sam Ainsley, Dugald MacInnes, Pamela Tait and Fiona Macrae, who have previously exhibited at An Tobar and were invited to submit.

If the artists represented in exhibition over the 2018 programme used found materials as a core part of their practice, the theme for the Open itself is more, well, open, allowing interpretation, however loose. Such freedom here includes Sue Murdoch’s blend of knitting and used fireworks, “weird and wonderful sculptural pieces,” says Darling.

Erlend Tait, who showed earlier this year, exhibits a mythical painting, The Selkie’s Skin (below), and there is everything from collage to a range of photographic work.

The call was “very open,” says

Darling. “I didn’t say no to anyone! But then, it’s a very high standard, both of work and presentation of the work.”

When Found is cleared in March, it will make way for an installation called Harvest by Edinburgh ceramic artist Mella Shaw, a piece about fishing and the pollution of the sea with plastic that was seen at Edinburgh’s Custom Lane and the Saatchi Gallery in London last year.

An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, 01688 302211, www.comar.co.uk, until Mar 8, Tue-Sat 11am-4pm