CRITIC’S CHOICE

THE final instalment in the Pier Arts Centre’s Orkney and the Artist series, which runs alongside their exhibition celebrating George Mackay Brown, is this show from recently graduated painter Sigurd Smith.

Training in Fine Art at Orkney College (University of the Highlands and Islands), Smith is concerned with sense of place, working largely in monochrome colours, last seen in his 2019 exhibition at The Old Library in

Kirkwall yet now hinting, with this new work, at flashes of colour.

His landscapes are emotive rather than a realistic depiction, alive with his own personal take on the scene before him. It is, in a sense, how we all view our surroundings – through the prism of our own interpretation.

These expressive, atmospheric drawings and paintings are a fine foil to the celebrations of George Mackay Brown’s centenary and the creativity which has long since been a part of the cultural make-up of the islands.

Pier Curator, Andrew Parkinson, says that footfall over the summer, as the gallery opened up to the public, has been good. “Orkney and the Artist has given folks the opportunity to see the work of some of George’s friends and contemporaries including Ian MacInnes, Gunnie Moberg and Sylvia Wishart, who all had a significant impact on his life. We hope that these changing exhibitions in parallel reflect something of the art being created in Orkney today and that the openminded and creative spirt that George Mackay Brown embodied will continue to inspire.”

Next up is the Annual Open exhibition, for which submissions from Orkney-based artists are now invited.

Islands: Impromptus, Pier Arts Centre, Victoria Street, Stromness, Orkney, 01856 850209 www.pierartscentre. com Until 6 Nov, Tues-Sat, 10.30am-5pm. Face coverings must be worn throughout the centre.