Voyage of creative discovery

Two artists have set out on a voyage of creative discovery to explore the remote and beautiful coasts, islands and seas around the Inner Hebrides.

Geraldine van Heemstra will be turning the physical experience of sailing aboard the 50-foot yacht Whimbrel into artwork. She will be making wind harps, known as aeolian harps, that will respond to the sea breezes and using a device she made using driftwood, and which responds to the movement of the boat and the air, to create etchings.

‘It will be like trying to conduct an unruly orchestra of wind, rain and sea. A lot of my art is about our relationship with nature and this emphasises how it’s not something we can control. We have to collaborate: it’s very humbling,’ she said.

Geraldine, who learned to sail growing up in Holland, and fellow artist Clare Dudeney have been awarded a week’s residency aboard the Bluewater catamaran thanks to a collaboration between Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) and Whimbrel’s owners.

The voyage began at the weekend when Whimbrel set sail from Ardfern, south of Oban, and has been funded by Marchmont House, in the Scottish Borders, as part of its wider work to nurture contemporary artists and celebrate nature, art and creativity. Clare, a weaver, wood carver, painter and qualified sailor from London, hopes to produce artworks that reflect the time aboard and the experiences it brings. She said: ‘This voyage will allow me to feel connected to the environment – the wind, the waves and the geology.’