Art and nature combine in Alyth for new festival

Alyth is at the centre of a brand new Perthshire arts festival this week.

‘Platform, the Festival of Perthshire Creativity’ aims to showcase the area’s creative talent, with a raft of highprofile events taking place across the whole of Perth and Kinross from March 25 to April 1.

Combining key themes of ‘art and nature’, Deirdre Nelson (pictured, right) kicked off proceedings on Saturday, March 25 when she led a guided walk from Alyth town square along part of the Cateran Trail.

One of Scotland’s foremost contemporary textile artists, Deirdre is artist-in-residence for the Cateran’s Common Wealth ‘Common Ground’ project which sees her working with schools and community groups around the trail to design and make new textiles inspired by aerial photography and place name research.

Deirdre said: “I do a lot of walking and thought it would be interesting to do the Cateran Trail as part of the project.

“I then thought I could widen it out to members of the public to gather stories from people, and information and pictures for my work with the schools.

“We’ll be doing five walks, one each month, of different levels, and people can come to one or some or all of them. Everyone is welcome although please be aware that these are not official guided walks.”

Clare Cooper of the Cateran’s Common Wealth project added: “We were contacted by Platform to tie this walk in with their programme, and we have done the same with the Alyth Creates event in May, which has been great.”

Perthshire-based artist Lesley Garside has transformed Alyth Library with her decorative, nature-inspired glass artworks.

Lesley’s ‘Through The Glass’ exhibition showcases a range of fused and leaded glass using a number of decorative techniques including kilnfired painting and silver staining.

In its inaugural year, Platform will host over 30 events in venues across Perth and Kinross, including exhibitions, design, photography, artists talks, gigs, special installations, drama and film.

Platform is run by Perthshire Creates, a network of contemporary creative activities, and Culture Perth and Kinross, which works to support the development and delivery of cultural services across the region.

For more information visit www. culturepk.org.uk

I do a lot of walking and thought it would be interesting to do the Cateran Trail