7 Short Sails - a series of creative chinese whispers

The starting point: one sailing boat, seven short voyages on the west coast of Scotland and seven participating artists all of whom live and work in countries bordering northern seas. 

The whispers began with a series of short voyages on the west coast of Scotland aboard a Loch Fyne Skiff sailing boat. No itinery, no set plan, except to explore that intriguing coastline, looking at the landscape and culture, scooping up moments and fragments to pass onto other hands for assimilation and interpretation.

This raw material was passed on to seven artists in the form of sketches, stories, paintings, photographs or conversations - with the request to respond in whatever way they chose. Those responses in turn were passed onto another seven artists and so on, for a total of seven phases.

On completion of the project, the cultural similarities and parallels between artists living at northern latitudes - ways of living and seeing influenced by climate, daylight, geology and tradition - are discussed by Professor Peter Davidson from the University of Aberdeen and Margaret Bennett, folklorist, who generously gave us an epilogue in the form of an essay and a song.

A total 56 artists participated in the project and here are the results.

Pat Law, December 2009