Marnie Keltie

My recent work is a response to a particular, unique environment  –  the beaches, moorland, and tiny islands surrounding the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

On the shore, lines drawn by successive waves leave prints of themselves behind on the sand and produce rhythmic lines. These create intervals – marking time.The tide washes the surface of the beach , making marks and bringing and taking elements in a seemingly random and abstract way. There is always promise and loss. Yet, if we can depend on anything, we can depend on the fact that the tide will come in and go out twice a day, every day. In this repetition there is a security as well as an anxiety  –  a confrontation between mortality and immortality.

Like the tide, the repeated hand-drawn line is both random and structured.

On her time as an art student with Lews Castle College

My current work is inspired by our beautiful environment, in particular the beach at Baleshare. Studying in this place, is I believe, a unique and valuable experience for any artist.After graduation, I took part in a group residency at Taigh Chearsabhagh – Cuan Uibhist /The Secret Sea ( https://www.taigh-chearsabhagh.org/events/cuan-uibhist-–-the-secret-sea ), and in March 2012 I exhibited at the New Contemporaries exhibition at the RSA. Since then I have beeninvolved in several group and solo exhibitions.

I enrolled in the correspondence course run by the artists behind the painting Magazine Turps Banana, for two years (2013-2015 ). I was lucky enough to receive an Artists and Makers Award to enable me to do that. I was allocated a mentor (in my case established painter David Leeson ). I regularly posted my work on a dedicated online forum, and received feedback from David and occasionally from some of the other tutors. It was a very helpful experience which really advanced my engagement with painting, during what can often be a difficult post – graduation period. I would recommend it to any painters at any point in their career ( https://www.turpsbanana.com/ccoverview) 

In 2016, along with others in the collective So Much Depends Upon, I took part in an exchange with umKunst, an artists’ collective in Uckermark Germany, which has led to ongoing dialogue and collaboration with their artists since.