Lucy KeanY TOMFOOLERY

Gallery of Modern Art Edinburgh and the Dean Gallery, Edinburgh.

On Tuesday the group made a trip through to Edinburgh to visit the Gallery of Modern Art at Belford Road, where we saw the collection and the Tracey Emin exhibition. The group really enjoyed seeing "Landform" by Charles Jenks and seeing the sculptures in the grounds. Tracey Emin's show was very impressive and although it might not have been everyone's 'cup of tea', everyone agreed it was interesting to see.

Then we went to the Dean Gallery situated directly across the road, which houses further collections including The Surrealists and Eduardo Paulozzi. We also saw works by Scottish artists Alan Davie, from Grangemouth and Anne Redpath, and John Bellany from Port Seton who all trained in the painting department at Edinburgh College of Art.

Amy Still

Amy Marletta

Amy Marletta came out to Falkirk on Tuesday to give the Village Voice group a presentation about her artworks and it was really good to see her images and hear her talking about residencies she's done at Generator Projects in Dundee and at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire. She is part of an artist collective called Ganghut and they have been making collaborative projects in Scotland and internationally. Last year they resurrected the Lumsden Gala Day as part of their residency, which was a great success, and they are currently in the process of setting up an exhibition space there, which opens soon.

The group really enjoyed meeting Amy and hearing about her practice. She's just started on the Master of Fine Art Course at Glasgow School of Art and we will be including her work in the Twinning Project. We would like to thank Amy for travelling out despite the train strike, there's perseverance for you ! Also thanks to Irene for allowing us up to check out her flat in Leishman Tower. (Thanks again Irene!!)

Alan Bissett Book Reading on Tuesday

Alan Bissett will be doing a book readi​ng at The Den on Manor​ Stree​t (the one with Mosca​rdini​s)​ in Falki​rk this Tues 7th October at 7.​30pm . Alan is Falkirk's answer to Irvine Welsh, and wrote The Incredible Adam Spark and Boyracers, both written from a very "Fa'kirk" perspective. He is a very entertaining and well worth checking out.

Check out his MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/alanbissett
or his website at www.alanbissett.com/

John Houston - Scottish Painter

Yesterday I heard the sad news that John Houston passed away a few days ago. He was one of Scotland’s best known Landscape Painters, having forged a career over fifty years and developed a confident style and a huge preoccupation with the Scottish Landscape that saw him exhibit nationally and internationally. He was my Fourth Year Lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, and definitely one of the best lecturers I encountered during my time there. He was one of the old guard of painters, along with David Michie (son of Ann Redpath), who had certainly found their own voice when it came to painting. He was always quite forthright about his opinions and although I didn’t always entirely agree with him, I always respected what he had to say.

In the years after Art College, after leaving Edinburgh and moving to Glasgow, I used to see him at Glasgow Print Studio where he would come through to make prints, quite often accompanied by his wife Elizabeth Blackadder. They were a very unassuming couple despite the success they had achieved between them, and John still liked to give me words of advice along the lines of “Stick with the painting” which I waywardly chose to ignore at that point in my life.

There are certain people whose star shines brightly while they are on this planet and maybe we take their brightness for granted while it burns. I am thinking of another artist of my own age group, Paul Carter, who died recently and who also taught at Edinburgh College of Art. Both these men have given much to the Scottish art scene through their artwork and their influence. Ironically, maybe it is only when these stars have gone out that we really realise the light from which we have all benefited.

Rest In Peace.