We are looking forward to 2025’s events! This website will start to be updated in the spring, but in meantime here are the key dates:
Preview Exhibition, Brodick Hall: Friday 11th – Monday 14th July
Film Night at Corrie Hall, Saturday 10th August
Open Studios Weekend: Friday 15th – Monday 18th August
We’ll also leave all of summer 2024’s materials here to whet your appetite.
If you are an artist or maker on the island who has not taken part this time and would like to discuss taking part in the Open Studios next year, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you!
Good morning, it’s Raine @underwing_studip on day 3 of the social media takeover. I’m sitting at my desk with a view to Holy Isle from my cabin in Whiting Bay (hoping the sun comes out again soon) I moved here in October last year so it’s lovely to see the changing seasons unfold month by month.
Living here is still like a dream to me, I’m captivated by the seascapes and the light on the water - in all weathers! Here are a few of my recent oil paintings and monotypes from my stunning studio view. Come and see for yourself during the Arran Open Studios weekend!
#isleofarran
#arranopenstudios25
#holyisle
#whitingbay
#arranopenstudios
#printmaking
#scottishseascapes
#scottishartist
For today’s social media takeover post I thought I’d show you how I make my monotype prints. I love all printmaking processes from linocut to drypoint but monotype (sometimes called monoprint) is probably my favourite because of its painterlyness and experimental approach. It’s basically a painting that is rolled through the press to make a one off print! There’s a lot of variables to go wrong but when it all goes right it’s very satisfying. Whales have been one of my lifelong passions and since coming to live on Arran and knowing they are out there in the Clyde, I am always vigilant for sightings. Until then I’ll just keep creating my own! 😄 If you want to see more of my work have a look on my account @underwing_studio #arranopenstudios #natureartist #printmaker #scottishartist #isleofarran #arranopenstudios25 #humpbackwhale #whaleart #cetacean #monotype
Hello! I’m Raine Clarke and I’m doing the Arran Open Studios social media takeover this week so let me introduce myself. I’m a printmaker and painter working from my cabin @underwing_studio in lovely Whiting Bay where I moved to very recently after years of hankering to live by the sea!
I studied at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and then a year long printmaking course at Leith School of Art. Before moving to Arran I was the art specialist at East Park school in Maryhill, Glasgow where I worked alongside students with autism and complex needs to help encourage all forms of creativity- the best job ever! Now I’m enjoying some time to create my own art again, inspired by the natural beauty on this island. Follow me this week for some glimpses into my studio and art practice, I look forward to showing you around 😊
With special thanks to @relatedstoriesuk @barry_clark_787 for photography ❤️
#arranopenstudios
#isleofarran
#scottishartist
#natureartist
#printmaker
Oops! I forgot Day 6 so this is 6&7 promotion days combined. 15-18 August I will be taking part in Arran Open Studios. I will be in studio 27 in the south of the island in Kildonan at The Old Schoolhouse. Today’s post is to show you a collaboration project that I did with calligrapher Elizabeth Forrest. We produced a piece called ‘Sea Fever’ in which a quote from the well known poem by John Masefield is painted onto a slab of Rippled Birch. Also a piece using a quote by American marine biologist Sylvia Earl. I really enjoy collaborating with other artists as it brings so much more to the table and make you think in new ways. This brings me to this coming week 12-18 May when I am exhibiting at Haddon Hall Gatehouse with my latest collaboration partner, Jill Virginia Ray. She has been encouraging me to use colour. Weirdly this is not what I usually do so it’s opening a lot of new ideas. Art doesn’t stand still it keeps evolving and responding to other influences. I’m looking forward to to meeting you either on Arran in August, or in Derbyshire next week. #arranopenstudios25 #smokefiredceramics #peakdistrictartisans #arran #visitarran #doingwhatilove #buyoriginalart #collaboration Arran Coast Vivienne Sillar ceramics Vivienne Sillar
@viviennesillar
Day 5 of my promotion for Arran Open Studios . I’ve still got lots to tell you about. Did you know that I’ve been on the telly? Almost exactly a year ago I was featured on Painting Birds With Jim and Nancy Moir on Sky Arts. We filmed the episode at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and we made dippers and did a smoke firing. It was the best fun and they were very nice people to work with. Here are some pics of the day and some dippers too. I’ll be bringing dippers to Arran Open Studios in August as I’ve seen one in Kildonan by the burn that comes down the side of Drimla Lodge. #arranopenstudios25 #smokefiredceramics #buyoriginalart #peakdistrictartisans #visitarran #paintingbirdswithjimandnancy #arran #doingwhatilove
Day 4 of my week promoting Arran Open Studios which runs from 15-18 August this year all around Arran. It’s a trail that will show you how this creative community works and you’ll get a glimpse into their work environment. How special is that! Although I don’t live on Arran I’m lucky enough to visit regularly and have done so all my life. What a welcoming place it is. To honour my link with Arran I donate a percentage of every sale I make to COAST: Community of Arran Seabed Trust. http://www.arrancoast.co I have done this for the past 5 years. This is a fantastic charity that keeps the seas around Arran healthy and thriving. They have made such an impact since their start 30 years ago. So with every purchase of my work you are contributing to this great cause. Come and see me at Studio No. 27 . The Old Schoolhouse Kildonan. #arranopenstudios25 #peakdistrictartisans #smokefiredceramics #visitarran #buyoriginalart #arran.coast Vivienne Sillar ceramics
@viviennesillar viviennesillarceramics
@arran.coast
Day three of seven days of promoting my work to be seen at Arran Open Studios this August. Materials gathered for using in my smoke firings are all gathered from what is available around me and all natural. There are no glazes used to achieve the colours. I gather seaweed from the shore in Kildonan, heather from the moors in Derbyshire and I have friends who kindly save wood shavings and fir cones. These are just a few of the ingredients that are used in my firings. It all takes time to gather, but makes the process so much more enjoyable. #arranopenstudios25 #peakdistrictartisans #smokefiredceramics #visitarran #doingwhatilove #buyoriginalart Vivienne Sillar ceramics
Today is my first day of Arran Open Studios social media takeover. Over the next 7 days I’ll tell you a bit about me, where I will be showing in August and show you some work. My name is Vivienne Sillar , I am a ceramic artist and I’m returning to this event after a 10 year break. Like many Glaswegians I have holidayed on Arran every year. I now live in Derbyshire, and visit Arran regularly as I run a holiday let in Kildonan. I’m excited to be showing work that is inspired by the wildlife seen from the kitchen window of The Old Schoolhouse. This will be studio 27 in the Arran Open Studios. I show and sell my work in galleries in many parts of the UK, but it will be fantastic to be showing again on Arran. #arranopenstudios25. #peakdistrictartisans #smokefiredceramics #visitarran #buyoriginalart
Thank you to everyone who has interacted with my posts for my social media takeover! I want to sign off with some pictures of my first ever market stall! Despite the classic mixed bag that is Scottish weather, I enjoyed my first time displaying my work at a market! See you all in August! Megan x
#arranopenstudios25
Thank you to Lochranza Inn for supporting this year’s Arran Open Studios!
Great place or a drink or a bite to eat or to stay.
Community run Inn.
2 exhibitions on there just now.
One in the coffee room on the left as you go in the main door. Some Open studios participants have paintings there.
The other in the dining room on the right as you go in the main door. This one is a collaboration with archaeologists , artists responding to the Neolithic landscape at Drumadoon.
arranopenstudios25
#isleofarran
Working with film makers @john.perivolaris.pd and @ryansbain on a promo film for Arran Open Studios.
Studios. Day 1:
Josephine Broekhuizen (painter) @joostbeest Zabdi Keen(sculptor) @zabdikeen and Assja BaumGartner (jeweller) @arran_gems_by_assja_b and sadly not pictured, Andy Leese fine furniture maker.
The film will be used by AOS to promote its open studios event in August.
15th-18th August.
50+ artists and makers to visit. Check out the AOS website
arranopenstudios.org
#arranopenstudios25
#isleofarran
@visitarran #openstudiosscotland #arrantheartsisland @arrantheatreandarts
For my second last day of my social media takeover, I thought I would share the progress of the painting that I am working on to submit to Landscape Artist of the year competition this year! Who knows, if the judges like it I might make it on tv! 🌅
#arranopenstudios25
