The Art of Sylvia Wishart– the lamp in the seaward window –

A PAC Education Resource

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The Art of Sylvia Wishart – the lamp in the seaward window Educational Resources

This resource is designed to provide a simple and effective guide for teachers to organise a productive and meaningful visit to the gallery for their pupils.

The activities described in the booklet take as their main focus the work of Sylvia Wishart (1936-2008) shown at the Pier Arts Centre (27 August-5 November 2011) and are designed to use the visual imagery and thematic ideas in her drawings and paintings as a stimulus for developing creative use of core curriculum subjects.

This resource has been developed with the Curriculum for Excellence in mind which is currently being implemented in Scottish schools.

The exhibtion and the related activities have relevence to aspects of the experiences and outcomes for: Expressive Arts, Social Studies, Literacy and English, Health and Wellbeing.

All of the activities, both gallery-based and follow-up, are designed to encourage pupils to work in groups as well as individuals and to stimulate discussion and debate, investigation and research.

Visits can booked by contacting the gallery on 850209

Introduction:

Sylvia Wisahrt was born in 1936, growing up in Stromness during WWII and the post war period.

She was actively curious about art from an early age and enjoyed the rather formal, if elementary, drawing exercises provided at school by the geography teacher. Later, she became aware of Ian MacInnes (1922 - 2003), who as an art student, following war service, returned to Orkney each summer to paint. She dogged his footsteps, on windy days holding down his easel.

MacInnes was to provide further encouragement when he was appointed as art teacher at Stromness Academy while Wishart was a pupil there. He provided materials and exhibiting opportunities for her, yet at age 17 she left school to take up work in the Post Office.

MacInnes persevered and Wishart entered Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen in 1956. She was awarded a post graduate year in 1960. She spent a period teaching in schools in Stornoway and Aberdeenshire, before returning to Orkney, where for four years she was an itinerant art teacher.

In the late 1960s she received a Scottish Arts Council grant that allowed her to concentrate for a period full-time on painting. She returned to Gray’s in 1969 to lecture in the drawing and painting school, spending summers and holidays working in Orkney. From 1969 - 1976 she produced a series of drawings for local agricultural merchants, J&W Tait Ltd for reproduction as company calendars. During this period she occupied the upper part of the buildings which now house the Pier Arts Centre’s permanent Collection. She was a close friend of Margaret Gardiner OBE (1904 - 2005), the Centre’s founder and patron and served many years as a Trustee. In 1984 she retired from teaching, returning permanently to Orkney where she continued to draw and paint until her death in 2008.

Sylvia Wishart, North House, Rackwick, 1966, oil on board, © estate of the artist

Sylvia Wishart’s career was governed by three particular places—the valley of Rackwick on Hoy; her harbour front house and studio in Stromness; and Heatherybraes, her Outertown home and studio where she was based from the late 1970s onwards—each had a profound impact on her artistic development and set the direction for her individual approach to the subject of landscape.

These locations not only provided a visual focus—the abandoned crofts and dramatic wildness of Rackwick; the pattern of buildings and harbour activity in Stromness, the views form the Outertown to St John’s Head and Hoy Sound—but equally, they stimulated a deeper curiosity and inquiry that remained with Wishart throughout her life.

Sylvia’s work characterised by many qualities—the subtle palette of colour; the selection and arrangement of detail and the reserve with which this is conveyed, the choice of compositional view point, the ability to see beyondthe visible, offering understanding and insight to familiar landscapes. All expressed with clarity of vision and an understated self assurance.

Sylvia Wishart, Harbour Window, 1973, oil on canvas, © estate of the artist

Sylvia Wishart, Reflections II, c 1987-92, mixed media on paper, © estate of the artist

A Visit to the Gallery and tour of the Exhibition

Before you visit:

If you are planning a visit to the exhibition, pupils can be encouraged to think about some aspects of what they will see in advance.

The main themes involved in the exhibtion are: landscape, seascape, pattern and texture, wildlife, still life, weather, light, seasonal change and architectural structures.

At the Gallery:

A short introduction to the exhibition will be given by a member of the gallery staff. Following this, pupils can use the two self-directed activity sheets to further explore the exhibition. The two sheets - pages 10 and 11 of this booklet can be printed off in advance of the visit (pencils and clipboards can be provided by the gallery.)Both of these activities can be carried out in small groups or as an individual activity.

This booklet also contains several other suggestions for activities that can be followed up in the classroom

The activities are suitable for all ages – and can be adapted according to age group.

Activity 1: Autograph BookActivity 2: CalendarActivity 3: Acrostic PoemActivity 4: Ship-in-a-BottleActivity 5: What do you think? critical writing Activity 5: Reflections—gallery-based activity (sheet to printed off page 10)Activity 6: Picture Search—gallery-based activity (sheet to printed off page 11)

Sylvia Wishart, untitled, c 1990s, mixed media on paper, © estate of the artist

Activity No 1: Autograph Book

One of the earliest works in the exhibtion is a small pen and ink drawing that Sylvia Wishart made in a friend’s school autograph book.The views of Hoy, St John’s Head and Hoy Sound first recorded as a young girl would remain with Sylvia, re-emerging as the central feature of her work from the late 1970s following her move to Heatherybraes, her home and studio at Outertown, Stromness.Activity: Each pupil can construct a simple book in which their friends can draw a picture and then date and sign it.

Activity No 2: Calendar In her early career Sylvia Wishart was greatly supported by her close association with J&W Tait Ltd. William I Tait, the Managing Director of the Orkney Agricultural Merchants, commissioned Sylvia to provide a series of drawings that could be reproduced as a calendar.

From 1969 through to 1976 she provided over 40 drawings, each revealing her perceptive observation and measured use of line and tone.

While the themes of the calendars are essentially architectural; piers, mills, churches, castles and farms, the resulting drawings expose subtleties of light, carefully chosen viewpoints and perspectives that are characteristic of Sylvia’s work.

Activity: Working in small groups, pupils can select a theme eg farms or boats and each make a detailed line drawing. If appropriate they can work directly from the classroom window or from photographs. The drawings can then be scanned or photocopied and assembled into a calendar.

Sylvia Wishart, untitled sketch, 1952, ink on paper © estate of the artist

Sylvia Wishart, Old water pump, Northside, Birsay, 1971, pen and ink, © estate of the artist

Activity No 3 : Acrostic Poem

‘I remember writing an acrostic poem, in the mid-1960s, possibly for her birthday. A copy of it is somewhere in my house; I have spent an hour this morning looking through manuscripts and typescripts for it, in vain. I remember the general drift of it, and that was enough to build a new boat on an old keel.’

Salt in the wind, incense of heather and peat.Your green valleyLies tilted to the Atlantic, an overset jar.Very small fieldsInvaded by rushes, the noust boatless.Ancient hills stand about the lost ceremonies.

When will people come back to Rackwick?I see it must happen —Shoal and sheaf conspiring toHonour the ancient tryst,And from the lifted jar of this valleyRipenessTouching and blessing the mouths of new crofters, new fisherfolk.

(George MacKay Brown from catalogue essay, Looking North West & South, 1992)

Activity: Pupils can write an acrostic poem either using their own name or that of a friend or member of their family - the subject of the poem could be a favourite place. Pupils could also draw or paint a picture of their chosen place.

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Activity No 4: Ship in a Bottle

In the foreground of Sylvia Wishart’s paintings there are often several objects set out on the window ledge or on the table. One of her favourite is the ship-in-a-bottle.

Activity: Pupils can make a simple version by either drawing or painting a ship on a paper, and carefully rolling it to insert into a plastic bottle

Further investigation and research by pupils could find photos of sailing ships and find out how model ships are really made to fit into a bottle. Other areas that could be explored are Stromness Museum and the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Activity No 5: What do you think? Activity: Let pupils choose one of the artworks in the exhibition and write a short description of the work and what they think about it.

Here are some words to help

Alive Human Natural Abstract Cold SmoothShinyBumpyIntricateBright

DelicateAngularCircularUprightEnclosedSolidBoldPlant-likeLightWeathered

TexturedGesturalWornHollowTenseHarmoniousIncisedCutPittedRough

ChiselledBumpySmoothFlatCoarseUnevenShinySharpReflectiveBright

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Sylvia Wishart lived in the Outertown, Stromness where for many years she painted the Orkney landscape from her window. She was interested in the many changes, big and small, that took place throughout the year: the light; the weather; the wildlife and the seasons.

Activity: Find the painting illustrated above—use the back of this sheet to write down your ideas and thoughts.

Why do you think the painting is called Reflections?

How many things can you see in the painting? Make a list of some of them

What time of day and time of year do you think she used to inspire this scene? What things in the picture tell you this?

What else can you discover by looking at the painting?

Back at School: You can make a drawing or painting of a view from the classroom or from another favourite window at home or from a friend’s house.

Activity No 6: Reflections

Sylvia Wishart RSA (1936-2008), Reflections, 2004, oil and mixed media on paper, 107x194cm © estate of the artist

Can you find the paintings which contain the above ?Tick the boxes below

Activity No 7: Picture Search

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Open Monday-Saturday10.30am-5.00pm28-30 Victoria Street Stromness KW16 3AA 01856 850209

The Pier Arts Centre is a registered Scottish Charity No SC014815

Admission free

www.pierartscentre.com

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The Pier Arts Centre gratefully acknowledges the exhibition’s main sponsors

royal scottish academy