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Recording \u2018The Artists Town\u2019<\/em> past and present.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark Mulhern, European Ethnological Research Centre<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n One of the ambitions of the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project (RESP) is to encourage and to facilitate individuals and groups to carry out fieldwork based research borne out of their own interest. So it was with great pleasure that we welcomed the opportunity to work with the Kirkcudbright Harbour Cottage Trust on their project – ‘Kirkcudbright Artists Remembered’.<\/p>\n We provided training and supplied recording equipment to enable the team of 16 volunteer fieldworkers from Kirkcudbright to record folk from the town on their memories and experiences of artists associated with the town.<\/p>\n The results of these labours make a significant addition to the overall collection of material on D&G which the Project has built-up. In addition, this collection of recordings is a rich source of information for anyone interested in finding out more about the work of artists and their place within a place.<\/p>\n A clip from each of the interviews is presented on the RESP website. These clips can be directly accessed by clicking on the name of each interviewee below.<\/p>\n Copyright in these recordings is shared between the European Ethnological Research Centre and the Kirkcudbright Harbour Cottage Trust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Flora McDowall and Hilary Alcock for Kirkcudbright Harbour Cottage Trust<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Inspired by a cluster of rapt exhibition visitors listening to an older resident recalling the painter Charles Oppenheimer, the Kirkcudbright Artists Remembered project was born.<\/p>\n Between November 2017 and November 2018, a Kirkcudbright Harbour Cottage Trust team of 16 volunteers carried out 38 interviews with local people who recall the bohemian artists and makers living in the town during the 1940s, 50s and 60s.\u00a0\u00a0 Names such as Jessie M King, E A Taylor and Charles Oppenheimer are synonymous with the town, but others were equally popular residents, actively involved with community life.\u00a0 These include artist David Sassoon, \u2018\u2018the Godfather of Scottish studio pottery\u201d Tommy Lochhead, multi-talented craftsman Tim Jeffs, pastel portraitist Lena Alexander and painters such as Ann and Alistair Dallas and \u2018Bill\u2019 Miles Johnston and his wife Dorothy Nesbitt.\u00a0\u00a0 Most were incomers to the town attracted by its association with E A Hornel, but the painter John Halliday was born in Kirkcudbright.\u00a0 Halliday formed strong bonds with the artists\u2019 colony of the time, propelling him onwards to start his career at Glasgow School of Art.<\/p>\n The first port of call for help with the project was David Devereux, formerly Curator of the Stewartry Museum, who provided enthusiastic support and advice.\u00a0 David suggested contacting the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project and The Ewart Library, Dumfries. \u00a0Alison Burgess, the Dumfries & Galloway Council Local Studies and Information Officer and Regional Network Representative for the Oral History Society, was on hand to help.<\/p>\n It transpired that there had already been a large recording project undertaken in Dumfries & Galloway by the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project.\u00a0 Through the EERC we could access recording equipment, expert help with the necessary paperwork and have a home for the resulting recordings at a national level.\u00a0\u00a0 There the recordings would become part of the larger study, professionally transcribed and properly preserved for the future.<\/p>\n Making the recordings was a rewarding experience for the volunteers and the participants.\u00a0 Everyone who contributed had something fascinating to say about the artists, post war life in the town or growing up in Kirkcudbright.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a steep learning curve for the volunteers, only one having done anything similar before.\u00a0\u00a0 The recordings are not formal, but conversational and relaxed with various interruptions from clocks, doorbells, squeaking furniture and chinking teacups \u2026 but no less interesting for that.<\/p>\n Kirkcudbright Artists Remembered moved on to a new phase when support was secured from Dumfries & Galloway Council and The Galloway Association of Glasgow to use the recordings as the basis for two short films.\u00a0 The services of the BAFTA award-winning young film maker James Alcock secured, the team went on to produce two, six-minute films, \u2018Kirkcudbright Artists Remembered\u2019 – which features oral history recording participants and some of today\u2019s artists – and \u2018John Halliday, Child of the Colony\u2019.\u00a0 The films can be accessed on YouTube by clicking below:<\/p>\n Kirkcudbright Artists Remembered<\/a><\/p>\n John Halliday Child of the Colony<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Recording Clips:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Pamela\u00a0Baillie<\/a><\/p>\n Elizabeth Brown<\/a><\/p>\n Andrew Campbell<\/a><\/p>\n Joe Campbell<\/a><\/p>\n David Collin<\/a><\/p>\n John Corrie<\/a><\/p>\n Alastair Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n Marion Devlin<\/a><\/p>\n Neil McGill Duncan<\/a><\/p>\n Lindsay Forbes<\/a><\/p>\n Jane B Gibson<\/a><\/p>\n Elizabeth Gordon<\/a><\/p>\n John Halliday<\/a><\/p>\n Richard Haslam-Jones<\/a><\/p>\n Jim Henderson<\/a><\/p>\n Willie Henry<\/a><\/p>\n Sam Kelly<\/a><\/p>\n Alan Kinnear<\/a><\/p>\n Wilson Lochhead<\/a><\/p>\n Janette Millar<\/a><\/p>\n David Mitchell<\/a><\/p>\n Helen Murray<\/a><\/p>\n Lesley Priestly<\/a><\/p>\n Valerie Sadler<\/a><\/p>\n Sheila Semple<\/a><\/p>\n Anne Shackleton<\/a><\/p>\n David Shackleton<\/a><\/p>\n Daniel Shackleton<\/a><\/p>\n Joseph Sassoon<\/a><\/p>\n Donald Shamash<\/a><\/p>\n Amy Smith<\/a><\/p>\n David Steel<\/a><\/p>\n Hazel Twiname<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recording \u2018The Artists Town\u2019 past and present. Mark Mulhern, European Ethnological Research Centre One of the ambitions of the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project (RESP) is to encourage and to facilitate individuals and groups to carry out fieldwork based research … Continue reading