Malcolm Maclean & Torcuil Crichton
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Overview
I am absolutely delighted to be able to include Sheòl an Iolaire by Torcuil Crichton and Malcolm MacLean in the Hulabhaig Collection.
Of all the public sculptures on Lewis, this work had the most profound effect on me, as an incomer, recently relocated to Lewis, my knowledge on past historic events relating to the islands and its inhabitants was minimal and this artwork drew me in, it demanded my attention and encourage further investigation. Public art at its best.
In the early morning, New Year’s Day, 1919 the Iolaire, carrying 280 Island servicemen back from the Great War struck a group of rocks – na Biastan Thuilm – a mile from safety in Stornoway Harbour and only a few yards offshore. 205 of the passengers perished of whom 181 were islanders.
On the centenary in 2019, the tradgedy was commemorated and ‘Sheòl an Iolaire/The Iolaire Sailed’ is Stornoway Port Authority’s dramatic, visual tribute to the Iolaire, whose sinking on 1 January 1919 in the Minch was one of the worst maritime disasters in United Kingdom waters. The sculpture is an actual-size blueprint, 189 feet from stem to stern, with a 27 foot beam. It shows the true size of the vessel and represent the number of crew and passengers on board as she sailed for Stornoway on 31 December 1918.
Stornoway Port Authority commissioned and constructed the installation from a concept by Lewis journalist Torcuil Crichton and artist Malcolm MacLean.
Text credit: www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk
Sheòl an Iolaire at dawn, image by Chris Murray
2019 : Dimensions: 8230 x 57600cm Part of the Hulabhaig Collection.
Sheòl an Iolaire, calm evening, image by Andy Laffan.
2019 : Dimensions: 8230 x 57600cmSheòl an Iolaire, image by John Dyer
2019 : Dimensions: 8230 x 57600cm
Sheòl an Iolaire, image by Richard Davies
2019 : Dimensions: 8230 x 57600cm
Cruinneachadh Hulabhaig
Artwork included the Hulabhaig Collection of Island Contemporaray Art
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Sheòl an Iolaire / The Iolaire Sailed
20198230 x 57600cm
Artworks for Sale.
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Artist Biography
Torcuil Crichton MP
Since 2024 Torcuil Crichton has been the Labour MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, the Western Isles constituency where he was born and raised.
For over three decades previously as a journalist and broadcaster he reported in Gaelic and English from across the world. He wrote and presented the acclaimed 2018 documentary “The President’s Mother”, tracing Donald Trump’s roots across the Atlantic to the Isle of Lewis.
As well as journalism he has had his drama scripts turned into successful stage plays and screenplays and he re-wrote Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Kidnapped” in the modern era for a Gaelic teenage audience.
Malcolm Maclean FRSA
Malcolm is a Glasgow Gael whose family have lived in Uig, Lewis, since the 1600s. After graduating in drawing and painting in Aberdeen he became a founding board member of Peacock Printmakers before relocating to Lewis in 1975 as an itinerant art teacher. Landscape painting, book design and press cartoons supplemented his teaching income and he has work in public and private collections. Torcuil was one of his early students.
He was the founding Chair of An Lanntair and curated most of An Lanntair’s early exhibitions including the international touring exhibition and book, As An Fhearann: From The Land. Fifteen years later he also curated An Leabhar Mor: The Great Book of Gaelic, which toured to 100 venues across three continents for ten years.
He was the first CEO of the national Gaelic arts agency, Proiseact Nan Ealan (PNE), which became a multi award winning arts and media production company. PNE’s many initiatives include Will Maclean’s series of Lewis land raider monuments, the national festivals association, Feisean Nan Gaidheil, and the Ceolas summer school in South Uist, His other producer credits include the BAFTA winning arts TV series, Tacsi, and The St Kilda Opera, which was performed simultaneously in five countries with live links to St Kilda.
After standing down from PNE he became Chair of UNESCO Scotland and focussed more on his own work as an artist and arts and heritage consultant. As well as Stornoway’s Sheol An Iolaire installation he was commissioned by the British Council to create the Scottish artwork for their Living Language Land exhibit at the COP26 event in Glasgow.