Màiri NicGillìosa
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Overview
I visited Màiri’s studio when she was living in High Borve on the north west coast of Lewis, she gave me a tour of her studio and I could see straight away how enthusiastic she was about her practice. I later invited her to create work for a show at Baile na Cille church in 2021 called ‘Plastic’ where I invited several island artists to respond to the issue of plastic within our environment. Màiri focused on a positive benefit of the material, using up-cycled animal feed tubs in her installation ‘Plastaig’ to hint at the ways crofters have always recycled and reused the materials to hand.
Màiri is an artist and Gaelic woman from the Lowlands of Scotland. She has a strong sense of home in the Gaeltachd and currently lives in Uig on the Isle of Lewis.
Her work spans across different mediums often with sculptural outcomes and her creative practice is embedded and embodied in ‘Place’, exploring Gaelic ways of seeing and our relationships between species and spaces.
"My arts practice is quiet activism, feminist in energy and strongly informed by Gael identity. I explore the Gaelic-feminist landscape - a space that considers how culture and nature interact, and how social relations are shaped by the land, belonging sensitively to a wider ecosystem.
I spend time outside in the landscape where I live in Lewis, moving bodily through the seasons, interacting with bedrock, flora, fauna and exploring the connections with people who have been in the same spaces before me- only separated by time.."
Tir-chumadh ('Land-relief')
2023 : Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 12cm
Bail àrd Bhuirgh ('High Borve')
2022 : Dimensions: 18 x 18cm : Framed: 25 x 25 x 5cm
Cruinneachadh Hulabhaig
Artwork aquired for the Hulabhaig Collection of Island Contemporaray Art
Tir-chumadh ('Land-relief')
202312 x 12 x 12cm
Bail àrd Bhuirgh ('High Borve')
202218 x 18cm
25 x 25 x 5cm framed
Available Artworks
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Artist Biography
Màiri studied Sculpture at Edinburgh Collage of Art, Horticulture at SRUC and has a postgraduate Masters degree in 'Learning and Teaching Gaelic Arts' with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Career Summary
2022 Culture Collective project for Creative Scotland, Exploring island colour with Jon Macleod
2021 July - January 2022 Artist in residence, Tobar an Dualchais and ATLAS arts
2020 – 2022 – Artist residency in the community. Bord na Ghaidhlig (Year of Coasts and Waters) the outcome of which can be seen at www.ealainaite.com
2020 – commissioned to take part in An Lanntair’s ‘Ainm Aite’ Gaelic Placename Project, for Borve, High Borve and Mealbost.
2019 – present - Teaching Art Practitioner for An Lanntair arts Centre, producing interpretation for Gallery Packs, teaching an adult education courses (including creative journaling, Gaelic Month and as part of their Dark Skies Festivals).
2019 Sessional artist for Comunn nan Gàidhlig in Ard Sgoil MhicNeacail, Gaelic unit.
2018 July - Sessional arts educator for Ceòlas (Eriskay and South Uist)
2018 -2021 Masters in Learning and Teaching (Gaelic Arts), Royal Conservatoire Scotland
2017-2018 - Specialist grower for Pyrus Botanicals (Botanical Installation Artists)
2013- 2018 - Development Officer for Scotland, Royal Horticultural Society (Community
Outreach team)
2007 - 2010 John Hope Gateway Exhibitions Curator, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
2005 -2007 Research Horticulturist in Indoor Living Collections at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
2004-2005 - Studied HNC in Horticulture with Plantsmanship (Scottish Agricultural College (now SRUC) and RBGE)
2000-2004 - Studied Honours degree in Sculpture (B/A Hons) at Edinburgh College of Art.
Visual Arts Milestones
- 2019 ‘Critic’s Choice’ award winner (first place) Grinneas nan Eilean exhibition with Piobaireachd Cruibaige sculptures
- 2018 Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award funding awarded from Creative Scotland for a period of research and development towards a body of new work
- 2016 Specialist exhibition display opens as part of Bombay Sapphire visitor centre, Laverstoke, England
- 2015 Private commission of artworks for Tickton Grange Hotel
- 2012 March Feature Artist of the month, www.artplantaetoday.com
- 2011 January-April Exhibited alongside Andy Goldsworthy in Peter Potter Gallery,
- Haddington, East Lothian.
- 2010 July – September Solo exhibition as part of Edinburgh Art Festival ‘ Natura
- sensus ’ at Atticsalt Gallery, Edinburgh.
- 2010 Commissioned to produce permanent exhibition diorama of preserved plant
- specimens for Glenmore Visitor Centre, Highlands.
- 2010 February - April Solo exhibition ‘ Locus imperialis ’ at Cameo Cinema Bar,
- 2009 October Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh opens the new visitor centre ‘The
- John Hope Gateway’ with three exhibition spaces curated by Mairi Gillies.
- 2008 March Solo exhibition ‘ Biomimetic spectra’ at Atticsalt Gallery, Edinburgh
- 2005 Exhibited as part of ‘Sense of Place’ at Nottdance, Nottingham Festival
- 2004 July – August Exhibited as part of ‘Fire and Brimstone’ at The Embassy Gallery
- 2004 June Degree show, Edinburgh College of Art
- 2004 February Awarded RSA Adam Bruce Award for ‘ Spring Onion Colour Wheel ’
- Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
- 2002 November Exhibited in joint show at Roxy Art House, Edinburgh
Publications and interviews
‘Plant, Landscape, Nature: Artist, Horticulturist, Mother’ in PAN: Philosophy Activism Nature,
no.9 (2012), pages 55, 56.
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=534122363321313;res=IELHSS
Art Plantae (2012)
Press
Review of solo show Biomimetic Spectra at Atticsalt Gallery, Edinburgh
"This gem of a show contrasts the urban setting of the gallery with art which embraces nature, utilising flowers and feathers. There is much more to this show than pretty flowers however. Throughout we see the skill of the artist in her ability to take organic materials complementing and contrasting them with the synthetic and the industrial...This is a wonderful exhibition that makes excellent use of the internal gallery space and causes the visitor to engage more fully with the environment outside. Highly recommended."
The Skinny 6 March 2008
Review of artwork Formorgyn in the exhibition Fire and Brimstone at The Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
"...but Mairi Gillies’ Formorgyn is most spectacular. A sculptural representation of some eerie machine which siphons colouring from central test tubes and into trapped flowers (or perhaps vice versa). It’s another astute comment on science subjugated by nature and the deserved centrepiece of a fine show."
The Scotsman 13 July 2004