Aquatic themes in this year's Artmap trail

Underwater pinhole photography, kelp forest collages and the changing light of the Sound of Jura are just some of the creative works to be found on this year's Artmap Argyll trail.

 

The last two weekends of August will celebrate the area's talent with 43 homes, studios and sheds throwing open their doors to the public to showcase many new and unusual pieces of art.

 

Designer and photographer Nils Aksnes, who lives and works near Tayvallich, will be displaying his work over the weekends.

 

He explained their unusual nature: 'I create images using pinhole cameras which I design and build myself. My cameras are designed to have a low environmental impact which is very important to me.

 

'Images are made directly on photographic film with no digital manipulation.

 

'For this year's open studios I have been experimenting with masks in the camera to produce layers of colour and texture in my images.

 

'When you look closely the colours and textures in this coastal landscape are a mixture of natural and marine plastic waste.

 

'I combine bleach bottle blues, seaweed greens, frayed rope reds and vibrant lichen yellows in my images as they are combined in the landscape.'

 

Just along from Nils on the Keills peninsula photographer Mary-Lou Aitchison has spent 18 months preparing for Artmap.

 

'For the last year and a half I have been photographing the Carraig an Daim, an island in the Sound of Jura,' Mary-Lou said.

 

'I always frame the island in exactly the same way, with the Paps behind it, so these pictures show how the changing light and seasons alter the sky and the sea, as well as the land. There is no end to the variations.'

 

For Artmap Mary-Lou has printed some of her favourite pictures, using archival ink on heavy art paper with some prints combining several images to show the island in its many moods.

 

'Thanks to my kind neighbours,' Mary-Lou added, 'I am exhibiting the prints in the boat shed by the shore at Keills. It makes a lovely gallery, not least because you can see the Paps of Jura from its door.'

 

Lottie Goodlet's work also features the Sound of Jura, but from below the surface.

 

A regular swimmer in the sound, Lottie collects seaweed on her excursions from her home in Carsaig.

 

She said: 'I am fascinated by the realm of seaweed beneath me.

 

'I see it as secret and unexpected treasure with underwater kelp forests and ocean meadows gracefully riding the ebb and flow of the tides.

 

'I dive for eye-catching specimens and collage and press them to capture the seaweed’s exquisite colour and diverse and extraordinary form.'

 

Lottie's work is available as original pressings and limited edition prints.

 

A full list of all the artists exhibiting in this year's Artmap Argyll, which opens on August 20, is available at the artmapargyll.co.uk website.