Trinity of artists celebrate St Columba

Iona and the life of St Columba, in his 1,500th anniversary year, are the subjects of a unique artistic collaboration between a painter, a poet and a fiddler.

 

A sensational series of new paintings by John Lowrie Morrison (Jolomo), compositions by Aberdeenshire fiddler Paul Anderson, and verse by the Irish lyricist Francy Devine, have all been inspired by the holy Hebridean island and the saint that made it famous.

 

In the Footsteps of Colm Cille (St Columba) is a colourful, inspiring book which also features a CD of tunes written and performed by Paul Anderson.

 

"attachment_568568" "" "300"] Paul Anderson

 

The whole project has been pulled together by the Reverend Kenneth MacKenzie, the Chaplain to the Queen at Braemar and Crathie, and supported by the St Margaret’s Trust in Braemar. It was in his parish that Ken first developed the idea of a 'spirituality of place'. Iona developed as a focus after discussions with the three artists involved.

 

The resultant book and CD was launched in a very special performance in Braemar featuring all three artists on Sunday September 19.

 

The Rev MacKenzie said: 'What a privilege it has been to walk a little while alongside some unlikely companions In the footsteps of Colm Cille, and what delight awaits those who will yet take time to immerse themselves in this book and in this music.'

 

Dr John Lowrie Morrison OBE, one of Scotland’s leading expressionist painters best-known for his Scottish landscapes, was once the head of art and design at Lochgilphead High School.

 

Paul Anderson MBE from Tarland in Aberdeenshire, is one of the finest Scots fiddlers of his generation and composer of more than 300 pieces in the Scots style. He has just been conferred as a Doctor of Music at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

 

The Irish poet Francis Devine was a Trade Union Tutor with the Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union/SIPTU in Dublin. His three collections of poetry are Red Star, Blue Moon, May Dancer, and Outside Left.

 

The book and CD costs £25 and is available from kmackenzie@churchofscotland.org.uk

 

Iona Abbey

 

By Francis Devine

 

For Kenneth MacKenzie

 

It would originally have been

 

timber, wattle and thatch,

 

a surround of ditch and clod,

 

vulnerable to weather, raiding

 

Vikings, peculiarly impermanent

 

for such a solid intention.

 

It then became stone, a house

 

not so easily blown down

 

yet one still subjected to neglect,

 

a purposeful, dissolving decay

 

until the day skilled masons came

 

to begin raising ashlar, slipform

 

and veneer, grey and roseate,

 

a rising permanence, imposing

 

and impressive, inspiring respect,

 

a devotional paean that would

 

transmit its essential message,

 

a spiritual light across ocean,

 

moor and mount, captured here

 

in this painting against Mull’s

 

smudge-blue hills, tempestuous

 

sky above, curtains of

 

wind-blown sedge’s welcoming

 

revelation.