HOME RESIDENCIES Shetland
Thelma a Textile Journey: The first couple of weeks (April 2005)
  Jeanette was delighted to meet the children of this wonderful windswept land.
Croft House with blue sky behind
Midfield Cottage, Ollaberry, where Jeanette & family stayed for the first couple of weeks.

Jeanette arrived on Shetland on Saturday 19 March. The first couple of weeks are for meetings & planning for the residency. It was decided that an old Shetland boat be found & taken to the schools for the children to use as a canvas. Individual pieces of work were then loaded into the boat as a cargo of treasures to be enjoyed by the schools - & finally by the islanders.

The boat chosen for the work..'Thelma'.

 Old Shetland Boat with boy inside
  Jeanette will be working with the children of Shetland to explore indigenous island materials and make new three dimensional art. The lucky schools will be Brae High, Mossbank Primary & Olnafirth Primary Schools. Progress on activities and artwork produced will be delivered on these pages in the coming weeks.  
Jeanette Knitting at the Croft house

 

Jeanette practices the Fair-Isle knit

 

The view from the cottage window to Gluss Voe.

 


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 View over the Voe

Close up of Gluss Voe

 

 

 

A moody Gluss Voe. Sometimes one can see the cliffs of Yell from here - but not today.

Dave enjoying the view & practicing before daring to go to a session in this land of fiddlers

photo by Jeanette

 Dave playing fiddle at windoe
Midfield is very much a working croft with always something going on. Mau Myfauwy was born at ~ 21.00 on Sunday night! She was christened by a Welsh family staying at another cottage who all stayed up to see the event
Cow with new calf
Her name etched on the wall .... lest anyone forget! Name scratched on a wall
Jeanette Feeding a lamb Magnus too is just a young thing & needs a feed 4 times a day! Jeanette takes a turn!  
Breathtaking views of rocks jutting out of the sea
  
The truly breathtaking cliffs between Braewick & Ness of Hillswick on the way to Eshaness with the 'Drongs' to the right. Jeanette took a fair weather day for a bit of beach-combing further along at Tangwick. Weathered wood, shells, bones can make a good core for three dimensional art.  
 
Island with plane wing in foreground

The breathtakingly spectacular & incredibly isolated Fair-Isle, (looking rather like a mini-UK) which Jeanette photographed on her return to Edinburgh after her interview & talk in February. She'll be visiting this island for sure...

Please click for link to see what happened...

  
 
Flock of sheep looking very interested in the camera Shetland sheep, as interested in Jeanette as she was of them it seems! (& all mothers since this shot was taken!)
  Elsie, Nancy, Josie, Mandy, Hermione, Polly,   Spot & Pat photo by Jeanette
Their personalities are apparently as individual as their coats.
Felt, (from wool), will be a key ingredient in the art to come.
 
Beach scene with cottages scattered on the hill behind
Left - (top left cottage) 'Blythoid', Ollaberry, where Jeanette enjoyed the spectaclular view below
Panoramic view with Cottage in foreground
 
 
Below: Jeanette spent her 40th birthday at the beginning of April in the most northerly cottage in the land - Skaw Cottage on Unst....
Please click the cottage to see more...
photography (except where otherwise stated)davejford

60a High Street
Newburgh, Fife
Scotland KY14 6AQ
email: Jeanette
landline: 01337 841004
mobile: 07813 023607
webpage: davejford
Face though Ice Block