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Air Iomlaid (On Exchange) is an exciting new visual arts project linking children in Skye and Edinburgh. The 18-month long project which began in March 2009 aims to open up an exchange of ideas and techniques, and to explore culture and language in schools throughout Scotland. Air Iomlaid has been developed by The Fruitmarket Gallery, artist Julie Brook and Lasair Ealain, a committee of pupils from Bun sgoil Shlèite, a Gaelic-speaking primary school on Skye.
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The project will focus on engaging pupils from two schools, both Gaelic speaking but from very different environments. Bun sgoil Shlèite is on the rural Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye and all teaching is in Gaelic language apart from the small English Medium Department. Tollcross Primary school is in urban Edinburgh and has a Gaelic unit within an otherwise English speaking school. The children’s environments, languages, and cultures are very different, but through an exchange they will be able to make art together and swap their experiences of how and where they live.
The pupils will each take part in an intensive programme of drawing and painting outside with professional artists, investigating their local landscape and the environment, learning about the natural history of the area and extending their Gaelic vocabulary. Large scale artworks and animations will be developed in collaboration with the artists for exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic-speaking further education college situated on the Isle of Skye.
The pupils from both schools will work jointly across the geographic distance using new technologies to share their drawings and experiences, before visiting each other on the exchange. New technology will also be used to engage other pupils across Scotland: to encourage them to set up their own art committees and to undertake art projects, to find out about Scotland’s natural heritage and language and culture of Gaelic.
During the exhibitions in Edinburgh and Skye there will be a range of workshops, talks and events aimed at getting more people to explore and draw their environment. The work with Tollcross Primary School and Bun sgoil Shlèite will be delivered in Gaelic and the online learning resources will be presented in both Gaelic and English. The project will involve some 11 artists and 670 children and will provide online learning resources accessible to 12,500 pupils throughout Scotland.
The project aims to
* Develop in the participating children a deeper and lifelong interest in and engagement with contemporary visual art and Gaelic language/culture
* Enable more schools across Scotland to engage with contemporary visual art and Gaelic language/culture * Provide opportunities for more people to access contemporary visual art and Gaelic language/culture.
The project has received a Scottish Arts Council Inspire Fund Grant and additional funding through Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
