WHEN ART MEETS ARCHAEOLOGY
Story dated: thursday, may 21, 2009

An Orkney College research assistant is set to combine art and archaeology, after receiving a grant to help her complete a study of two of the county’s most intriguing subjects.

Antonia Thomas, research assistant in archaeology at Orkney College UHI was awarded a research grant by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, for her project, entitled, Monumental Visions: Art and Archaeology in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

The long tradition of both archaeological investigation and the visual arts in Orkney opens up considerable scope to explore the relationship between the two in a World Heritage context.

Nevertheless, explained Antonia, this has been little studied, and those studies that have taken place have tended to focus upon historical periods, excluding the relationship of contemporary art to the sites and monuments.

Over the next year, Antonia is going to catalogue and research images of the World Heritage Site, ranging from the earliest antiquarian watercolours and sketches held in museum collections, to contemporary visual art pieces held in private and public collections.

She is then going to identify research themes from the pieces, and through discussions with artists and archaeologists, develop a research framework for future collaborations and projects.

Research will be carried out in Orkney, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen initially, but Antonia is hoping to undertake a great deal of the research remotely, from Orkney, by accessing online databases and collections.

She would be interested in seeing any old depictions (including old postcards, photographs, paintings etc) of the World Heritage Area, or related archaeological sites outwith the World Heritage Area, such as antiquarian drawings or paintings of prehistoric sites. Any images will be scanned, or photographed, as appropriate and returned to the owners; their support will be acknowledged and copies of the material will, with the owner’s permission, be deposited in the Orkney Archives.

A small exhibition will be shown of the images early next year.

Antonia is also interested in hearing from contemporary artists who feel that their work is in some way a response to the experience of the monuments within the World Heritage Area — whether directly or indirectly. The study is not going to be limited to representational art and Antonia anticipates that one of the more interesting aspects of the research will be to see how the monuments have inspired abstract and conceptual forms of visual art in a range of different media.

Alice Lyall, the Historic Scotland co-ordinator for the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, welcomed the project.

“This is a great example of the multifaceted and creative nature of research being conceived at, and about, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. It addresses some of the important themes raised in the research agenda for the site.

“I find the collaborative approach being taken, and the inclusion of contemporary artistic responses to the site, especially interesting. The catalogue will be a valuable resource for archaeologists, artists and many others. I really look forward to seeing the results of the project and the new ideas it generates.’

Future research directions arising from this stage of work will be developed through the year, but it is hoped that this will lead on to bigger, collaborative research projects involving archaeologists and artists.

There is, for example, the potential for parallel research threads looking at the relationship between the literary arts and archaeology, or music and archaeology.

For more information on the project, contact Antonia at Orkney College on 01856 569344 or email antonia.thomas@orkney.uhi.ac.uk.