The writing is on the wall in Perth Concert Hall with the words of Perthshire poet Jim Mackintosh writ large across the Threshold artspace for his first solo exhibition.
Flipstones, which runs until Thursday 14 March pairs Mackintosh’s poetry with moving image, photography, sound and sculpture works from the Horsecross Arts collection which has inspired his writing.
Jim Mackintosh said:
"It’s a delight to have my Flipstones poetry collaborations feature so prominently in Threshold artspace at Perth Concert Hall. Where poets like myself can find the space for inspiration from the work of other artists or collaborate on specific themes will always be a challenge full of thoughts, wrong turns, light bulb moments and ultimately (most of the time) absolute satisfaction at the end result. And the engagement with the audience is always fascinating, whether it’s only a glimpse at one or two lines as they pass into the artspace, or a shared moment where the poetry nurtures their own thoughts and memories."
Iliyana Nedkova, creative director for contemporary art for Horsecross Arts, the creative organisation and charity behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre said:
“I can’t be more pleased that through Flipstones we are supporting the home-grown talent at our ‘threshold’ alongside the international artists featured in our museum collection – this is one of our key missions at Horsecross across all art forms. In this exhibition Perthshire’s bard Jim Mackintosh is in fine company with Perth’s own Susie Johnson, Ewelina Labuda and Dave Hunt of Silver Alchemy Collective.”
“The exhibition also marks our first collaboration with Corbenic Poetry Path near Dunkeld and Tippemuir Books – Perth’s own independent publishers, who last year released the latest, sixth book of new and selected poems by Jim Mackintosh. In fact, the exhibition is named after the book Flipstones which features all 14 out of the 15 poems in the exhibition. The book is also available in our pop-up art shop at Threshold artspace accompanying the exhibition.”
“When a landlocked work of art from a museum collection of contemporary art ignites the imagination of a poet, we are in receipt of a gift – a poetic acclaim like no other. For instance, while reading Jim Mackintosh’s poem Toned Genuflection one almost bends a knee in poetic respect to the dance and percussion artists, aka those ‘keepers of movement’ who appear in the inspiring film Pilgrimage by the acclaimed Canadian artist and film-maker Marlene Millar showing on a screen alongside the poem.”
“Another example is the screen dance film To the End of the Fingertips by Roswitha Chester which suddenly becomes alive and free, almost able to fly off the screen and unfold on our gallery wall where Jim Mackintosh’s The Paper Bones is writ large.”
Admission is free to Flipstones, which runs in Perth Concert Hall’s Threshold artspace until Thursday 14 March. For further information including the popular exhibition guided tours Coffee, Croissant and Art or Wine, Olives and Art, please visit www.horsecross.co.uk.
Wednesday 13 February 2019