Chicago to Luing, slate mosaic artist Dugie MacInnes was on this side of the Atlantic running one of his popular workshops this month.
Dugie, who leads workshops at Chicago Mosaic School and exhibits his work in his native Scotland as well as England, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Austria, and the USA, was on Luing for two days.
He reflects his passion for geology and archaeology in his work and encouraged island residents and visitors to get creative on both those days at workshops in Cullipool Village Hall, with support from CHARTS (Culture, Heritage, Arts, Argyll & The Isles) network organisation.
“I believe its is the eighth occasion on which I have run workshops on the island in the village hall. Following an introduction to my work and my career as an artist, the groups walked the short distance to the disused quarries and to the shore to collect interesting pieces of slate, a stone that forms most of the island.
Returning to the hall, techniques in splitting the slate were shown and participants had to sort through their collected material before talking through ideas and arranging the pieces of slate into a pattern.
To start the mosaic making, the largest pieces of slate are cemented down until, finally, the smallest fragments are set into the background, along with splashes of colour using Italian glass smalti.
Caption: Concentrating on creating with slate at a mosaic workshop on Luing run by Dugie MacInnes
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