Kerry Morrison 'Concern'
this is a participatory work designed to engage PVAF delegates in debate over air quality and waste disposal issues, and to express concern through participation. With a mobile wooden construction Kerry will perambulate her work around the village. Kerry was offered a research residency at The Scottish Sculpture workshop in conjunction with this project
See her blog at: www.ssw.org.uk/kerrymorrison/profile/

Samantha Clark
I intend to examine the space between human and animal, where these two meet at the point of eye contact. Beginning from the resonance of a phrase of Rebecca West', 'the eyes of animals, clear cold, and dark as water…' I hope to make a series of works which consider the mute impenetrability of the gaze of an animal looking back at us, the human. Sams work will utilize images displayed in windows in the village. In conjunction with Klavs Weiss & PVAF Sam has shown video work at ET4U gallery Denmark.

Allison and Bray ‘Canopy’ ( 13th – 28th)
Taking inspiration from the ancient Birnam oak and its sense of being a living link to the past, and the beautiful stained glass windows of St Mary's Church, Elaine Allison and Patricia Bray will create an installation inside Birnam House Hotel. As you ascend the second flight of stairs, on a wall bathed in natural light you can look upwards and note the arched window forms artificially recreating the ancient trees. On acrylic panels that echo the dimensions of the blank window in the church bell tower, the beauty of the summer foliage is preserved as the autumn leaves begin to fall outside.
See their work at www.axisweb.org

Travelling Gallery
Perthshire Visual Arts Forum are indebted to Perth & Kinross Council for supporting the arrival of the Travelling Gallery in Birnam on Saturday 18th October. This is a one day only visit so make sure you get along to see this exciting venue and exhibition. It will be parked directly in front of Birnam House Hotel and open from 10am – 5pm

The exhibition 'On Edge' features work by Celine Duval, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Michael Mersinis Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion, t s Beall, & Charlotte Watters, whose varied work explores activities and issues relating to the sea or coastline of Scotland, as well as other coastal countries. The exhibition will include film, photography, sculpture and drawing.

'In transit' Birnam Institute
'In transit' is an exhibition of new works by PVAF artists. An open participatory project. The theme poses the questions of where we all live, where art happens and how we bridge the gaps and creatively connect with each other. Artists are asked to create a work in any medium size or shape which investigates or responds to the concept of connection, of travel, journey, of physically or mentally bridging gaps and opening lines of connection.
Already artists from as far afield as New Zealand, Germany, Spain, Japan, and Netherlands have indicated their wish to participate. The works which will arrive by post or special hand delivery will be shown in Birnam Institute along with their packaging , exposing their means of travel and connection.

Laura Hunter is a painter from Glasgow and will speak at the Forum about her work and about professional issues including VAT, Contracts and related professional issues. . A selection of her paintings of abstract landscape and still life will be hung in Birnam Hotel.
"…feeling that landscapes are about capturing the mood of the moment. In the process, they can also provide the vehicle for what's going on at the time of the painting rather than being about the original physical landscape."
Laura spent 10 years of her life living in Italy, which she says has heavily influenced her work. Laura studied at Glasgow School of Art and now resides in Glasgow but returns to Italy when possible for inspiration.

6 Japanese visiting artists form both the artist group ECHO and the musical artist band Yomibaeru. They are Ohya Rica, Esashi Tomoko, Goto Mitsuru, Kimura Masaya, Tokunaga Masayuki, Takagi Kayoko. A selection of small works by the artists will be exhibited in Birnam Institute, Oyha Rica will give a talk about her own work at the Forum, and the band will play at the Forum dinner musical ceilidh.

The Japanese artists will be exhibiting some of their own art works, ranging from photography to painting, knitted sculpture, and sculptural objects, in the Birnam Institute. During their stay in Scotland they will be leading workshops and musical evenings and after leaving Birnam will continue to the Isle of Skye to meet artists there.

The Japanese artists will give a public Big Draw workshop at Birnam Institute on October 14th on the eco friendly, re-usable wrapping technique of Furoshiki. Booking can be made at www.birnamarts.com or by phoning 01350 727674

Their visit to Scotland is sponsored by Sasakawa Foundation, the Daiwa Foundation and Japan 21.

Media trail video works will be shown within Birnam House Hotel, Merryburn Hotel.These will be in public areas accessible during opening hours.

The ‘Horsecross collection on tour’ will include works curated by Iliyana Nedkova ; including works by, Krassimir Terzief ( Bulgaria), Nicholas Marechal ( Brussels), Janek Schaefer ( London) and MareTralla (Estonia/London)

Video stills from the Horsecross collection

Nicolas Marechal

Janek Schaefer

Krassimir Terziev

Mare Tralla

Further works are curated by Klavs Weiss from the Contemporary Visual Art Centre Vestjylland in Denmark and includes works by Sylvie Marchand (France) Mette Gitz-Johansen (Denmark) Dodda Maggy (Iceland) Sidsel Ditlev Christensen (DK/Norway/UK).

Video stills from the CVACV collection

Sylvie Marchand

Sidsel Ditlev

Dodda Maggy

Mette Gitz-Johansen

Anita E Hutchison will create a display in the ground floor display cabinet within Birnam Hotel which houses a collection of blue and white china. This contained exhibition will look at the origin, transport, and the pattern of the hotel's pottery, and by using drawings and textiles will make connections to the fragments of blue and white pottery found on the beaches of Scotland.

Brigid Collins will lead a workshop called ‘Poem House’ on Saturday November 8th at Birnam Institute.

Inspired by a sense of a poem being a space, within which it becomes possible to move around, Brigid has developed her ‘Poem-House’ form, with the work of poets such as Seamus Heaney, John Burnside, Diana Hendry, Brian Johnstone, Larry Butler, Ken Cockburn and others. This day long workshop will introduce some of the basic techniques employed in the making of these forms, whilst emphasising the potential for participants to uncover innovative routes that have unique meaning for them.
More information and booking can be found at www.birnaminstitute.com or by emailing Brigid directly at mail@brigidcollins.co.uk

PVAF on tour. The committee are delighted to announce that the REMIX exhibition has an extended deadline to allow it to become an Off –Site project in the Birnam Art Trail.

Pay a visit to Perth Theatre where Horsecross are hosting this exhibition of 140 artworks by PVAF artists all contained within clear CD boxes. This successful exhibition has already been shown in Lithuania, China and Birnam and will go to Germany next year. Don't miss its final Scottish showing in Perth, until the end of October, accessible during theatre opening hours.

A selection of works from the Remix exhibition