<<<< slates

These separate engravings on a similar theme, are drawn into discarded slate roof tile pieces fished from Scalloway Harbour, done during my residency at the Scalloway Booth in September 2004. As they are roof tiles the slate used could be from anywhere, Norway, Wales, Scotland etc, so the stone is not really indicative of the geology of the Shetland Isles, unlike the Phyllite rock I also used on the residency (see works gaet, burn and hill).

The idea of engraving into slate came from seeing archaeological examples of Pictish and Viking drawings using this method. Slate seems to engrave very easily and produce a very clear, fine line. The reason for drawing houses was to illustrate the contrast between the very plain geometric architecture in Shetland, contrasting with the natural, unadorned landscape. Buying land and building a house on it is also prevalent as there is so much land and so few people. The title of the work 'wirhoose' means 'our house' in Shetlandic.