Creative Practitioners

NORTHWORD is a sister project also currently being run by Robert Gordon University.

was one of the stories submitted to the Northword project, and it was chosen by three creative practitioners, Annie, Fiona, and Izzy as inspiration for their work which will feature at the exhibition in Elgin Library.

Our Creative Practitioners

IZZY THOMSON

Izzy Thomson is a visual artist whose work focuses on remembered experiences from the landscapes she have visited, mostly around Scotland and the North. In the studio, Izzy uses painting, illustration, model-making and one-stop animation to reconstruct the topographies of those places and tell the story of our wilder world.

Izzy created twelve small paintings based on the story of ‘Culbin: the disappeared village’. Created with sustainable oil paint on reclaimed board her paintings illustrate her imagined version of events that happened around the Great Sand Drift.

You will be able to view Izzy’s paintings and speak to her about what inspired her work at our ‘Meet the Creatives’ event on Saturday 19th February 12-1pm.

FIONA PERCY

Fiona Percy is a textile artist inspired by the migration of stories, traditions and skills and how they become absorbed into local culture and individual identity to create multiple connections between people and place. Fiona’s work mantra follows four principles: Gather, Create, Destroy and Repeat.

This mantra flows through her practice and was used to create sixteen pincushions inspired by the ‘Culbin: the disappeared village’ story. Using techniques such as knitting, crochet, rope making and stitch, the pincushions connect the place, time and energy of Culbin in a re-imagined form.

ANNIE MACDONALD
& JENNY JOHNSTONE

Annie MacDonald and Jenny Johnstone run hit podcast Stories of Scotland, proudly made in the Highlands. Archivist Annie was attracted to this story as she grew up in a wee farmhouse beside the Culbin and was always intrigued by the thought of a village buried beneath the dunes.

Environmental scientist, Jenny helps us consider how the landscape of the Culbin has impacted these mythologies and legends. The unique site of the Culbin has been a village, a dessert and a forest, and people’s relationship with this land has relevance far beyond the Moray Coast.

Their podcast series explores the story of a woman accused of witchcraft Isobel Gowdie. This story and the testimony Isobel Gowdie are used to delve into the mythology and legend of ‘Culbin: The disappeared village’.

WWW.IZZYTHOMSON.CO.UK

@izzythomson1

You can view Izzy’s paintings at Elgin Library until 16 March 2022.

WWW.FIONAPERCY.CO.UK

@fionapercy395

You can view Fiona’s series of pincushions at Elgin Library until 16 March 2022

WWW.STORIESOFSCOTLAND.COM

@storiesofscotlandpodcast

Podcast coming soon......

The Northword project has been funded by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Fund of the European Union. It combines traditional storytelling with modern digital technologies to enhance the visibility and market reach of creative practitioners working in remote areas. This has involved:

gathering stories in each partner country and presenting these in multimedia formats;
creative practitioners developing new products or works inspired by these stories;
building a digital platform to showcase the stories and products and to collect data analytics allowing creatives to understand their global audience. It also includes a skills hub to train participants in digital marketing.