Artist makes birds the stars of her Inverness exhibition
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Artist Fiona Mackenzie’s fascination with birds is at the heart of her exhibition at Highland Print Studio which was also inspired by a book featuring St Francis and his sermon to little birds. Fiona's show – My Little Sisters The Birds – is made up of wood engravings, etchings, and drawings and continues the artist’s journey into the art of wood engraving which started a few years ago at the venue of the show. The artist talks about the show and her work ...
Q What is your background, Fiona?
A I was born in Inverness, and spent my childhood in the Highlands. For the past 14 years, my home and studio have been based in Wester Ross. I’ve got a Master’s degree in History of Art and continued doing art research after university.
Q How did you come to discover the art of wood engraving?
A In 2019 I started to study it, after I had a lesson from John McNaught at the Highland Print Studio – and loved it – and was helped by a grant from The Rawlinson Bequest through the Society of Wood Engravers and I got tools from that. I’ve had great support from John and Alison and Jan at the print studio in developing my skills. It’s a lovely environment there and I hope to continue with this art form. I use little wooden blocks and do etchings and dry point, and there are also drawings and an actual sketchbook in the exhibition.
Q An exhibition you put on a few years ago in Gairloch focused on landscape and wildlife. In this new show your focus is once again on wildlife – this time birds?
A In this exhibition my inspiration is drawn from The Little Flowers of St Francis, a book first compiled in medieval times. The chapter about the birds I first came across at school and again during my degree, and when visiting Italy. l hope to show the vital life within these small, feathered souls. I study the birds in my garden and around me at home most days and keep sketchbooks and drawings to work from. The Little Flowers, as it is often known, can be viewed in a “metaphorical, mythological” way, to quote Jon Sweeney, in the Paraclete Press edition of the book. It is a collection of sacred writings.
Q Your show is titled My Little Sisters The Birds – how did you create the work?
A I try to draw every day because that feels therapeutic and when you are doing it in a sketchbook you can see when you look back how you might be learning about drawing a bird’s head or a wing – and the flowers behind them. I seem to be rather fixated on honeysuckle, the flowers and the stems and the way they intertwine. It’s gorgeous to draw – and the doves and the sparrows and the crow!
Q How did the first ideas for your show come?
A In The Little Flowers of St Francis – written by a monk centuries after St Francis – Francis preaches to the birds. There is a sense that you see things in a spiritual or sacred way without being connected to a set religion. I have a group of collared doves at home, but I do have a cat too, so I have to have times when my cat is put inside! But I can hear the doves’ wings when I walk through the garden. And I have a tribe of sparrows who come and fly down at my feet and follow me around!
Q Your engravings tend to be quite small?
A Yes, I think the biggest one in the show is one of a swan, about five inches tall. The etchings tend to be six inches square. One of a little owl is eight inches tall. There is a tiny engraving of a dove just called Light and a wood engraving of a dove on a sacred heart. That one is only about an inch square.
My Little Sisters The Birds, Fiona Mackenzie’s work at Highland Print Studio, 20 Bank Street, continues until Saturday, October 7. Days to see it are Tuesdays to Saturday, various hours. More: fionamackenzieart.co.uk Instagram: instagram.com/fionamackenzie3
