Winifred Lutz on site at CairnGorm Mountain with her plans
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For the last two years, CairnGorm Mountain Trust has been working in partnership with a number of bodies, including The Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, The Highland Council, MBSE, Scottish Natural Heritage, Hi-Arts, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority to develop an artist-led initiative at the heart of the Cairngorms that would significantly enhance visitors' understanding and experience of the landscape.
Five internationally respected artists were invited to research the Cairngorms environment and propose their own creative interpretations, all of which were incorporated within a major touring exhibition last April. This enabled local people in Badenoch and Strathspey to see at first-hand the various concepts and visuals being offered, from which the works of two artists - Arthur Watson from the North-East and Winifred Lutz from the USA - had already been selected for further development.
The required funding for the First Phase of the Cairngorm Art Initiative is now almost complete. Last November, the project received a massive boost when The Scottish Arts Council committed £220,000 towards the project from its Capital Funding programme and with The Highland Council having confirmed earlier this week, an additional £10,000 towards the project, work is expected to start in Spring. The work being created by Arthur Watson, who visited the area last month, reflects his interest in language, history, Gaelic and Scottish folklore and will create interior artworks within the funicular ticketing area of the Base Station encapsulating Scots words for a range for snow conditions, such as snowdrift and blindrift, in tandem with images of some of the hidden places within the mountains.
This week, Winifred Lutz will be visiting CairnGorm where her creativity will focus on improving the Coire Cas car park and making the area surrounding the Base Station more visually appealing. Her imaginative and sympathetic proposal involves the introduction of stonework, a small stone chamber and a planting scheme that acknowledges the sensitivities of native species.
Of equal significance, local people will have the opportunity to meet Winifred Lutz during her visit and see examples of her art work already undertaken in other places of outstanding natural beauty when she gives a talk and leads a discussion at Talla Nan Ros in Kingussie on Friday 11th March at 7.30 p.m. and to which anyone interested is welcome and for which entry is free of charge.
Commented Bob Kinnaird, Chief Executive of CairnGorm Mountain Ltd., the initial driving force behind the concept, “This is the certainly one of most exciting projects ever developed in Scotland involving the visual arts and Scotland’s mountains and, because of its uniqueness, it has been handled with great sensitivity throughout. Both Arthur Watson and Winifred Lutz have extensive experience of working in sensitive environments as will be clearly obvious to anyone who goes along to Talla Nan Ros this Friday evening and sees what this internationally-acclaimed artist has achieved in other parts of the world.”
“All of this is very much in keeping with our commitment to innovative tourism and environmental sensitivity and we believe that the unobtrusive nature of their work will add to the enjoyment of visitors to CairnGorm Mountain.”
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