Newtonmore Village Square
Using ArtRoots funding to celebrate the heritage and sporting achievement of the village
A proud history of the national game of shinty has been recognised in the community designed centrepiece of the village: 2 shinty stick benches provide ample seating around the carved stones and wooden panels whilst the backdrop of a gentle waterfall mimics the burns trickling through the surrounding hills.
Newtonmore Art Project: the Background
In Autumn 2018 three local groups, Newtonmore Business Association (NBA), Newtonmore Community Woodland Development Trust (NCWDT), & Newtonmore Vicinity Community Council (NVCC)) came together to form the partnership 'Newtonmore Art Project' (NAP). Their aim was to develop a new centrepiece for the village which would not only reflect the history and heritage of the village but would recognise the importance of the sport of shinty whilst adding to the recreational and tourism value of the village and the local community.
“The Art Installation was to celebrate the heritage, history, culture, sporting prowess of Newtonmore, and what binds the community together which is the recreational, tourism and wellbeing of the village. We wished to interpret our village in this work of art to be a new, distinct, spectacle. It would need to be sustainable to the elements, we would learn from others who had been down this route, to allow us as a community to showcase our partnership, values and equality. We anticipated this would help revitalise the centre and, over time, grow the economy of the village, encouraging new businesses as well as boosting the existing ones.”
“We did not restrict ourselves to one piece of artwork and were happy to have a combination of connected items located in the same area which would include maps, words, sculpture, drawings along with appropriate revised landscaping which would improve the space.”
Newtonmore the heart of the Cairngorms National Park
Situated in the centre of the Cairngorms National Park, Newtonmore has a wide range of natural resources to attract visitors as well as a strong community identity. Famous for its prowess in the national sport of Shinty, Newtonmore is also well known for being the terminus for the Speyside Way whilst the East Highland Way passes through the village as does the National Cycle Network Route 7 which brings many visitors to the area. With the long distance cycle route, shorter local routes and several off road routes many cyclists are attracted to Netwonmore and the surrounding area. The village also offers a variety of commerce for the visitor and resident but lacked a focal point, a place where passers-by could rest a while, or stop for an alfresco lunch or coffee taking in the surroundings and bringing benefit to the local businesses. The existing village square was no more than a space which lacked seating, information or anything that would encourage people to tarry awhile. NAP created a brief that would change that and bring to fruition a long held wish to develop a feature for the village centre. With the promise of funding from a variety of organisations including Sustrans ArtRoots a brief was published calling for artists to submit proposals for the square.
Details of Brief
Purpose and Themes: Create a focal point in the village that will help promote the village, community and commerce with key elements.
· People – The Community comprises of a range of ages, talents, interests dedicated and proud of their village where they live, work and play. A generous neighbourhood where a myriad of groups often fund raise and hold a range of events for all to contribute and enjoy.
· Shinty – Scotland’s indigenous sport and Newtonmore Camanachd Club is one of the most famous. Shinty forms an important part of the village community, culture and history. Other sport Newtonmore hosts are the annual Newtonmore Highland games including all the traditional heavy events also the traditional Hill race up Creag Dhubh. There is an 18-hole Golf course in the village and the surrounding area is excellent for Hunting, Shooting and Fishing.
· Walking – The village is the terminus for the Speyside Way and is on the East Highland Way (Fort William to Aviemore); has several trails in the village, the most popular of which is the 10km waymarked orbital Wildcat Trail. There are a few Munros/Corbetts directly accessible on foot and many walkers tackle the East to West challenge trudging through the village annually.
· Wildcats – The Wildcat Centre, raises awareness of the endangered species, and famous for the Wildcat Experience. People can discover 132 colourfully painted lifesize models of wildcats, located in the village.
· Cycling – National Sustrans Route 7 links Sunderland and Inverness and goes through Newtonmore. It forms two-thirds of the famous Sea to Sea (C2C) cycle route before heading north to Glasgow via Glen Trool Forest and the Ayrshire coast, before passing through two National Parks – Loch Lomond & The Trossachs and Cairngorms. Many cyclists tackle Route 7 but additionally many more relish the experience of holidaying in the Highlands on their bikes.
· Gaelic and Musical Heritage – Baile ur an t-Sleibh is the name of Newtonmore in Gaelic which used to be the predominant language in the area. Many local place names and mountains retain their Gaelic names. There are lots of old and new local pipe tunes and songs some of them celebrating famous shinty victories.
· Sense of History – Two museums located in the village 1) Clan Macpherson Museum where people can discover the chronicles and tales of the Macphersons 2) Highland Folk Museum where Highland life comes alive. There is also the Heritage Trail which highlights the character and history of the buildings and sites, whilst enjoying a walk around the village. A short walk-up Glen Banchor shows traces of deserted Clachlan’s whose inhabitants were cleared to Newtonmore. The village itself was a Highland retreat for many as the Victorians developed Highland Tourism with the arrival of the Railway.
· Centre of Scotland – The village could be defined as the Scotland’s central village with a stone depicting the centre of Scotland, just 3 miles south of the village.
· River Spey – The famous River “with some excellent fishing” Spey passes to east of the Village and two main tributes join The Spey to the South of Newtonmore the River Calder and Truim and to the North the Allt Laurie.
Following the publication of the design brief 8 artists applied and submitted outline designs for the village square. NAP were keen that the appointed artist would engage with the community to develop the final design, and this was a necessary part of the process to secure ArtRoots funding too. A shortlist of artists was produced, all of them having expressed strong desire to work with the community. The shortkisted artists were invited to attend a community event where they could present their ideas and engage with the local community. Approximately 100 people attended this event and the artists also visited the local primary and secondary schools to gather more feedback and ideas that could be included in the final design. Each of the four shortlisted artists then presented their final design to the NAP Project Team in April 2019 and to the public in May 2019. A final vote was made to select the winning design using a combination of NAP project teams own criteria and a public vote.
NAP METHODOLOGY
INTEREST PROCUREMENT: The brief was advertised via the local press, social media and a notification on the Association for Heritage Interpretation e-bulletin. Eight artists applied and provided their CV, examples of previous work and concise ideas in Dec 2018.
SHORTLIST SELECTION: In January 2019 the Project Team reviewed the 8 applications and selected 4 artists who wished community consultation. The artists set up in the village hall and were impressed with the feedback received by around 100 community members and visited our Primary and Secondary Schools. This enabled the residents/businesses of the village to evaluate their work and propose further ideas.
DESIGN PROCESS: Artists were paid a commission of £1000 to present detailed proposals by April 2019.
COMMISSIONED DETAILED SUBMISSIONS: Detailed submissions were considered by the Project Team in April and was on Public Display for the community to evaluate on 1 May. The selection of the final proposal was based on the Public vote and NAP Criterion.
The Winning Design
The overwhelming winner was a design by Speyside sculptor, Stuart Murdoch from Ballindalloch www.sculpture.scot . Stuart’s concept met the aspects of the brief by using local materials, traditional methods and historic symbols to illustrate the cultural heritage of the village.
COMMUNITY WORDS
With a desire for the community to be involved in creating elements of the artwork NAP contracted Merryn Glover, a local writer, presenter and facilitator, to hold a series of workshops in the primary school where the community could gather and collate the “community words” for the wooden panels. The workshops took place in February and Mar 2020 fortunately before Lockdown intervened!
The stone circle
The stones around the water feature represents the craggy mountains around the river Spey. They showcase carvings, based on ancient Pictish symbols and denote wildlife, heritage and outdoor activities.
The caman benches
The two benches, made from Scots (Wych) elm, represent shinty sticks. They are a key part of this installation which celebrates the village’s love and pride for the ancient game of shinty.
The Word Panels
The poems you see on the wooden panels have been written by local primary school pupils and residents during community workshops and are intended to demonstrate their feelings for their village and surrounding area. These timber panels are locally-sourced and also answer the Trees & Forestry requirement of the brief. Some of the words within the poetry were picked out and translated into Gaelic.
Creating the sculpture
With the artist chosen, the design selected and the community workshops completed it was full steam ahead for the creation of the village centrepiece - then Covid 19 arrived and with it the national lockdown. As with so many other projects this would bring delays but fortunately this project was now at a stage where the artist was ready to start construction and this could be done in his own studio, suitably self-isolated in the Cairngorms! Initially Stuart kept the project team updated with regular photos and then as restrictions eased they were able to visit the outdoor studio and see the creation taking shape. Finally in October 2020 a family effort which involved the artist’s 76 year old father being roped in to dig the holes saw the construction work start in the village square with work on the sculpture being completed February 2021. NAP also planned to add 8 new information panels around the square.These were installed during summer 2021 along with the electrical connections for the lights and flowing water.
With so many elements needing to be addressed, this could not be answered with one ‘sculpture’. For that reason the final design is quite complex and made up of a number of elements to meet the very demanding brief. I decided it should be more of a “Landscaping Installation” rather than a single piece. The elements I decided upon include a water-feature stone surrounded by locally-sourced standing stones incorporating Pictish carvings; two 6 meter long benches in the shape of crossed shinty sticks; a new marker stone marking the start/end point of the newly extended Speyside Way and eight, hand-carved wooden panels containing poetry written by the local community
Stuart Murdoch
The official opening: August 21 st 2021
With Covid restrictions finally allowing a gathering to take place it was decided to hold an official opening to celebrate both the completed works and the local community who had been championing this project for so long. Local champions were invited to speak and a good turnout welcomed them listening attentively to the various speeches in spite of the changeable Scottish summer weather!
We chose to organise this on Saturday 21 August to officially recognise and promote the Art Installation in the centre of Newtonmore. The Inspiration originated from the community who are proud of their history, culture, achievements and wish to share this concept to friends, family, neighbours, visitors, "the World".
The impact of the project on the village
There is benefit to local businesses, increased wellbeing to local residents, it will lengthen the tourist season, increase accessibility to all sectors of the community and achieve higher levels of satisfaction for route users and locals alike. This will form a central focus in the village that will bring together many elements of our community and the Newtonmore Village, from the Wildcat and Heritage Trail, long and short village walks, to the Shinty club, big hill walks, the East Highland and Speyside Way, to Sustrans Route 7 which will bring a sense of pride and togetherness to the village.
Our partnership of organisations have each heard positive community and visitor comments on each of the elements of the installation. Locals are proud of the way the community/village is represented and visitors remark how interesting, distinct and very Highland each part is.
The fact that people now gather to enjoy the artwork is delightful and encouraging that they are appreciating the centre of the village. We have often witnessed individuals viewing the community words boards, the carvings on the stones, the information panels and many just resting on the shinty stick benches or indeed having their picnic.
(NAP ArtRoots Project report Oct 2021)
Constructing the new village square (images © Newtonmore Art Project & © Sustrans)
