Art exhibition celebrates Shetland's magnetic pull

Set within the uncompromising North Atlantic, these two islands have long captivated artists, writers, and travellers who are drawn to these elemental crossroads where land, sea, and sky meet to dramatic effect.

The light is never still, the weather becomes a scene shifting theatrical performance, and the relationship between everyday human life and the often harsh natural world feels both enduring and delicately poised.

The Northern Isles brings together lives shaped by these landscapes: those born into island life, those who have chosen to settle there, and those who have immersed themselves during visits of varying length.

As one might expect, landscape features prominently, but themes of craft, heritage, wildlife and storytelling also run through this expansive exhibition, which showcases painting, printmaking, sculpture, furniture making, jewellery, and ceramics.

Eleven of the featured artists and makers within this sizable show have been directly inspired by the Shetland Islands. These individuals have contributed some of the most captivating and powerful works and reflect the extent to which Shetland has acted as a creative catalyst in a multitude of ways.

Originally from North Carolina, Kate Downie has, over the past two decades, established herself as one of Scotland’s best-known artists. Primarily using urban settings or natural landscapes as her creative stimulus, she works in a variety of media and has enjoyed no fewer than 10 solo exhibitions at The Scottish Gallery. Until August 2025, Downie had not even visited Shetland, let alone painted there – but the resultant watercolours from her trip to Silwick Edge show just how much that gigantic, craggy and vertigo-inducing point made on an artist who never shies away from assured emotional observation

Ruth Brownlee is one of Shetland's foremost contemporary artists having moved to the islands from Edinburgh more than 20 years ago. Brownlee knows her lane and firmly sticks within it. Big, atmospheric sea and skyscapes that almost make the viewer tremble before the full force of an impending storm hits land and potentially knocks them sideways. Brownlee is effortlessly capable of evoking quiet solitude, and her mixed media pieces perfectly capture both isolation and introspection. Albeit with the faint promise of a brighter tomorrow.

Whilst Brownlee likes to observe the sea at a distance, Gail Harvey chooses to dive right in. (literally true, as she is an enthusiastic wild swimmer). Her energetic and expressive paintings capture the elemental force of crashing and rolling surf with highly charged, yet thoughtful and measured brushwork. A fully committed resident of Shetland since 1988, Harvey works with oils as well as mixed media and this show perfectly demonstrates the intensity of her work at both medium and small scale.

A year short of his 90th birthday, Ron Sandford draws every single day and remains one of Shetland’s most prolific artists. Originally from Greenock, Sandford has lived in Shetland since 2002, when a visit to the islands convinced him that island of Yell was the perfect place to reboot his artistic ambitions. To me, several of his works are redolent of the work of the English artist Eric Ravilious (1903-1951) - specifically ‘Chapel Yell’, which is an understated highlight within the show. If you get a chance to browse the exhibition catalogue, you might spot a picture of one of Sandford’s unlikely studio tools – a bottle of 12-year-old Glenlivet. I’d love to have a dram with this fine gentleman.

Shetland born and bred, although now living in Yorkshire, the three-dimensional constructions and carvings of Alex Malcolmson are very much shaped by a childhood in Lerwick and of time purposely spent at a relative’s remote croft. Malcolmson tells stories through his work, but as is often typical of a Shetlander’s natural reserve, these are never forced upon the viewer – rather left open to individual interpretation. Shetland’s seafaring traditions are a constant theme for Malcolmson, and this is typified by his compelling 2025 work, ‘Celestial Navigation.’

Rod Kelly is a master silversmith living and working in Muckle Roe. For The Northern Isles he has specifically created ‘Fishy Beaker’, described as “a silver vessel chased in low relief with swirling fish, inlaid with pure gold and finished with a gilt interior.” Standing at less than 11cm high, this is a tiny but mighty contribution to the exhibition. It’s the sort of museum-style piece that makes you wish you lived in a house where everything was minimally pristine and not a mishmash of styles covering everything from hand-me-downs from deceased aunties to sad Ikea. If only I had £6,500 for ‘Fishy Beaker’. If only it didn’t already have a red dot on the opening day.

No one should ever leave an art exhibition without picking a favourite artist, so here is mine. Peter Davis has been producing sumptuous watercolours since graduating from Northumberland College more than 50 years ago. An Orkney resident for a decade, he has subsequently lived in Shetland since 1991 and clearly finds the delicate balance between land and sky very much to his artistic liking. The exhibition features seven pieces of his wonderfully restrained craftsmanship. ‘Simmer Dim’ is, in my humble opinion, the exhibition showstopper. A beautifully observed and pared-back landscape that perfectly captures the unworldly phenomenon of Shetland’s summer solstice. Put simply, it makes me want to eat shortbread fingers on a Loganair flight to Lerwick and return to Shetland this summer.

The Northern Isles is a very fine exhibition that delights without offering terribly much of a surprise. Yes, the show is rich, rewarding and varied, but in terms of content, it is very much as one might expect from a part of the world where traditional conservatism and cultural resilience are held in extremely high regard. Certainly, none of these artists is going to vex the jury of The Turner Prize next year. But hey, that’s no bad thing either.

For me one of the benchmarks of a truly great artistic experience is whether or not you would want to go back. In the coming days, I certainly shall.

• The Northern Isles runs from 8th January - 31st January 2026 at The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ. Online exhibition: scottish-gallery.co.uk/thenorthernisles

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