This exhibition presents an exploration of the clay earths that were deposited on Orkney during the last Ice Age and were used in traditional craft and construction. From the large deposits of gold and red clay to the smaller amounts of exotic blues, greens, whites and blacks found in special locations. Some are stony, sandy or silty, while others are oily and organic, influenced by peat that built up on top.
Thirteen different locations on three islands are represented here by their earths, in raw form rammed into cubes, and as polished spheres. Sourcing and making these contemporary artefacts is part of a rich dialogue with Place and Past though Orkney’s earths and it’s heritage community. It explores a human connection through making that is 5,500 years old, embedded in muscles, memories and landscape. But it also signals a re-connection with natural and local materials that is part of our response to the Climate and Nature Emergency.
Earthbound Orkney exhibition at V&A Dundee
Becky is an artist, builder, and teacher whose practice centres on unfired earth and natural fibres. With a background in construction and conservation, she works closely with local subsoils and seasonal materials to create buildings, sculptures, and material-led artworks. Her work explores earth as a living, intelligent material, and asks how practices of making might move from extraction towards care, reciprocity, and repair.
Tom works across architecture, research, and advocacy through Arc Architects, the Scottish Ecological Design Association, and Earth Building UK & Ireland. His work focuses on the meeting of natural and built environments, developing place-responsive architectural approaches to the nature and climate crisis.
Together, they work with earth as collaborator rather than resource. Their projects unfold through close attention to place; its materials, histories, and ongoing processes, across art, architecture, and community contexts, inviting reflection on how we live with and as part of the ground beneath our feet.