Rising Artists of Caithness
2025 – 2026
The Rising Artists of Caithness mentorship course is one of two sides of the heart of Sìdh C Art. Each person attending is on a different part of their path to Art Super-stardom, and it is an honour to guide them through the next part of that journey. By introducing artists to new materials, inspiration, a network of local professionals and the topics covered in the mentorship, we develop their creative practise and support the art economy both here and beyond.
This year we are running a pilot course for younger artists as well. We are loving having them onboard and look forward to sharing some edgy, hip new works!
This year’s course is funded by RWE Bad a Cheo Wind Farm Community Fund (Latheron, Lybster and Clyth), the Halkirk District Benefit Fund and Stroupster Windfarm, administered by Foundation Scotland. We are really grateful for this support, and to be supporting artists, workshop leaders and venues around Caithness as a result of the funding.
Meet the Team!
Say hello, comission an artwork!
October Workshop: Storytelling
Thurso Community Greenhouses
In October we started the mentorship course in the really fanastic event space in the Thurso CDT Greenhouses. After getting to know each other and the layout of the shurbs, veggies, fruit ad flowers here, we sat down for a storytelling session by Cara Silversmith.
Cara’s background in Geography, Environmental studies and the exploration of lgbtqia+ perspectives give her a rich and knowledgeable background from which to explore the environment, and the self. The history of the Caithness plantlife, from the mosses, peatlands, its few sturdy native trees combines with folklore and a cocnern for a landscape which is under threat was the perfect place for the artists to start thinking about which plants they would focus on throughout the course. Thank you Cara, we hope to have you up here again.
November Workshop: Printing
Thurso Community Cafe & Keiss Community Hall
In November we had two printing workshops by Katie Squires. The theme was seaweed, and the aim was to reproduce the stunning colours and shapes of bladderwrack, kelp, sea lettuce, dulse, oarweed and more using printing techniques.
In the first workshop at the Thurso Community Cafe, Katie brought in seaweed to print straight from. This was fun, messy and took preparation from Katie. Some really beautiful prints came from the session and it was great to use the paper and materials supplied in such a cosy space.
In the second workshop, artsits had been encouraged to practise drawing out seaweeds and it paid off! By drawing out shapes in the lino, artists were able to make really fabulously colour and layered prints on Japanese paper. Lino is a deceptively complicated medium where form, order and negative 3D space have to be considered to come out with good quality prints. It’s safe to say we have a few converts!
See more of Katie’s work here: www.katiesquiresart.com
Workshop 1: Community cafe
Workshop 2: Keiss Community Hall
December Workshop: Felting
Comm Bar, Halkirk
We had a really cosy felting session with Eleanor Lee. The fire was on, one of the artists brought cake and there couldn’t be a better space to learn to sculpt in wool.
Eleanor prepared amazing kits for us to make little plants with. Each box had different coloured wool, felting kits and a guide on the types of plants we could make. Cacti’s were a good shape as they are round and bulbous. But this group artists take inspiration and go their own way. Squirrels, mushrooms, foxes sunflowers and more were produced, and many qill keep felting into the future.
January: Networking
In snowy January, our artists met local working artists on Zoom to talk about their experieces of the art world.
Lisa Poulsen, Leah Davis-Morris and Jess Henderson were exhibiting in the Comfort & Disturb exhibiton at the Thurso Library. They talk about the jobs they have done over the years, and how that fed into where they are now. There is valuable discussion of how artists look after themselves and those around them whilst dealing with subject matters that can be immensely personal. Jaiya and Ava join us to talk about their current experiences of Univeristy – both attended the Rising Artists course in 2023/24 and it’s amazing to hear what theyr’e doing and how they have grown as artists! We’d like to thank all of you for your time. Keep an eye on what they’re up to here:
Lisa Poulsen: www.inspiredbycaithness.com/
Leah Davis-Morris: www.leahdavis.co.uk/
Jess Henderson: jessihendersonart.co.uk
Art Inspiration Board
It is truly delightful to look at images of flowers. They say gardens are centres of wellbeing and that being around in places where plants grow can ease stress, reduce agitation and calm or inspire depending on the colour of the plants.
Below are links to some amazing pieces of work by artists through the ages. Use the contact form below to send any suggestions you might have!
Murals
