Dugald MacInnes

Dugald works mainly with slate obtained from the disused quarries on the west coast island of Luing, near Oban. He works within the contexts of geology (he obtained a degree in Earth Science ten years after graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1975) and archaeology (he is an experienced field archaeologist working in many parts of Scotland).

The works exhibited here are founded on Dugald’s keen interest in geology, stemming from an awareness of the geological forces that shaped and continues to shape our landscape.

Along with slate, he also uses Italian smalti to produce small highlights that he says, ‘lifts the stone and gives it greater ‘life’’. Lately, Dugald has used Lothian oil shale affording the deep blacks that he had been searching for. This softer stone affords a textural contrast to the harder slates, at the same time, enhancing and highlighting the varied qualities of the slate.

In the geological pieces, Dugald’s reactions to the landscape are reduced to the essential visual and physical elements, discarding the ‘superfluous’ and homing in on ways to interpret his emotional responses to geological form, colour and texture. By dwelling on each piece, the

At first glance, the work is quiet and minimalistic but on closer scrutiny, each individual stone has inherent qualities that together produce art that is ‘alive’ with rhythm and texture.