2009 Jolomo Award Winner
''My partner Anita paid most of my bills - for materials, studio hire, and other expenses,'' Keith Salmon announced enthusiastically. Up until 2008 Keith Salmon saw himself as an amateur artist. He had been on incapacity benefit since he was registered blind. His partner Anita continued to pay most of his bills - for materials, studio hire, and other expenses. Then Keith made a decision that was to change his life as a visual artist in a significant way. With the help of Job Centre Plus and Irvine Business Gateway he dared to exchange his incapacity status with the challenges and the 'joys' of self-employment. Keith's first break followed when he won the 2009 Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting. Is his relatively new professional career as hectic and fascinating as you'd expect it to be? Keith reveals how he faced the challenges of 2010 to move his art career forward. I hadn't really expected to get that scholarship, so the news came as quite a surprise and put me into panic mode for a few weeks. I knew when I applied that the Speyer Scholarship would be a very big undertaking for me. Not so much on the art side but more on the practical day to day issues of being severely visually impaired and having to live on my own in a place I didn't know - and not speaking German. Quite how difficult this was going to be I hadn't realised until I got there … but more of that later. To begin with, 2010 started off with a group exhibition at The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff, by the seven artists short-listed for the 2009 Jolomo award. We were invited to put in eight pieces of work each. It was a very good show, I thought. The Strathearn Gallery is well located on a street corner in the centre of the town, and a great place for exhibitions. The preview was very successful as far as I was concerned. We arrived at 11am and I was immediately asked to meet a couple who'd come over especially to buy two of my paintings. They were the first to arrive so they managed to get what they wanted. By the end of the preview at around 2pm more of my paintings were sold - and the gallery owners invited me to hold a solo show there in February 2011. So the year started with a fairly healthy cash flow. Ali: Did that help to get you into a right state of mind to look forward to Speyer? Keith: It did. I had arranged to start my Speyer scholarship in early May, and stay there for about four months - heading back to Scotland in early September. There was obviously a lot to organise before leaving but it was critical that I got my gear out there prior to my arrival and have my painting materials sent over too. I wanted to ‘hit the ground running’ as they say. But it wasn't all as straight forward as that. I had several other things on the go too: Seven paintings to the Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld for April; three pieces over to the Fisher Gallery in Fife for a show around the same time; an exhibition lined up with Alison Thomas at the Blairmore Gallery for six weeks between June and mid July - twelve paintings needed for that. All to be finished and framed before I was to leave for Germany. Fortunately for me my partner Anita was happy to drive to Blairmore with the paintings and collect unsold work at the end of the other two group shows as well. It was quite a hectic time but I managed to get everything ready in time. We also managed to get a number of walks in the hills during this period prior to the trip. There’s more. Around the same period of time I was also involved in the launch of the new ‘Gallery on the Corner’ in Edinburgh. This gallery is run by Autism Initiatives Scotland. That was a hectic schedule with three days of events at the gallery - but it was all worth while as everything went really well. The gallery manager Susie Anderson did a wonderful job and the work looked great. They had a tremendous response from everyone who visited. It is a very professional set up and has had a successful first nine months. Check it out if you haven't already visited it. Ali: I have actually, and I agree completely with what you say, Keith. But remember... you are not paying me to advertise ‘the gallery on the corner’ in this conversation. Everybody should know by now that...
That aside… I can see how hectic the life of an artist in your position can be sometimes. But then, who said fame and fortune comes easy? And sorry for so rudely cutting in there. Please continue. You were telling me about your plans for Speyer, weren't you? Keith: Yes I was. We had planned that Anita would travel out with me to Speyer and stay for the first two weeks helping me find my way around - and more importantly find the shops I'd need while I was there on my own. She would then return to Scotland and come back out again for the last two weeks of my stay to help me set up my final exhibition and negotiate Frankfurt airport! Ali: Where did you fly to in Germany and were you met by any one at the airport? Keith: We were met at Frankfurt airport by a couple of members of the Kunstlerbund. That’s the Speyer's Art Association. They drove us to Speyer where a group of the artists were waiting to greet us … with fine local wine and then a big meal of traditional Pfalz cuisine and locally brewed beer to follow. Wow, what a great place! The Kunstlerhaus where I was staying was big - two buildings separated by a small vine-covered courtyard, with two large studio spaces for me to work in and living space up above. It really was quite idyllic, as was the city of Speyer itself. By the time Anita had left I had a reasonable idea of how to get around the center of this small city although Nita went away worrying that I'd be knocked down by the bicycles. Everyone in Speyer rides a bike! Nita also helped me find my way around the local supermarket so at least I had a rough idea of where to find the food I wanted. But it was quite scary once she'd gone and I realised just how little I could actually see. When you don't speak a language you tend to resort to using your eyes and pointing. When you can't see what’s on a shelf or a market stall – you have nothing to point to. All my painting gear had arrived ok and so I started painting almost immediately. As I couldn't easily get out of the city into the rural landscape of the Pfalz I had to find something to paint that I could reach both easily and safely on my own. The city is dominated by the huge Romanesque cathedral known locally as the Dom. It was a massive building and of such architectural and historical significance that it is listed as a world heritage site. I was drawn to its huge mass rather like I'm drawn to the mountains of Scotland. And although I thought that everyone must paint the Dom, it seemed like the most obvious thing for me to concentrate on during my stay in Speyer. Ali: I can guess what's coming next. You went and painted the Dom from top to bottom and got arrested by the people of Speyer. Keith:I should have expected something like that coming from you. During the four months in Speyer I completed 17 pieces of work - 14 paintings and three drawings. One of the drawings was particularly large. One of the two studio spaces at the Kunstlerhaus had a five metre long wall that was three metres high and was lit by a line of powerful spotlights. I realised that I'd probably not have an opportunity to work on this scale again. I purchased a large roll (1.5 metre wide) of thick high quality white paper, and with help from Andrea (a local sculptor) we managed to hang a 4 metre long piece of this on the wall. It was really quite daunting I have to admit. It hung there for almost two weeks before I even made my first mark. I spent odd hours just wandering around the Dom and it seemed to me that it'd be great to do a drawing of this immense building as if I was walking around it. And this is what I did with my 10 – 12 foot long sheet of paper to represent the circuit of the building.
I used oil pastels, starting with very pale grey lines and gradually building up with darker and darker shades of grey lines. I enjoyed working on this scale. I worked late into the night on it, fueled by a glass or two of local wine or beer and listening to music. Ali: Tell me about The Kunstlerbund you mentioned earlier – this group of artists. Keith: Yes. The Kunstlerbund is made up of a group of very competent artists all doing very different stuff from painting to print making, sculpture, installation work, music and performance. It was fascinating seeing what they did and how they approached their work and careers. The arts in Speyer are just so strong. There were numerous galleries and exhibition previews – and almost always something interesting to go to. I was very impressed and have hopefully brought a few ideas back with me to Scotland. Ali: I'd love to hear some of those ideas some day. Keith: Sure, Ali. May be on another conversation, eh? Although I was there for four months, time went by very quickly. I was painting most days but once a week someone would take me out on visits to different places and exhibitions. I even got out walking in the local hills on four occasions. On the last week, one of the artists arrived at the studio with a tandem and we went off cycling along the paths by the side of the Rhein. It was wonderful. YOU should try riding a tandem, Ali. Ali: Yes, I can imagine the sight of YOU on a tandem on Harbour Road in Irvine, with your mates from the Courtyard Studios chanting away “On Ya Bike, Swifty Salmon.” Keith: Come to think of it, it may well be a new interest for me now that I've experienced the fun of riding a tandem. Ali: Come to think of it, in all seriousness, it may well be a new interest for ME and others like us who can only see things but dimly. I have a good mind to put an ad out, like…
Sorry- you were saying... Keith: I was going to say that at the end of my stay in Speyer, I put on a short exhibition of the work I'd done. We had a very successful preview - privileged with the presence of the Cultural Mayor. As usual there was much fine local wine and good food and this seemed to fuel people’s enthusiasm for my work. Many of the paintings were sold and three people wanted to buy the large 4 metre long drawing. In the end a well known local businessman bought the piece for his city centre restaurant. Ali: Now that's the kind of place you want your work to be in ... open to a continuity of audience and a good degree of permanency. And next time you visit Speyer someone will point at you and say ''There's that blind artist from Scotland who painted the Dom.'' Keith: That's interesting, I never thought of it in that way - the continuity of audience and permanency, I mean. You may well be right in what you say. Anyway, people’s response at the exhibition was great. A number of them said that I'd made them look at the Dom in a fresh light. Although most of the work I did was based on local subject matter, I did create four paintings that were Scotland based - having taken sketchbooks and some photos with me for this purpose. I needed those pieces as part of ten paintings to hand in for a group exhibition in London at the end of September. I included these four pieces in the final Speyer exhibition, wondering if the people of Speyer would be interested in usual type of work. Their response was amazing. Many of them came up for a chat. They told me they had visited Scotland in the past and remembered the colours, atmosphere, mist, rain and midges that I captured in the paintings. But here’s the real good news… On my last day in Speyer, two of the members of the Kunstlerbund, Michael Lauter and Andrea Neisen, came over to see me. They invited me to return to Speyer in the autumn of this year (2011) and put up an exhibition of my Scottish work for a couple of weeks. This is still to be confirmed, of course, but it'll be a great opportunity to promote my hill based work in Germany. Ali: And that’s a typical of how success breeds success, is it not? What did the local press have to say about your visit and exhibition? Keith: The local press gave us several good write ups while I was there. We hope we can build on that to help promote my October exhibition. It was quite funny though … a wee while back I received several emails from folk in Speyer telling me that I was one of the papers’ ‘People of the Year’! How flattering, eh? The whole Speyer adventure has been a huge experience and success both professionally and for me personally. Ali: So you were glad to get back to Irvine after all that. Four months of concentrated work in a strange environment is no mean feat, is it? Keith: I was quite exhausted by the time I returned to Scotland in early September. And I didn't have much time to relax, as it happened. I had ten paintings to get ready for another Jolomo Award finalists exhibition - this one in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Anita and I traveled down for the preview evening and stayed the night at at the Civil Service Club. The preview was well attended. Sadly just a few paintings were sold during the whole week of the show. Whether the new economic climate had anything to do it I just don't know. Ali: Yes Keith. I guess sometimes it’s good for the soul to have something to blame for unwelcome outcomes. Keith: Well, it was a good short break any way. And I managed to meet up with an old college friend from my Falmouth School of Art days - so that was good. And again, you never really know what comes out of these things. As it happened, only a month later The Strathearn Gallery went down to the Battersea Park Affordable Art Fair and took a few of my pieces with them. That was profitable I'm pleased to say. The pressure hadn't eased yet...
Keith: But the pressure hadn't eased yet. I still needed eight new paintings for Scotlandart.com exhibitions, and I was faced with the big challenge of getting 45 paintings ready for my solo show at The Strathearn Gallery in February 2011.
That was quite a lot to do especially as I was desperate to get back out walking in the hills again. I felt quite unfit after my stay in Germany and had been struggling to regain some kind of fitness. Fortunately we managed to squeeze in a number of walks since September and that was good. Now I have all the work I need for my solo show and we've just got it all framed. Storage is tight. There are paintings in every nook and cranny in my house and at the studio. One new thing I have added to my routine recently. I now employ a professional photographer to record my work before it goes out to galleries. I have plans down the line to try and produce a small book about my work. This'll need top quality photos of everything I now do, and for other publicity purposes. Through out this year I've been working on developing my profile. The re-design of my website and the launch of ‘Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist’ page on Facebook is definitely helping to spread the word. It has already led to several sales, some directly through my studio and others where customers have followed my web straight to galleries showing the work. I still have a long way to go with this – like setting up PayPal account and a card payment machine for the studio, if it’s likely to be cost-effective. Ali: Are you still active with Jolomo Award? Keith: Yes I am. Late in September last year was the official launch of the Jolomo Award 2011. I was invited to the launch along with the other 2009 award winners. We were asked to take a painting each and there was a long press photo session before the launch. Along with a number of the main players involved in this event, including John Lowrie Morrison himself, I too was asked to say a few words - in my case, without notes of course. This was somewhat daunting for me as you can imagine. But what a privilege it was. The 2011 winners will be announced in June I think. It'll be fascinating to see who is selected for the awards. Application details are on Jolomo Foundation website. Jolomo Award 1st prize has gone up to £25,000 this year I think, so I'd strongly advise painters of the Scottish landscape to seriously consider applying. It can make a huge difference to your career – as it’s doing for me. By the way, with all that publicity around the launch I was also interviewed by the The Scotsman and the Sunday Post - that was really good publicity for me. Last year, in the Spring, I met with BBC Radio Scotland producer, Lucy Anderson. Lucy invited me to take part in a programme she was making about visually impaired hill walkers. Of course I jumped at the offer - especially when I discovered that one of my close friends, Norma Davidson, who is the coordinator for the visually-impaired mountains and hills course at Glenmore Lodge was also taking part in the programme. The programme was recorded on a lovely autumn day in September not far from Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorm National Park. We did a walk up one of the local hills. Lucy’s team talked with and recorded Norma, Bob and myself as we went. It was an interesting day and although I knew Norma well and had walked with her many times before, I'd never met Bob, who was totally blind - nor met his guide dog. The programme was broadcast back in December and I was amazed at how they'd put everything together. It made for an interesting half hour of listening and of course for me there was that added publicity (again) for my painting as they had been keen to ask about my work. Ali: What about this year then, Keith. Anything round the corner other than your solo shows at Crieff and Speyer? Keith: This year is already looking like being pretty hectic: Another show at Blairmore Gallery in the summer; a group show in Dundee at the end of summer; Speyer solo in October. I'll also be showing work as part of Dundee Mountain Film Festival in I think, November. And who knows what’s round the corner? I've also been invited once again to act as one of the judges for the 2011 International Helen Keller Art Awards. I did this back in 2009. It was fascinating to see everything from the other side as it were. This is a fantastic exhibition and gets a lot of publicity. Unfortunately the closing date for 2011 Helen Keller exhibition was back in December. But there’s always the next one if you are interested. Ali: Well Keith, thank you so much for your time and for giving us an insight into a year in your life as a visual artist. It's been fascinating. I'm sure there's a lot of other interesting stuff we haven't touch on in this conversation - especially on the nitty gritty areas of daily routine activities. Maybe we might do that another time. Send your comment Contact Keith Salmon: email: keith@keithsalmon.org Tel: 07742 437 425 http://www.keithsalmon.org Top | Home | Features | Contact # ks11con3 |
[ ] [ Features ] [ Contact Us ] [ Home ]
 |
www.artinscotland.com Tel: +44(0) 141 946 5032 / 07712 581 061 email: info@artinscotland.com |