A colourful collection of artwork and handmade models is due to sail into Aberdeenshire Council’s Arbuthnot Museum on Friday, January 25. Created by members of Buchan Day Opportunities (formerly Willowbank), the display is inspired by the unique whaling and Inuit artefacts on show in the museum.
Including paintings, collages and an enormous six metre model of a whale, all the work on display has been created over the last six months. Alongside the artworks, an on-going igloo building project will take place on site for schools and visitors, tying in with the Inuit artefacts in the museum’s collection. Built out of recycled plastic milk bottles, the igloo will be large enough to allow at least one adult and child to crawl inside.
Councillor Anne Stirling, chair of the Council’s Communities Committee commented: “Wondrous Whales and Windy Sails is the first exhibition to benefit from our new Annual Community Showcase, an opportunity for community groups and individuals to display their work at the museum during the first part of each year. It’s great to see members of the community engaging with the service in this way and we would like to encourage others to get in touch with ideas for community exhibitions in future years.”
Una Simpson, day service manager at Buchan Day Opportunities said, “We're really proud of what the people we support can achieve and for their art work, craft work and drama skills to be on display and highlighted is absolutely fantastic. What we’ve put together is all inspired by the museums collection and we hope it will be a big draw for schools and visitors from across Aberdeenshire.”
The display is on show from Friday, January 25 until Saturday, March 16, 2019.