Nicolson pupils lend artistic skills to mural project

A talented group of pupils in the Nicolson Institute have helped create a new piece for the Western Isles Lottery Stornoway Story mural trail. 
Helping artist Chris Rutterford, who has been leading the artistry along with the Western Isles Lottery to decorate the town and help reflect the communities history and culture in the modern practice of creating a mural trail.

One pupil excited to take part was Chloe MacLennan, a third year pupil with hopes to carry on with art throughout school.

She said: “I was a bit nervous at first because I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but everyone was really talkative and quite nice.”

Chloe mentioned how exciting the project had been to take part in and when she was told she could volunteer time during her timetabled schedule, she was eager to take part.

Leading the collaboration was artist Chris Rutterford, who for over a year now has been working with Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery to restore some of Stornoway’s artwork while creating new pieces. Last April, the team unveiled Chris’ efforts of polishing and recolouring Brady’s work to bring it back to life and brighten up the town. 

After working with the group of young people for two weeks, Chris called the experience “amazing”.

“The kids were so productive. We’ve got a load of other projects, we’ve worked on individual fish sculptures that will be spread along the street. They’ve done amazingly, what a fabulous job they’ve done.”

He also said how keen he was to get the group to come out of their shell and work together on the project. 

“At the start, they were really quite intimidated by the shear amount of canvas that we had." He said, "But about two to three days in they just started powering through it.

“For me, I don’t expect everyone to go out and become a mural artist but I think the collective experience is very important for them and I think these guys feel they can achieve great things together.”

This was carried on as they unveiled the mural that started the pending mural trail off, the Failte Gu Steòrnabhagh artwork displayed on the side of Tesco, welcoming visitors and residents to the Isle of Lewis.

Now, the Stornoway Story mural trail is well underway as teenagers play their part in bringing the town’s history to life. 

Back in April, when he unveiled his work with Brady’s sculptures, Rutterford said his aim was to make sure the community were involved in some way. He talked about the importance of having people who live here included in something that will make a difference in their town, making sure that the people could have a sense in pride for what they’ve made and to see the different it makes. 

He and the team at Western Isles Lottery have carried that through and have offered young people the unique opportunity to take part in something that will hang in their home for years to come. 

On Friday (29 May), they officially unveiled their work at the Nicolson Institute, with Chris and his wife Lubi Lykan in attendance, another well-known artist, known for her popular bespoke fashion designs and wedding dresses. Joining them was Janet Paterson from the Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery team, who called the teenagers contributions to the final mural “so impressive”.

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