Public art in the Scottish village of Golspie

Visible and well lit on most days, a piece of public art should fulfil at least two of Ruskin’s criteria for the display of work.

The village of Golspie in the Highlands of Scotland sits tightly between Ben Bragghie and the North Sea with a heritage formed through herring fishing, Dunrobin Castle and transport lying as it continues to do on the main track to and from the very far north of Britain. It is a place of chimneys, Galas, flowers and music with much sunshine and occasional snow.

It has a keen community spirit and at the end of last year, Golspie decided it needed replacement noticeboards. Two very fine ones were built by a local carpenter, roofed and filled on one side each with posters of local information. Now, this left two blank sides staring out at the passers by and the traffic scooting along the A9. Nature may or may not abhor a vacuum but I do.

I asked whether I could fill those empty spaces with artwork. Golspie is used to my own windows being resplendent with my drawings and paintings – some less palatable than others but always remarked upon which is a delight.

Much back and forth later – this week, the call came through to offer me a side of a noticeboard. By the end of that day, I had produced a willow charcoal drawing roughly 6’ x 4’ on good quality paper. Once the rain stopped, two days later, Ian Legs opened the casing, neighbours Linda and Kevin helped manhandle the picture and it was stapled gunned into position and sealed up.

I had been musing over ideas for the board for a very long time and had many sketches but when it came to putting a mark down on the sheet, I started to change my mind. Much of my work is built in layers, often using drawings and paintings which I felt were unfinished in some way so I suppose producing a local landscape was always going to have other images locked beneath its final surface.

Fish, buildings, rough sea and seals are now part of this picture although not obvious to the viewer. Not obvious either is whether the view north from the harbour side is moonlit or in cloud obscured sunshine. The season is ambiguous and the tide could be moving up or down the beach.

This is not a work of detail but of feeling, it has been hewn into the paper. I cannot control how it will be seen, whether it will become a good experience or not but I have done it and it sits under glass well lit and in its splendid isolation. I doubt Ruskin would have liked my effort much in itself; but I flatter myself in that he would have approved of sharing art in this open way. This is just an act of giving.

I am very proud that I live in such a generous community which when I asked whether I could make our boards more interesting, agreed and made it happen. I hope the people here will like it and that others will come forward for their work to be displayed.

Simply asking for a space for work can be difficult in itself and displaying work publicly can bring a sort of excruciating self awareness; however, I am sharing all this because it is worth it. And whilst often the suggestion is rejected, just one acceptance can make all the difference to how we feel about our work and ourselves and where we live. It might make someone else’s life a little better too.

Helen Joy

Companion of The Guild of St George

8th August, 2026.

Helen adds: Someone has already written a poem in response to it (shared with the poet's permission):