Stromness set to shine with light festival

A new festival of light will transform the streets of Stromness into a spectacular gallery of illuminated artworks.

More than 20 light-based pieces will be placed between the Pier Head and the town’s museum, as part of Stromness Glimmers: A Festival of Light.

This inaugural event is created by Móti Collective, a group of art graduates based in Orkney.

They will show their work alongside a number of talented local artists who were selected via an open call earlier in the year.

Móti member Wendy Barker was pivotal in bringing the idea to the collective.

Inspired by the success of Durham’s Lumiere Festival that drew thousands of people of all ages to see art lit up around the city, she saw it might be possible to create something similar in Orkney.

Inspiration for the festival’s title came from a line in George Mackay Brown’s poem Lux Perpetua, “By such Glimmers we seek you.”

Móti hopes that this inaugural open-air exhibition will prove popular with locals young and old, drawing folk from all over Orkney.

In the run-up to the festival, adults and children over the age of six are invited to join a free, drop-in workshop on creative writing and shadow play on Saturday, November 7, between 11am and 3pm, at Stromness Community Centre Nursery Hall.

This interactive workshop is run by writer Gabrielle Barnby and Móti artists Kerrianne Flett and Mal Grieve.

Work created during this workshop will then be made into a short film and exhibited as part of the festival itself.

Artists showing work in the festival include: Alison Moore and Sarah Wylie; Alona Petliarska; Anna Charlotta Jansson; Anne Bevan and Mark Jenkins; Beccy May; Cassia Dodman; Evie Donaldson; Heini Kankaro and Kerrianne Flett; Janine Smith; Jeanne Bouza Rose and Joshua Berman; Jemima Hall; Johan Mowat; Louise Barrington; Mal Grieve; the Pier Arts Centre; Tomas Hermoso; and Wendy Barker.

The light festival will run from Thursday, November 12, to Saturday, November 14.