Thursday 26 February 2009

Branding the Way

The Brand
This is the start of the branding of the path. The official title of the route between Oban and Fort William is - suprisingly - Oban to Fort William! Add to this the name we came up with and it becomes "Oban to Fort William - The Birlinn Way". We like it and the name has so far provided an inspiring platform for artists to engage with. There are some alternatives still being considered and we are happy to take on board these. However, the brand is looking good and the imagery of the brand is pretty well established. Of course the words can be changed but we don't really want to change the imagery as it is already being looked at as a starting point for creative pieces. The logo looks like (with variations) - I am still working on the graphical elements and some of the curves need some work but its getting there.





So here we go the Path is really starting to take off. The first of the artworks is being designed by Oban glass artist Karen Liversedge and the wood sculpture/seating by Ross Angell. Once these designs are finalised I will post them. The seating is being funded by Argyll charity ABCD Trust this first artwork is being installed on the Ganavan to Dunbeg stretch of the path. The design of the sculpture is based on the Highland Galley shape (loosely!) and has glass windows from which you can view the scene and also captures the scene. A camera that uses the mind and imagination as film!
Here is a first sketch ..



And next we have the access controls - i.e. the gates and chicanes. Once again I have used the Birlinn shape as an inspiration and have incroporated into the "gates" some childrens poetry from the school workshop that Norman Bissell did. These are the first stage designs and I am now working up the rest of the designs following a similar theme.




Wednesday 11 February 2009

Rathad nan Bhirlinn

An email came in the other day and it went like this .... "Regarding the Birlinn Way. It's a good name (ties up the ancient form of transport along the western seaboard with the idea of birlin' wheels --a Scots word for turning. If we have it in Gaelic (something like Rathad nan Bhirlinn ---accent on the first syllable), there should be no confusion over Berlin!".

There is a fantastic book available "The Sea Kingdoms - The History of Celtic Britain & Ireland", by Alistair Moffat. There is some stuff about the Birlinn as well as a beautifully written, and tragic, account of the Clan Groups waiting across the battlefield for the battle to commence at Culloden.

This is a must have book for anyone interested in the history of Britain as told from the Sea Kingdoms.