Dumfries and Galloway soil and rock turned into art

ROCKS and soil gathered in Dumfries and Galloway has been used to create works of art for a forthcoming exhibition, Made Ground.

Arts organisation Cample Line, which is based in a former mill north of Dumfries, will host the paintings and textiles created by Nottingham-based artist Yelena Popova.

Popova, who was born in the Soviet Union and who has lived in the UK for 20 years, began working with natural pigments instead of petrol-based paints in 2017 during her residency at Girton College in Cambridge.

“The soil and the rocks are something that represent the landscape for me – that piece of soil you find under your feet when you walk,” she explained.

“This is the landscape. There is a Chinese tradition where they see the larger landscape in a small rock.”

Popova spent time in the area around Cample, including at its former sandstone quarries, and in the grounds of nearby Drumlanrig Castle.

The landscape reminded the artist of her homeland in the Ural mountains.

“That pink glow noticeable on the hills ahead in a sunny day – it’s there and not there, but for me it was such a distinct and memorable feature of this landscape,” she said.

“I wanted to find it, to refine it, to make sure I was not imagining it, to hold on to it.”

Read more stories on Scottish Field’s visual art pages.

Plus, don’t miss our interviews with six talented artisans in the October’s luxury issue of Scottish Field magazine.