13 Jul 2023

Cats Gu Leòr on Canna 2023

Written by Fiona J Mackenzie, Canna Archivist

Brightly coloured stone cats stand in a line in front of a stone wall.

Some of the Canna cats bask in the sun before the Pussycat Picnic.

This year’s Solas residency on Canna shone a light on our Canna Cat collection through a weekend of arts, crafts and music events.

June is traditionally the month when we deliver artistic residencies on Canna, based on the archives in some way. This year was no exception, even although Canna House is now officially in the hands of Simpsons the Builders, who are undertaking the reparation work programme.

We decided to use the cats of Canna House as the main focus of the residency, timing it to commemorate the marriage of John and Margaret Campbell on 15 June 1935. Cats were of prime importance in Canna House from 1938 all the way up to Margaret’s death in 2004 – they brought light, colour and fun to the house.

Some scaffolding poles are evident in front of a large Victorian villa. A workman is in the doorway.

A black and white photo of a wedding group standing under a tree. From the left are an elderly gentleman in a suit and a beard; a young woman in a neat suit and blouse; a tall young gentleman in a smart suit, holding a coat over his arm; then a small woman in a suit and hat, holding a pair of gloves.

This year’s event was also the last on-site element delivered as part of the Solas project. This project, which has particularly focused on film and still images, has been delivered over the last 5 years with financial support from the National Trust for Scotland USA Foundation, for which we are extremely grateful. Solas means ‘light’, and we certainly enjoyed celebrating this around the summer solstice.

Read more about Solas

It felt fitting to conclude with the cats theme, as the Cats Gu Leòr trail marked the beginning of the Solas project back in 2018. Our first event this year was a Pussycat Picnic held at the Rhu Church, with art and film-making activities offered by filmmaker Alastair Cook from Edinburgh. Our stone pusses from the first trail were gathered up and brought to the picnic!

8 rough unpainted stone cat sculptures stand in a line on a marble-effect workshop bench.

Three colourful painted stone cats sit in front of a stone building. They wear colourful floral crowns.

After a very interesting cyanotype printing session with Alastair, we had a film night in the Shearing Shed. Here, we were treated to a world premiere and a Q&A of Alastair’s filmpoem My Heart Always Goes Back to the North, bound for the Brest Film Festival the following week. We also screened the Solas film about Margaret’s life, produced a couple of years ago. This film has just been re-pressed in NTSC format for the North American market, again thanks to the Solas funding.

A hand holds out a sheet of paper on the grass, with seaweed decoratively placed upon it.

Seven people sit around an art installation in the sunshine. They are working on sheets of paper.

A man sits cross legged on a bench with a purple background behind him. He is explaining something to an unseen audience. A large projector screen stands to his right.

The following days were filled with crafts, art, music and storytelling activities from our artists and musicians. Floral artist Lynne Knot decorated the stone cats with handmade, individually designed floral crowns. The stone cats were also given a spruce-up after spending a few Canna winters outside! These events were all well-attended by visitors, who loved the cat theme.

A short yellow floral decoration lies on a wooden table outside.

Three women sit at a long table outside in the sunshine. Stone cat sculptures are being painted with bright colours.

A black and white collie dog sniffs a painted stone cat by a stone wall. A donation bucket and several picnic items lie on the grass beside the cat sculptures.

Yvonne Lyon delivered a wonderful songwriting session with several visitors; the songs produced are now in the process of being recorded. Raine Clarke helped visitors produce some amazing pieces of painted stone craft, most with a cat or animal theme.