The Pier Arts Centre is a lovely place to go to in Stromness. It has great wifi which endeared it to The Edinburgh Reporter visiting earlier this week.
But looking around it has many assets which make it very important to anyone from Edinburgh.
The most obvious was the Eduardo Paolozzi Untitled c. 1965 polished bronze. It is one of 8 works in the Pier Arts Centre Permanent Collection by the artist, 6 of which were part of the original gift to the people of Orkney by Margaret Gardiner in 1979 and two, including this one, were bequeathed to the gallery by the Scottish Arts Council in 1997. There are other Paolozzi works in the collection which you can see here.
Mrs Margaret Gardiner was a philanthropist who donated an important collection of fine art to be held for the people of Orkney. Since her first visit to the island in the 1950s she developed the wish to support the arts and artists there. You can read more about Mrs Gardiner here.
The Pier Arts Centre website explains the location:-“The Centre re-opened in July 2007 following a two year, £4.5 million Lottery funded redevelopment of its buildings and facilities and is housed in a complex of buildings that sit on one of the many piers that characterise the historic town of Stromness.”
At the moment the centre have an exhibition outside as well as inside all part of the exhibition by Nathan Coley called Burn the Village Feel the Warmth. which you can see below.
If you are visiting Orkney then the Pier Arts Centre is certainly a great place to visit.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
