by Kevin Buckle from Avalanche Records
As people start to look for last minute gifts that are a little different you can’t do better than peruse the wares of some of Edinburgh’s artists. Dodo Flugge has been at the market in the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile since it first opened and has a fantastic selection of cards, prints, paintings, candles, jewellery and much more all made by Dodo and a couple of her friends. Dodo trades as Diedododa and has a smart new website. It is impossible to not find something among such a vast selection.
Gerry Gapinski is another artist I first met at the Tron and while he is still there his new base is the Offbeat Gallery in St Mary’s Street. Not yet a full time venture so check for opening hours but luckily if closed you will still find him five minutes away at the Tron. You can buy his early paintings and prints, the popular punk prints and t-shirts, a selection of jewellery made from broken watches and the now famous pictures of Edinburgh created for a graphic novel. One of these pictures was recently used as the album cover for local heroes the Filthy Tongues.
Gerry has always stocked a selection of unusual pocket and wrist watches to compliment his jewellery and recently they have become very popular with the steampunk community. Smart new website coming soon but for now you will find the Offbeat Gallery on Facebook.
My final suggestion would be to search out the work of Rona Innes. In doing so you will also find the work of many other interesting artists as Rona’s wares are available in several shops and galleries. She is probably best known for her original drawings and prints of animals and if you are visiting Dodo and Gerry then you will find two stockists within minutes at Lickety Splits in Jeffrey Street and on the High Street the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Rona too has a great website where you can find a list of all her stockists as well of course look at her work.
This is just a tiny selection of course of some of the fantastic gifts you can find in Edinburgh while also supporting artists in what everybody knows are commercially very tough times.
And of course you can find Kevin at Avalanche Records here and on Facebook here.
