The Arts, Museums and Heritage Service operate the Art in Public Places scheme and annually acquire pieces for the existing collection. The collection is accessible to the public through schools, colleges, Orkney Library and Archive and other public buildings.
In addition to Art in Public Places, Orkney Islands Council also provides support for public art commissions and larger-scale public arts events and exhibitions. The intention behind these events is to provide access to public art across Orkney for as many residents as possible and to attract visitors to the Islands. Past events can also be viewed in the list below.
Flying High
Lifestyles public art ran a series of workshops that led to Flying High by Sheena Graham George and Anjelica Kroeger. Flying High was a collaborative public artwork created by adults with learning disabilities, professional artists and local community groups in Orkney. The artwork was the result of a project launched in 2017 aimed at providing users of the Lifestyles Service access to a wide range of creative workshops. The project was designed jointly by the Orkney Islands Council’s Arts Development Service and the Lifestyle Service managed by Orkney Health and Care which supports adults with learning disabilities in the county.
01 January 2018
Magnus 900
Orkney celebrated St Magnus through the Magnus 900 Festival supported by Heritage Lottery Funding. This included the display of ‘The Sails’ in St Magnus Cathedral.
The culmination of the Birsay Mapping Magnus project will be realised in 2020 with the installation of two interpretative sign boards to mark the work done by the local community, led by The University of the Highlands Archaeology Institute, to excavate and capture the local archaeology of the Palace settlement and surrounding Birsay coastline. Five West Mainland schools took part in the project along with over 60 participants.
01 January 2017
George Mackay Brown
Orkney Museum currently houses the portrait of George Mackay Brown by Alexander Moffat, which was restored for the Stromness bicentenary exhibition at The Pier Arts Centre in 2017. Sandy Moffat very kindly offered to do the restoration at no cost to OIC and the painting is on display in the drawing room. Sandy Moffat visited Orkney at the beginning of October 2019 to see the portrait on display.
Stromness, its history, people and, not least, the old library meant so much to both George and Ian that the new premises are the right and appropriate place for this painting to hang.
01 January 2017
Poppies: Weeping Window
St Magnus Cathedral hosted ‘Poppies: Weeping Window’ by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper to mark the centenary of The Battle of Jutland. The presentation of Weeping Window was supported by Northlink Ferries and the learning and engagement programme for the Poppies: Wave and Weeping Window was supported by the Foyle Foundation
01 January 2016
