The West Fife Villages Exhibition of Art and Photography

Last April, the folk at Saline organised a Saline & Steelend exhibition of art and photography for work produced by local artists and photographers.

This exhibition was sponsored by Fife Council and the West Fife Villages Planning Group. The event proved to be extremely successful with almost 450 exhibits on display and with over 400 visitors during the 2 days that the show was open.

The exhibition was largely managed by the artists themselves under the authority of the Saline and District Horticultural and Handcraft Society and the Saline and Steelend Community Council.

Derek Robertson, the well-known wildlife artist who resides in the parish, provided excellent advice and guidance. The local Church Guild and the WRI provided the catering. A popular section of the exhibition were the exhibits from the children from Saline Primary School.

A good number of the exhibitors at the exhibition were artists and photographers who belonged to art clubs and photographic societies. There were, however, a surprising number of exhibitors who were not members of any art clubs or societies. The Saline exhibition had therefore provided a rare opportunity for these artists to display, and in some cases, to sell their work.

Clearly, the success of the show reflected a requirement to provide local artists and photographers with the facilities to exhibit and to give the community the opportunity to view locally produced works of art.

It has therefore been decided that an exhibition will again be held next year on 21st and 22nd April in the Saline Community Centre.

One big difference is that the event has been re-named as “The West Fife Villages Exhibition of Art and Photography”.

Gareth Turner, the President of the Saline Horticultural and Handcraft Society said, “At the last exhibition a proportion of the exhibits came from artists who resided in some of our neighbouring West Fife villages”.

Gareth added “The quality of the work from the Kincardine Art Club and individual artists from Cairneyhill, Carnock and Low Valleyfield certainly enhanced the event and we would like to encourage more exhibits from these and the other West Fife villages”.

Jim Hensman, the chair of the Saline and Steelend Community Council commented, “This form of activity can only benefit the community spirit within the West Fife villages”.

The entry of exhibits is free and artist may offer their work for sale if they wish. All artists who would like to exhibit should contact John Crane, 17 Upper Kinneddar, Saline, KY12 9TR, tele. 01383 852698, e-mail johnrobertcrane@ic24.net