WANDERINGS - THE POLKA DOT HARBOUR



Today I wandered to the Pittenweem Arts Festival - this annual event, now in its 25th year, turns a small fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife into an massive art gallery - houses, churches and the town hall all become art galleries and events and outdoor installations abound. It lasts for a week and today was the last day so I had to head over. My friend Allyson had visited last weekend and told me I had to go and see the knitted dots floating in the harbour and I am so glad that I did.

The artist, Margaret Bathgate, has looked at bringing knitting into the world of fishing, inspired I imagine, by the piles of fishing nets. With enormous needles, 39cm in diameter, she knits large nets and circles. The circles floating on water look like large jellyfish and the nets thrown over a boat could easily be mistaken for a colourful fishing net. Her installation, venue 54, the harbour, was of 25 large knitted dots anchored in the harbour - creating the Polka Dot Harbour.



Another artist Joachim Romer, who uses flotsam and jetsam to construct art installations had created a picture of the harbour (displayed on the harbour) of pieces of rubbish that he had collected from beaches. From a distance, the picture looks like a painting of the harbour but as you approach you start to see that it is made up of thousands of pieces of coloured plastic, including cigarette lighters, buoys, flip-flops etc and you start to lose sight of the picture and focus on the array of plastic making up this giant mosaic.



Art seems to fit seemlessly into the village, one of the most pictureseque and demanding to be photographed villages in Scotland. Once again I am reminded why I love living so close to the sea and all that it means....