Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place
The Listening Place

© the copyright holder. Image credit: Dewi Owens / Art UK

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

'The Listening Place' is located on the site of an old school, beside the stream which marks the boundary between the settlements of South Lochboisdale and North Glendale in the southeast of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. The sculpture is part of the Road End Sculpture project, promoted by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in North Uist. The sculpture celebrates the history, the agricultural heritage, and the poets of the area, taking the form of a curved stone wall that shelters five seats facing out across the bay, providing a place to sit and listen, reflect on the poetry and absorb the landscape. The seats are modelled on those of a tractor owned by a local crofter. The curved wall that incorporates various unusual elements including parts of agricultural machinery, a sample of soil which came as ballast on Russian ships which landed at nearby in the seventeenth century and works by two local Gaelic poets; namely 'Gleann na Ceòlraidh' by Donald MacDonald from South Lochboisdale and 'Taigh a' Bhàird' by Donald J.

Title

The Listening Place

Date

2000

Medium

metal, stone & wood

Measurements

H 100 x W 500 x D 300 cm (E)

Accession number

HS7_DO_S078

Acquisition method

commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre

Work type

Sculpture

Owner

Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre

Custodian

Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre

Work status

extant

Unveiling date

December 2000

Access

at all times

Signature/marks description

stone panel inscribed with a represeantation of a simple tower bearing the initials 'CR'

Inscription description

information panel: Roadends Community Sculpture Project / Roadends encouraged communities to celebrate their identities, history and spirit by working with an artist to create / an artwork set in the landscape. Other sculpture locations are Claddach Baleshare in North Uist, Locheport in North / Uist and Balvanich School, Benbecula. Commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Art Centre. / The Listening Place by Valerie Pragnell. December 2000. / The Listening Place celebrates the history, the bards and the agricultural aspect of the area. / Appropriately, its location is on the site of the old village school, beside the burn which marks the / boundary of South Lochboisdale and North Glendale. Verses from two poems are inscribed on stone. / The poems Gleann na Ceòlraidh by Donald MacDonald from South Lochboisdale and Taigh a' Bhàird by / Donald J MacDonald from Peninerine, were chosen by members of the community. Five replica cast / tractor seats provide a place to sit, listen and reflect on the poetry. / The sculpture was built by Archie Walker. / Aite na h-Eisdeachd / Tha Aite na h-Esideachd a' moladh eachdraidh, obair-fearainn agus bàird na sgìre. Mar a bu chòir, tha e air / a thogail air làrach an t-seann taigh-sgoile, ri taobhna h-aibhne a tha comharrachadh criochan Taobh-a- / Deas Loch Baghasdail agus Ceann-a-Tuath Ghleann Dail. The earannan à da dhàn air an sgriobhadh air / cloich Bha na dàin, Gleann na Ceolraidh le Dòmhnall Aonhais Bhàin à taobh-a-Deas Loch Baghasdail agus / Taigh a' Bhàird le Dòmhnall Iain Dhunnchaidh à Peighinn an Aoirinn, air an taghadh le buill dhen / choimhearsachd. Chaidh a thogal le Earrdsaidh Walker. / Taigh chearsabhagh / THE SCOTTISH ARTS COUNCIL / National Lottery Fund / Iomairt nan Eilean Siar / Western Isles Enterprise / support from: Uist Builders Ltd / RJ MacLeod / CWS Monumental, Glasgow Panel 1: Nach iomadh seanchas is oran / A dh'eist an oige bhon aois / Taobh a' ghealbhain ded chomlaidh / 'S an teine monadh 'na chraos: / Gillean gasta 'nad cheilidh / A thataidh leirsinn do ghaoil. / 'S b'e lasair theine ceann thoidean / Bu tric a threoraich na laoich. Panel 2: How many stories and songs / The young heard from th eold / Ben the house by the fire / Round the blazing peats told / Fine lads at your ceilidh / Drawn by the sight of your love / Off to light their way there / A glowing peat was enough. Panel 3: Great inspiration / Was growing in the glen: / There were poets there, and pipers, / And explicators with a pen: / Music echoed from the braes there / With hospitality galore - / And the living could be had there / With a masted brown-sailed boat. Panel 4: Bu mhor an togail inntinn / A bha cinntinn anns a ghleabb: / Bha baird ann agus piobairean / S tuchd mineachaidh le peann. / Bha ceol air feadh nam bruachan ann / Le suairce nach bu ghann - / S bha beoshlainte ri buabbachd ann / Le bat' 's seol ruadh air chrann.

Tags

See a tag that’s incorrect or offensive? Challenge it and notify Art UK.

Help improve Art UK. Tag artworks and verify existing tags by joining the Tagger community.

Located at

South Lochboisdale, North Uist

HS8 5UD

Located on the seaward side of the minor road leading from South Lochboisdale to North Glendale.