BIO:
Dugald MacInnes was born and raised on the west coast of Scotland, a landscape that would imbue him with a passion for geology and archaeology. He was familiar with the slate quarries there, a familiarity that was to dramatically re-emerge when he was introduced to its use as an artistic medium by his tutor George Garson at the Glasgow School of Art in 1972.
Garson taught Dugald not as a mosaicist but as an artist and there was no involvement in Classical mosaic methodology and materials but, rather, great emphasis was placed upon the uses of visual elements in composing works of art per se.
Following his graduation, Dugald obtained a degree in geology in 1985 with the Open University and, a few years later, a qualification in archaeology at the University of Glasgow; both disciplines providing him with a deeper understanding of the creation and formation of the landscape, the dynamic geological forces that underpin our very existence, and how people throughout the ages have modified their environment.
It is slate that is Dugald’s principal medium; its variety of colour, texture, and form provides him with a range of approaches to his art; often minimalistic but on occasion he returns to his roots with small studies in which he explores the characteristics of the rock as a way of opening new pathways in his creative processes.
His work has been shown in the USA, Europe and Japan and he teaches his unique approach to mosaic at the Chicago Mosaic School.
WEBSITE: dugaldmacinnesart.com
PRESENTATION: ‘Sixth Element’.
“Discontinuity II” 60cms by 60cms. Scottish slate. Click on the image to enlarge.
From learned sources, the earth has undergone five mass extinctions in the past. We are now entering the sixth episode of extinction, one caused by or exacerbated by human activities.
A message that may be gleaned from my art is that in the long term it is the earth itself that will determine our future; its crustal plates will go about their inextricably slow business of rearranging the landmasses and oceans irrespective of what us humans may get up to.