The Argyll Heritage Craft Residency is a new fully funded residency for an Argyll-based maker. Contemporary craft and design have been key aspects of Cove Park’s annual residency programme since 2000 and many of the participating makers have employed traditional craft processes, materials, designs, and techniques in the production of their work. However, this is the first time Cove Park has offered a dedicated residency designed to support a maker based in Argyll whose work focuses exclusively upon the preservation of traditional craft skills and processes with the aim of preserving and promoting these skills for future generations.

Following an open call for applications, this residency was awarded to maker and multidisciplinary artist Sam Kilday, based in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. For Sam, a working class artist, making art and objects from wood is a retreat to a simpler, slower, less expensive way of life. Using exclusively hand tools, there is no need to pay for electricity to power machines. His materials are foraged or reclaimed wood. Wooden objects are made using tools like saws, axes, knives and chisels. Sometimes the works are abstract, sculptural pieces which convey feelings that are difficult to put into words. Sometimes more functional pieces like drinking vessels, bowls and spoons are hewn from the fallen limb of a tree. The art is in the process and pain of making. Blood may be spilled. Bruises earned. Making anything comes at a cost. In an era of overconsumption and mass production those costs are often excessive and usually hidden from the end user. Visible tool marks and ‘defects’ are kept as evidence of the natural material and of human labour.