Touching down in Pittenweem

BLOWN GLASS space ships bathed eerily in spotlights are set to touch down in a Fife coastal burgh come early August, along with the appearance of a sinister sounding Dead-Dad-Dog.

But don't panic; it's not an alien-zombie invasion. It's Pittenweem Arts Festival time and both are the successful submissions by two talented young artists who have been awarded a £ 500 bursary. Fiona McGarva, who holds an honours degree in Art and Design and Pablo Clark, with a similar degree in Film and Television, will now show at this year's popular event which runs from August 2-10.

"We are absolutely thrilled to have these young artists as the bursary winners. They bring a freshness and newness to the Festival with contemporary ideas and new technologies," commented PWAF chair, Jean Duncan.

In its second year, the bursary consists of rent free exhibition venues and a waiver of the registration fee. It is specifically aimed at Scottish Art School graduates who, for financial reasons, would not otherwise be able to participate.

Providing a valuable showcase, the scheme is a wholly practical and enlightened example of much needed encouragement of contemporary art.

Tightly organised, it was professionally and independently judged this year by Edinburgh based textile artist Ann S. King.

McGarva's exhibition incorporates three high tech elements, the suspended spot-lit spaceships packed with what she describes as 'organic and technological components'; glass pods with pulsating LED lighting embedded in them and a panel which reflects the viewer fractured by silvered layers of printed circuit imagery Collectively they open up new and exciting vistas in a medium that invites us to examine the way society and technology now integrate in our daily lives..

For a film maker, Pablo Clark has always been "keen to marry my love of words with the power the camera affords to immediately and dramatically engage an audience."

The two carefully crafted films to be screened are 'Dead-Dad-Dog' and the related 'The House of St Colme Burnt Down' which set out to capture the essential character of a place, the sense of a tight-knit community, mutual understanding, ritual and the feeling of alienation experienced on returning after a period of absence.

"It was vital for me to preserve the ethereal and almost mystical sense of timelessness that makes these places such enduring, beautiful and fascinating prospects.

"I feel Pittenweem Arts Festival would be a fantastic place to show my films. It has such a sense of community and history, the exact things my films strive to achieve," he says.

JOHN DI FOLCO