ii: Artist of the Month
Angela Macmillan
www.weenorrag.co.uk Our featured artist harnesses sunlight and change as pigment. An Inverness-based educator and artist, Angela Macmillan has been trading under the name Wee Norrag since 2012, and her enchanting and dainty cyanotype prints capture in relief the intricacies of her native Highland wildflowers and grasses, lending an ethereal magic to our midsummer pages. Angela writes: Nature is an endless source of inspiration to me. From intricate Ferns to the carpet of fallen blossom leaves, from fluffy Bog Cotton to the tiny, delicate flowers on Cow Parsley, beauty is all around. Whilst I have always been happiest in nature— in the woods or beside the sea —lockdown reinforced just how vital it was to me. Walks became slower and more mindful. I began homing in on the patterns in nature, and felt drawn to bring these patterns into my home. I experimented with various media before discovering the cyanotype process, and I have become captivated by it. Cyanotype is an old photographic technique using light exposure and a simple chemical process to create detailed blueprints. There is a magic about it. I get lost in it, and the hours disappear. Whilst cyanotype is a relatively new technique to me, I have used Wee Norrag as my creative outlet since the birth of my son, ten years ago. I would work with textiles— primarily Harris Tweed, much of which was woven by my father-in-law on the Isle of Lewis —to create gifts and homewares whilst my son had his afternoon nap. I named my business in honour of this, as ‘norrag’ is the Gaelic word for a wee snooze. I have worked in Gaelic-medium primary education for almost twenty years, and sometimes a particular flower or scene brings to mind a Gaelic proverb or song lyric. I like to include that in my artwork. Wee Norrag has ebbed and flowed over the years as our family has grown, and as work commitments have changed, but it has remained an important constant to me. My recent work with cyanotype aims to bring the outside in, bringing the patterns from nature into peoples’ homes, to remind us of the often overlooked beauty that surrounds us.
Many of Angela’s prints and textiles are available to purchase from her shop: weenorrag.etsy.com You can find and follow Angela on Instagram: @weenorrag
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