The following series of films present different aspects of the artworks I created during the 2018 excavation season at the Ness of Brodgar and exhibited at the Tankerness Museum in Kirkwall, Orkney. The display at the exhibition was interwoven with artifacts from the dig. Much gratitude goes to the work of Jim Bright, who edited all these films for me!
FILM 1 Watercolours Started It All
I explain the inspiration for the fifteen-foot long painting I created during the 2018 Ness of Brodgar excavation. Beginning with good weather, pencil and watercolours, I tried to find what to interpret by moving about the site, intermingling with the archaeologists. The paintings use a loose brush stroke and captures bits and pieces of light and stone.
FILM 2 Tears Through Time
What better way to paint archaeology than to get below the surface! That is what I have done with this series of round paintings that present a new way to look at the past and art. I have made marks, or incisions, similar to those found on the stones at the Neolithic site and hidden them behind the tears in the canvas to be uncovered by the viewer.
FILM 3 Spladongas
As artist in residence at the archaeology site, The Ness of Brodgar, Orkney, Scotland in 2018, I finally had a reason to sit still, and paint after years of helping out in the Orkney Archaeology Society Shop and the Small Finds Hut. What quickly captured my imagination were these rectangular cavities that appeared in wedges of earth. Jo Mckenzie is the micromorphologist who was responsible for creating these “holes”. I was able to catch her at work extricating one of the last samples in “Trench T”. She gave me the privilege to name these gaps, and SPLADONGA was born (Specimen Point Location- a dong a). Listen to her explain the process captured on a windy day on a mobile phone!
FILM 4 Technology Wonders
Each year that I have volunteered on the site of the Ness of Brodgar, I have seen more and more technological advances being used. So it is no wonder that with this exhibition, I would try to incorporate some. Thanks to the wonders of Jim Bright and the earlier work of Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark, this exhibition included 3-D and virtual models of the site. Jim also took some of my conversations with micromorphologist, Dr. Jo McKenzie, and blended them into a mini-film. I suppose the most fun was seeing my painting in a Wigglegram! If not for my art residency, I would not have considered including these moments of computer wonders or met the people who could make it possible!
FILM 5 Orkney Woodcut
Geography can both liberate and trap. In this video, I explain how I transplanted a North American print technique, the Provincetown Print, to Orkney and how it relates to the rich Neolithic roots of the island.
All artworks featured in the films are available for purchase. Please contact me for details at
Jeanne Bouza Rose 