Art and archaeology: the visualisation of Orkney

Abstract

Art and archaeology have always been an important part of my life, and it is only in the last couple of years that I have realised how I can unite them. Let me explain. I am the daughter of Alan Sorrell—an artist best known for his archaeological reconstruction drawings (Perry & Johnson 2014: 323; Figure 1)—and throughout my childhood we visited sites around the country, linking work and holidays. As an artist, my father would gradually gather information to visualise yet another archaeological site while my brothers and I played. In time, I too became an artist fascinated by the abstraction and geometry of the natural world. When awarded the first TravelArt award 2015 by the ACE Foundation, I was asked to produce an exhibition of paintings of Orkney. This unleashed a latent desire to find my own personal interpretation of archaeology.