A new exhibition revisiting the work of sisters Catriona and Mairead Macdonald, artists born in Karachi to Skye parents in the 1920s, is now open at the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre. The exhibition will include original material and prints from this exciting collection. Although they travelled extensively throughout the world, the Macdonald family retained their native Gaelic and links with Skye relatives. This multicultural flavour is reflected in the sisters’ work, which includes Gaelic cartoons, wallpaper designs, textiles and ceramic studies.
The artists’ mother Maggie (née Mackinnon) came from Staffin and their father, Dugald, came originally from Portree . Dugald’s work as a banker meant that his daughters’ early years were spent in India. When he retired in 1929, the MacDonalds resettled in England and, later, in South Africa. While living in England, Catriona and Mairead both studied at Harrow School of Art and were elected Fellows of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in 1943. After two decades spent in Malta, Catriona and Mairead eventually moved to live in the island of Sark in 1987, where Mairead died in 1990. The sisters had been inseparable for much of their lives, continuing the family tradition of travel and caring for an unusual form of pet: the tortoise. In 2006, Catriona eventually came to live in Skye, where she died at the Haven, Uig, just after her 86th birthday.
Some of the material was featured on the Antiques Roadshow in 2008. Since 2010, it has found a long term home in the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre, Portree.
Visitors to the Exhibition and Archives will now be asked to book by email or phone before visiting – as always, entry to the Archive will be free with donations welcome. We also have new social distancing and safety measures in place.
Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre
