Hugh Macdiarmid
Memorial Plaque
Biggar 1996 - Ceramic
Selected one man shows/residencies/events
1991 Perth Theatre Gallery
1991 Ancrum Gallery, Jedburgh
1992 Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh
1994 Lanark Memorial Hall
1994 East Kilbride Arts Centre
1994 David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre (Artist in residence)
1994 Clydesdale Arts Festival (Artist in residence 1994/7)
1996 Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther
1999 Ether Gallery, Southsea
2000 Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale
2000 Maltings Gallery, Farnham
2001 An Lanntair, Isle of Lewis
2002 Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow
2002 An Tuireann, Isle of Skye
2002 McLean Museum, Greenock
2003 An Tobar, Isle of Mull
2006 Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland
2006 August Gallery, Brenchley, Kent
2007 Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther
2010 Bedales Gallery, Hampshire
2010 Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh
2010 Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham, Hampshire
2013 John Muir's Birthplace, Dunbar
2013 West Ox Arts, Bampton, Oxford
2014 West Meon Book Festival (Artist in Residence)
2018 The High Window Poetry Magazine (Artist in Residence)
2018 Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist
2018 Aros Centre, Portree, Skye
2018 Uist Book Festival
2019 One Tree Books, Petersfield
2023 Goodfield Centre, Churcher's College, Petersfield
2024 Metagama & Marloch, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
July 2004: Artist in Residence, An Tobar, Isle of Mull; producing seven sketchbooks based on his experiences of the island and its history.
Touring exhibition during 1993/4 on the theme of the River Tay, featured two artists Angus McEwan and Douglas Robertson, and two poets, Valerie Gillies and Harvey Holton.
The River Spirits show travelled to Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Gracefield Art Centre, Dumfries; McLean Museum, Greenock; Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh; Barrack Street Museum, Dundee; and the Balbardie Gallery, Bathgate.
‘In Search of a New World’ - Southampton City Art Gallery 2020. Three works included as part of the online open exhibition as part of the Mayflower 400 celebrations. ‘Emigrants - Wake’ awarded second place prize in exhibition.
Current Projects
Metagama & Marloch - An Atlantic Odyssey -21st January 2024
Return of the Metagama performance, at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. The sold-out concert featured the original cast plus add up musicians from Canada and the US.
In the Wake of Metagama - An Atlantic Odyssey in Story and Song - April 2023
A performance of songs, stories and poetry, featuring Robertson’s artwork exclusively produced as backgrounds; cast includes poet Donald S Murray, actress Dolina Maclennan, musicians Liza Mulholland, Christine Hanson, Willie Campbell, Charlie MacKerron, Calum Ailig MacMhaoilein.
Performances at An Lanntair, Stornoway; Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbeculla; Southend Hall, South Uist; Castlebay School, Barra; and Eden Court Theatre, Inverness.
A Whistling of Birds
Collaboration project, with poet Isobel Dixon, creating a series of poems and assemblages based on a response to D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Birds, Beasts and Flowers’. The proposed exhibition and series of performances will take place around the country, including D.H. Lawrence’s birthplace, Nottingham,.
The exhibition and performances will be accompanied by an exhibition catalogue featuring poems enhanced by Doug’s illustrations, with photographs of his assemblages and carvings. A collection of Isobel’s poems, ‘A Whistling of Birds’, with Doug’s drawings was published on 22nd June 2023 by Nine Arches Press.
Wonderful review for A Whistling of Birds from Simon Barraclough, for the Broken Sleep Books books of 2023.
‘This book feels like a mighty crescendo in terms of Dixon’s art. One of our best poets of flora, fauna, landscape, and the complexities of experience, she subtly lenses the just-glimpsable figure of D.H. Lawrence in poems that dance with linguistic playfulness and channel a generous humanity. Alongside the poems are magnificent illustrations by Douglas Robertson. In some books, words and images juxtaposed tend to wrestle, with one eventually pinned to the floor, but Robertson and Dixon seem to help each other reach new heights in their work.’
Interview with Isobel Dixon and Douglas Robertson, on the Birds, Beasts and Flowers project featured in Earthlines 11, March 2015.
Harvard Review 56 - Summer 2020 - Poems ‘Whalefall’ and ‘Wreckfish’ with illustrations featured. Houghton Library, Harvard University, USA
Poem ‘My Sweet Fiorenza’ and drawing of Il Porcellino, plus article - The Florentine, March 2021. Florence, Italy.
Collaboration Projects
Collaboration project ‘The Resurrectionists’, with poet, Gordon Meade - 2024. A collection of poems and drawings.
Collaboration project with Donald S. Murray, including Birdfall, a collection of poems and drawings of real and imagined shorebirds.
Project exhibited at Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist, in 2018, and talks and workshops as part of the Uist Book Festival.
Article featuring ‘Herons’ from the Birdfall project featured in Earthlines 15.
Birdfall featured in Shetland Life, September 2017, and 60 North, Summer 2018
Resident Artist for The High Window Poetry Magazine, 2018. Artwork and poetry collaborations will appear in the four issues of 2018. https://thehighwindowpress.com
'Stand and Stare' - Celtic Connections Festival, Glasgow 2017, Music and literature performance, using 'Leisure' by W.H. Davies as its inspiration. Original drawings used as part of the performance for Donald S Murray's 'Ship Of Fools' poem.
'The Guga Stone - Lies, Legends and Lunacies from St Kilda', by Donald S Murray, illustrated by Douglas Robertson, published by Luath Press, Edinburgh, hardback 2013, and in paperback, 2014.
Named in The Guardian's Best Nature Books 2013
Readings, talks and launches for The Guga Stone include National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; Waterstone's Inverness and Glasgow; Brasenose College, Oxford University; One Tree Books, Petersfield; West Meon Book Festival, Hampshire.
'SY StorY' by Donald S Murray, illustrated by Douglas Robertson, published by Birlinn, Edinburgh, February 2015.
SY Story launched at the Woodlands Centre and An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, February 2015.
'Herring Tales' by Donald S Murray, illustrations by Douglas Robertson, published by Bloomsbury Press, London, September 2015
Named in The Guardian’s Best Nature Books 2015
Readings, talks and launches for Herring Tales include Skye Book Festival, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; Waterstone's Inverness; One Tree Books, Petersfield; Edinburgh International Book Festival; Scottish Writers Centre, Glasgow.
'The Dark Stuff' by Donald S Murray, illustrations by Douglas Robertson, published by Bloomsbury Press, London, April 2018
Collaboration project with poet Gordon Meade, 'Les Animots - A Human Bestiary', published by Cultured Llama Press in September 2015.
Poems and images featured in Stravaig 4, the online magazine of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics 2015
'Bear' featured in Zoomorphic Magazine 2015
Work in public collections
Inverclyde District Council, East Kilbride District Council, Scottish Fisheries Museum, Clydesdale District Council, Biggar Museums Trust, Calderglen Country Park, Borders Television, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Poetry Library, Timespan Heritage Centre, Shetland Arts Trust, Dundee University, Glasgow Museums, Ness Historical Society, Churcher's College.
Catalogues, Publications, and other media
The Dictionary of Artists in Britain Since 1945 - David Buckman (Ed.) - Art Dictionaries Ltd.
The Florentine, Italy. March 2021
Harvard Review 56, USA. Summer 2020
Meon Valley Forum, exhibition preview, February 2019
60 North - Shetland Heritage, ‘Birdfall’ feature, Spring 2018
Scottish Islands Explorer, ‘Birdfall’ feature November 2017
Shetland Life, ‘Birdfall’ Interview, September 2017
Cover image for Entanglements, for Two Ravens Press 2012
Cover image for 'In The Distance' by David Cooke, for Night Publishing 2011
Cover images for ‘Small Expectations’ by Donald S. Murray, for Two Ravens Press 2010
Cover image for Söylesi Üç Aylik Siir Dergisi, Turkey. (International poetry journal) September 2009.
Cover illustration for ‘Praising The Guga’ by Donald S. Murray 2008
EarthLines magazine, illustrations featured in issues May and August 2012
Pushing Out The Boat – Anthology, Aberdeen May 2012
Six illustrations for Turkish translation of poems by Kenneth White 2012
Douglas Robertson - Timespan Heritage Centre, 2000
Lines Review 118 - Macdonald Publishers, Edinburgh 1991
Lines Review 124 - Macdonald Publishers, Edinburgh 1993
Mistaken Identities: New Scottish poetry and short stories - B&W, Edinburgh, 1995
Edinburgh Review - Polygon, Edinburgh, 1995
Radio and Television
'River Spirits' - Documentary series made for the BBC World Service, and broadcast worldwide, 1994
'Usual Suspects' - Arts Review broadcast by BBC Radio Scotland, 1994. Featured an interview with Douglas Robertson
'Poem Boats' - TV magazine feature about Douglas Robertson and Kevin MacNeill, and broadcast on BBC Scotland’s 'Eorpa', the Gaelic arts programme on Burn's Night 2001
Interview with Donald S. Murray and Douglas Robertson at Wordplay, the annual Shetland Book Festival - www.writerstories.tv
Sruth a Mhetagama/In the Wake of Metagama, Trusadh, BBC Alba 2023