Visual Arts

The Gallery

An Tobar Gallery aims to present exhibitions that reflect the diversity of the community and visitors we serve, showing a wide range of visual art and craft disciplines. Hosting three or four curated exhibitions each year, with work from a broad spectrum of practices. From internationally recognised artists to emerging artists starting their careers with their first solo exhibition, with work exhibited ranging from highly technical installations such as Graham Fagen’s The Slave’s Lament or the Society of Scottish Artists Life With Water exhibition, themed by the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, to the divesrse pieces in Mhairi Killin’s On Sonorous Seas, or the exuberance of the wall hangings in Eve Campbell’s Vestige.

Workshops

An Tobar runs an ongoing programme of workshops and commissions. We have many art and craft and cross-discipline workshop projects, such as Forest Partners and Drawing To Dance. We’ve had many educational workshops over the years often with exhibiting artists and arts professionals working with students, covering diverse subjects including slavery, the climate crisis and AIDS.

Commissions

We regularly commission new work and you will find various commissioned pieces around the buildings, inclding work by Erland Tait and Pinky Maclure. Our commissions have also extended into the landscape to include Emma Herman-Smith’s FANK on Loch Frisa, and sculpture on the Ross of Mull, Andrea Geile’s The Chlorophylls at Lettermore and Ilana Halperin's performance work, Reading Rocks on Staffa.

Community

An Tobar houses a space to exhibit developing projects and work by local artists. The Eagle Feet Gallery is a space to exhibit developing projects and work by Scottish and local artists. An Tobar Café provide a further opportunity for local artists to exhibit and sell their work.

We aim each year to include a themed open entry exhibition, we invite contributions from artists and makers living on Mull, Iona and in Argyll and artists who have previously exhibited at the gallery. This event celebrates the amazing breadth of talent of the arts community and emphasizes the importance of the links between An Tobar, artists and the community at large.

Own Art

Own Art is a national initiative that makes buying contemporary art and craft affordable by providing interest-free credit for the purchase of original work. You can find more information here

RSA200: Celebrating Together

An Tobar presents “Drawn to Move: The Living Line” as part of RSA200: Celebrating Together — a programme exploring how artists trace life in motion through film, drawing, and the enduring power of observation. See our Join In section for details.