The shores of the Western Isles inspire Alice Macmillan’s vibrant prints of birds, plants and sea life
Words: Rosanna Morris Photos: Eleanor Mackay
Bubbles rise up from a shoal of mackerel fleeing the advances of a northern gannet plunging, wings folded, into the sea, while above this underwater scene, two more gannets fight over a single mackerel, wings and feet thrashing, their spear-like bills parrying. In the background, a dark, mysterious rocky isle.
This watery hunt is beautifully captured in a monochrome palette of black and white by Scottish artist Alice Macmillan, whose giant linocut print depicts the great speed and accuracy of these large seabirds as they descend on their prey.
The artwork, titled Boreray, was inspired by the colonies of gannets living on the uninhabited island of Boreray in the St Kilda archipelago, the remote westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides. Islanders abandoned St Kilda long ago, but Alice lives on a similarly ancient and beautiful isle – Lewis, just across the water. The rich Hebridean wildlife and the seasonal rhythms of the area are a constant source of inspiration for her.
“My prints are my interpretation of what I see and hear in a particular month,” she says. “A sound or sight can trigger something and I start sketching in my head. I mull ideas over, make sketches and then start on the linocut. It’s never a specific scene, it’s more a feeling. A moment. A gannet diving into the sea at 60 miles per hour. Gannets are fascinating.”
Alice is not alone in her appreciation of gannets on Lewis. Boreray has been bought by many locals. Gannets were once a vital food for people living on these wild islands and their continual presence defines the feel here.
Alice has been working as an artist on Lewis since 2018, when she returned to the island and bought her parent’s old croft house with her musician husband David who, like Alice, was born and raised here. Alice’s parents had moved away with her to Norfolk in 2009. Despite studying at Norwich University of the Arts, she didn’t pursue an artistic career when she graduated and instead, following postgraduate teacher training at Cambridge, became a primary-school teacher. After a while, however, she felt the need to change course.
“I loved teaching but it wasn’t for me anymore,” she says. “I wanted to get back into art.” And now she finds herself once a
