A sign of our times

Following in the artistic footsteps of the Book of Kells, that legendary Irish-Scottish collaboration of the early 9th century and perhaps the most important illuminated manuscript in the world, the modern-day Great Book of Gaelic effortlessly weaves together the work of more than 200 leading artists, poets and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland.

Covering every subject from comedy and tragedy to love and death, the spiritual and the bawdy, The Great Book has taken just three years to compile the twinkling of an eye compared to the decades of craftsmanship that went into the Book of Kells.

Creative marriage

An extraordinary celebration in words and pictures of Gaelic culture, The Great Book's text comes from 30 leading poets and writers from Scotland and Ireland, amongst them Aonghas MacNeacail, Seamus Heaney, Hamish Henderson and Michael Davitt. Each poet was asked to choose one of their own works, plus, between them, another 70 from the enormously rich canon of Gaelic poetry, stretching back over 1500 years. Nearly every century from the 6th to the 21st is represented in what is a remarkable visual anthology of Gaelic culture from the earliest times to the present day.

As for the pictures, 100 visual artists - 50 from each country - were commissioned to 'respond' to a particular poem. Using a special hand-made paper, rather than the vellum employed in the Book of Kells, the artists who include such famous names as John Bryne, Alasdair Gray, Alan Davie and Calum Colvin used a variety of media to articulate these responses including etching, screenprint, digital print, tapestry, oil paint, gouache and photography.

To marry the two together, a small team of calligraphers and typographer Don Addison worked with the artists and poets to integrate the key lines of poetry and artist's images.

'Read the book. . . bought the T-shirt'

The individual artworks only form a part of The Great Book of Gaelic project, published by Edinburgh-based Canongate. It also includes a CD of songs, a BBC film, DVD, several radio series, an education pack and a website. Copies of the book were gifted to every Gaelic-medium school in Scotland and Ireland as part of the education pack, complete with teachers' notes on exploring issues of geography, history and language as well as arts and culture. And in response a book of the work of the school children has also been published.

The artworks themselves were part of a major international tour, starting at The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. Presented in a polished wooden case crafted from the Wood of Hallaig on Raasay, the birthplace of the late, great Gaelic bard Sorley MacLean, The Great Book has visited prestige venues in 50 locations and has been seen by more than two million people. The exhibition has been touring now for nearly seven years and with support from the Scottish Government and the Nova Scotia Government, the book is in Nova Scotia, Canada until 2011.

The vital spark

The driving force behind this latter day Book of Kells is Malcolm Maclean, Director of Proiseact nan Ealan (PNE), The Gaelic Arts Agency. Dedicated to promoting the Gaelic arts at local, national and international level, PNE, the national development agency for Scottish Gaelic arts and culture, has been instrumental in creating an impressive range of award-winning arts initiatives over the years.

Given his leading role in its conception, it's fitting that the last words on The Great Book of Gaelic should be left to Malcolm Maclean. His dream was to create "a new international flagship of Gaelic culture", "a symbol of cultural survival and renewal which will be a revered artefact for years to come." And surely he has succeeded.