The Argyll Collection Reconnected

History

Owned by Argyll and Bute Council, The Argyll Collection is a unique group of over 170 artworks, established between 1960 and 1990, for the benefit of the young people of Argyll and Bute. Author Naomi Mitchison and art advisor and teacher Jim Tyre created the collection to enable young people to experience fine art in an area with little access to museums and galleries. Jim drove the collection around the county, taking the artworks into schools for engaging and inspiring lessons.

Naomi and Jim filled the collection with outstanding modern Scottish artists, including Joan Eardley, Alan Davie, Anne Redpath, Will McLean, Robert MacBryde, Elizabeth Blackadder, Robin Philipson, and Barbara Rae. Naomi’s travels to eastern and southern Africa are also reflected in an outstanding group of twelve artworks by artists from Africa, including works by Jak Katarikawe, Henry Tayali, Catherine Gombe and Sam J Ntiro.

Since 2021, CHARTS has managed the collection, delivering workshops across Argyll Schools, redisplayed the collection, created traineeship opportunities, and worked with national and international universities. In 2023, the collection was reviewed and supported by the Art Fund.

Public Engagement 

From 2023 to 2024, CHARTS carried out an inventory of the collection. The collection was spread across 9 secondary schools, including Oban, Tobermory, Lochgilphead, Tarbert, Campbeltown, Helensburgh, Dunoon, Rothesay, and Islay, as well as 5 primary schools and 2 libraries. In establishing the location of the pieces in the collection, the Reconnected team conducted condition checks to initiate a conservation programme and, importantly, to meet and build working relationships with school staff. 

Between January and April 2024, CHARTS supported a local young person, Lily Vaughan, in undertaking an Exhibition Traineeship. Lily curated Awaken, The Argyll Collection, an exhibition of pieces from the Collection that ran in Dunoon Burgh Hall and was covered by journalist Jan Patience. 

Find out more about ongoing work and the collection through CHARTS online talk (2024) from research manager Kirsty MacNab, which explores The Argyll Collection's and Jim Tyre's archives and Dr Kate Cowcher's talk for National Galleries Scotland, Naomi Mitchison, African modernism, and art for the people in rural Scotland (2025).

Digitisation

In 2024, CHARTS partnered with Art UK to begin uploading the full collection, enriched by digital stories and curations to reach a national audience. A Visual Literacy project with 6 Kintyre primary schools used the Collection to explore The Superpower of Looking, alongside teacher training with Argyll and Bute Council.

The Collection was also digitised for global access, following CHARTS selection for a unique collaboration with XpoNorth Digital and Smartify, the world’s most downloaded museum app.

Collections Care and Conservation

Since 2024, CHARTS has worked in partnership with Dr Kate Cowcher (University of St Andrews), Dr Lucy Steeds (University of Edinburgh), and Prof. Christina Young (University of Glasgow), whose research helped uncover new insights and connections within the Argyll Collection. CHARTS has worked with Painting Conservator Sylvia Krauss to establish best practice and has undertaken an extensive condition check of the collection and the conversion of selected works.

CHARTS work with academic bodies has extended internationally with CHARTS international project Growing Global Networks, Dr Deirdre MacKenna, visiting Uganda with Dr Cowcher to establish links between the Argyll Collection, CHARTS, and key cultural institutions in Kampala, including Makerere University and the British Council.

Reconnected: The Argyll Collection was a CHARTS-led project funded by the Art Fund that reviewed the cultural, social, and educational value of the Collection and was featured in GEM Case Studies #32: Reviewing a Museum Without Walls, The Argyll Collection, Reconnected.

The Argyll Collection Reconnected was funded by the Art Fund and supported by Argyll and Bute Council, National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Gannochy Trust, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the William Syson Foundation. Additional support from Art UK, Highland and Island Enterprise, Smarity and liveArgyll.