Visual Arts
Christine's poetry blends perfectly with the visual arts to paint beautiful imagery. She has collaborated on projects with painters, graphical designers, photographers and art students throughout the UK.
Victoria Crowe - Artist
Christine drew inspiration from the work of the artist Victoria Crowe, writing a collection of ekphrastic poems. Several of these poems were printed in Catching the Light, an anthology published by The Scottish Gallery (2019) to coincide with the exhibition Victoria Crowe: 50 Years of Painting at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh, 2019.
Christine's poems led to a subsequent collaboration with Victoria Crowe and a joint publication - Another Time, Another Place - in 2021.
Brigid Collins - Artist
Brigid Collins is a free-lance artist who used Christine's poems to inspire her students at the Edinburgh College of Art to create 3D art books. They created books based on the history of The Royal Mile, inspired by a poem Christine had written with help from Ingrid Murray for the Royal Mile Business Association.
Between 2022 and 2023, Christine worked with Brigid again. Together, they responded to the atmosphere and tranquillity of seasonal change in Dr Neil's Garden, Duddingston. Their collaboration is documented in Such Fragile Futures.
Peter Davis - Artist
The Shetland artist Peter Davis asked Christine to contribute to his 2020 exhibition Stillness and Flow with related poetry readings at the Birch Tree Gallery, Edinburgh.
Gabriel Lalonde - Artist
Québec-based artist and writer Gabriel Lalonde and Christine decided to collaborate on a piece of work based around the theme of finding your way home. The poem Christine wrote is Gaet-markers. Gabriel's response to the poem is a series of images which will be displayed together on poles.
Hansel Cooperative Press - a poetry-art collaboration
Christine formed Hansel Cooperative Press with Orkney-based artists John Cumming and Frances Pelly. Together they produced a portfolio of prints based on Shetland poems including Hansel.
More recently John and Christine experimented with an art-book, Earth, air, water, fire.
Jill Ashforth - Artist
Jill Ashforth's 2008 exhibition included a response to the poem Only an Ocean Divides from Parallel Worlds
Joyce Gunn Cairns - Artist
Joyce Gunn Cairns drew several portraits of Christine who, in turn, wrote a poem about the experience. Joyce's drawings were displayed in Henderson's Gallery as part of her unspoken lines exhibition.
Marjory Grant - Embroiderer
Marjory created several pieces based on Christine's poems for an exhibition by Penelope's Sisters in Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, 11th November 2007.
Scottish Poetry Library with The Edinburgh College of Art
Poets' Photographic Portraits Project, 2001-2004 - Kim Powell's portrait of Christine was part of the June 2004 exhibition.
Alan Victor, Court Graphic Design - Designer
Alan designed the layout of Christine's first three poetry collections and was also involved in the design of Hansel Cooperative Press's books for children, produced two posters based on poems inspired by Colin Baxter's photography. Sunset trowe da Gaada Stack and Dore Holm aff o Eshaness were the result.
The National Museums of Scotland
Christine wrote two poems for display on the hoardings around the Museum of Scotland whilst it was being constructed. Edinburgh College of Art students, Janice Tabraham and Keith Thompson, illustrated Namin da peerie isles and Time circles respectively.
Aaron Sinclair - Artist
Aaron illustrated Completin da circle as part of a project on Scottish Diaspora
Alexa Rutherford - Illustrator
Alexa Rutherford painted several watercolours which were included in Christine's poetry collections. The sensitivity of her work was highlighted in several of the books' reviews.
Alexa's watercolour of the Valkyries appears in Wast wi da Valkyries and transforms Shetland ponies into sturdy Valkyries. A snippet of a letter to Christine from her mother, describes the view depicted in the painting.
In Portrait of a Lady, Alexa cleverly combines much of the visual imagery of the two title poems of the book, Plainsong, depicting Christine as an expectant mother.
Catriona Grant - Photographer
As part of the exhibition associated with the Pocketbook Wish I Was Here, Catriona Grant produced a portrait of Christine and an art-video with Christine doing some dubious knitting. Initially these were displayed in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery before going on tour. When Christine learned that the exhibition would reach Shetland - home of serious knitters - she wrote An apology to Shetland Knitters for the local newspaper.
Gunnie Moberg - Photographer
The cover of Parallel Worlds is a photograph taken by the Orkney photographer Gunnie Moberg. Some of Christine's poems also feature in The Shetland isles, a book on Shetland by Gunnie and the Norwegian writer Liv Schei.
Eleanor Symms - Artist
In 2002, Eleanor Symms created a series of four hand-bound books illustrating the elements. Christine's haiku, Fire, featured in one of the books which formed part of an exhibition at the 2002 Edinburgh Book Festival.