Page 120 - Art First: Helen MacAlister: At the Foot o’ Yon Excellin’ Brae

BÀN : DEARG Bàn means white and dearg is red.
sand-blasted glass, 2009, A6 (halves = 105 x 74cm), ‘Bàn is the left-handed of the furrow in
edition of 2 ploughing, distinguished from dearg, the red or right-
handed side. Bàn is empty or waste, as an unplowed field,’ 1
Position: white on left + red on right leaving dearg describing tilled + turned – things seen and
thought of in direct visual terms.
R.B.Cunninghame Graham told of a character
in a short story, that by, ‘Not having Gaelic, he had lost the
gift of picturesque expression.’ 2

1 Gaelic Words & Expressions from South Uist & Eriskay – Fr. Allan
McDonald, p256
2 Scottish Stories - R.B.Cunninghame Graham; (A Retainer) p59

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