Sheriff Hall n.d.

Editor: So, here we have "Sheriff Hall," an etching by John Clerk of Eldin. The scene has this really quaint, almost dreamlike quality. I'm struck by how the dark foreground and stormy sky seem to close in on this isolated building. What do you make of it? Curator: Dreamlike is the word, isn't it? The texture that Eldin coaxes out of etching reminds me of half-remembered stories. You know, that feeling when the familiar is also somehow… distant? He frames the hall in a way that hints at the power of nature, the untamed around the ordered. I wonder, do you get the sense that it's a portrait of a building, or more the mood the building evokes? Editor: That's interesting. I was focusing so much on the building itself, with its precise lines, that I hadn’t thought about the mood taking precedence. It definitely feels like the artist is trying to evoke a certain atmosphere. Curator: Right. And look how he uses light – the brooding sky, the deep shadows. Almost like he’s staging a little drama, or capturing a fleeting moment, a sentiment that’s somehow grander than the subject matter. Almost daring you to conjure some historical narrative. Who lived there? What secrets did it keep? Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Editor: It absolutely does. I think I'll look at etchings a bit differently now. Curator: Exactly! I love how art does that. We’re not just seeing, we’re feeling history and place, even the hint of a forgotten narrative, with all our senses.