Over the last few years, a number of artists have been invited to take up residence in Braemar and to immerse themselves in the surroundings. Scottish poet Alec Finlay was commissioned to create a poetic guide to the Cairngorms. Gideon Summerfield, a recent postgraduate from the Royal School of Drawing, in London has drawn portraits of some of Braemar’s 450 residents. Naturalist James Prosek designed the hotel’s striking coat of arms and the logo for The Flying Stag.
The Fife Arms Residences
James Prosek
James Prosek is an American artist, writer and naturalist. He spent a number of weeks in Braemar spending time up on the hills and researching the local flora and fauna. He created our Flying Stag which is the motif of our Coat of Arms and the name of our public bar. James says, ‘As a hybrid creature the flying stag is a manifestation of the hybrid ethos. The hybrid flying stag marries the high alpine habitats and the lower pine valley ecosystem though the union of the ptarmigan (a creature that lives on the highest peaks of the Cairngorms) and the stag (of the forested Dee Valley). Ultimately, the health of one depends on the health of the other—all is interconnected.’
Alec Finlay
Created especially for the Fife Arms, ‘Gathering’ is an innovative mapping of the Highland landscape in poems, essays, photographs, and maps, conceived by Scottish artist and poet Alec Finlay. The work guides the reader to modest and forgotten places in this complex region.
Orlando Mostyn-Owen
Orlando travelled from Paris, at the invitation of Iwan and Manuela Wirth, to capture the landscapes and people of Braemar through his unique sketches and paintings. Known for his depictions of nature, landscape and portraits, Orlando Mostyn-Owen’s work is held in numerous private, as well as, French national collections.
Gideon Summerfield
A graduate from The Royal Drawing School in London, Gideon was invited to complete a series of drawings of local people living in Braemar. Titled ‘Characters of Braemar’; a selection of these sketches are hung in The Flying Stag alongside black and white photographsof Breamar life by local photographer Steven Rennie.
