Margaret Tait

In 1990s Edinburgh, Barbara Thorburn reflects on memories of her poet mother, Greta, and her tragic death.

Short film of an eclipse.

Scenes in and around the old city of Perugia in Umbria, Italy. Kodachrome

"Made in Edinburghs Rose Street, On the Mountain incorporates the whole of a previous film (Rose Street, 1956), including the leader and the titles. The original was shot in black and white, and the negative was lost, and for this reason Tait had the idea of preserving the film by framing it complete in colour , in a contrasted look at the same street in 1974. On the Mountain records and preserves the change. The camera broods and recognises the dustcart . Changed is too gentle a word, the street has ben ripped apart by the developers. An ugly modern precinct has emerged with shabby boutiques and plastic food. The back lane where the children played hopscotch reveals a gap site, a decaying Princess Street, with thumping machines and concrete." – Tamara Krikorian

A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film.

Another early experiment in portraiture from Tait. In filming her mother she asks the wider question of how much the camera can reveal of the person.

"Starting with a six-line script which just noted down a kind of event to occur, and recur, my aim was to construct a film with its own logic, its own correspondences within itself, and its own echoes and rhymes and comparisons, all through close exploration of the everyday, the commonplace, in the city of Edinburgh." - MT

"Touches on elemental images; air, water, (and snow), earth and fire (and smoke) all come into it." - MT

General views of Edinburgh Royal Mile and Princes Street.

A set of three 'film poems' composed around the theme of the garden - the central one featuring hand scratched animated drawings. Margaret Tait described them as follows: 'Round the Garden' - right round and round again, 'Garden Fliers' - flighty cartoon and a stunner of a piano piece and 'Grove' - grave and sonorous.

Affectionate observational shots of toddlers, school age girl and very new baby.

'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. A poem started in words is continued in images - Part of another poem as an addition to the picture - Some images formed by direct-on-film animation - Others 'found' by the camera" - MT

Poles, presumably to be used to carry electricity wires, are seen being carried over a wintry landscape by helicopter in Sandwick, Orkney.

Young women in Milan, rooftops and children. One of the women is possibly Margaret Tait. [shotlisted from MiniDV] gvs Milan main square, bustling crowds. Shot of woman with dog (0.07) women sitting on bench chatting (0.27) dog running along rooftops, children playing along rooftops [overexposed] [Could Margaret Tait be in the picture - not sure?] (1.28)

"This is a landscape study of an Orkney croft, with the figure of the crofter, Mary Graham Sinclair, very much in the picture. The croft is West Aith, on the edge of a small loch, which almost every passing visitor stops to photograph or draw or paint. I have been filming this beautiful place since 1977, observing many of the human activities which alter and define how it looks." Margaret Tait

"The film was conceived as a coda to a longer (colour) film, Place of Work, made in the same year. It covers the time of finally emptying a long-time family home, with its personal memories and connection with some of my own work. Fragments of verse, along with young children's voices released into the emptying rooms and staircases, and an ersatz 'pop' music track, clarify the familiar and the alien in the situation." Margaret Tait

Film seems to tackle frustrations in communication in the relationship between two men and a woman, which are resolved in the end? Shot in Kirkwall and surrounding area. Ola Gorie, who plays Helen in the film is renowned Orcadian jewellery designer, and one of the founders of the modern craft movement in Scotland.

Footage of a yacht race and a (Highland?) Show in Kirkwall, as filmed by Margaret Tait. [this is possibly incomplete footage from her 'Aspects of Kirkwall' series?] See also Additional Information file at 11/1/455. Paper Archives 4/5/119, 4/11/651, 4/5/92. The Tait papers are deposited in Orkney Archives. Currently being catalogued. For any enquiries please contact Principal Archivist. The British Artist's Film and Video Study Collection at http://www.bftv.ac.uk/avantgarde based at Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design holds an artist's file on Margaret Tait. The British Film Institute National Library http://www.bfi.org.uk holds many of the published articles on her and her work. In 1979 Margaret Tait was the subject of a BBC Scotland 'Spectrum' arts programme.

Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'

Margaret Tait described this title as 'An eightsome reel played by Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society, recorded in about 1955 - 1956, later transferred to 35mm optical stock with clear picture and gradually painted over the years. Eights of different things - figures, antlers, or sometimes just blobs in tartan colours - dance their way through the figure of the reel.

Hand painted directly onto film stock by Margaret Tait, this film features animated dancing figures, accompanied by authentic calypso music.

Unedited slates from a film called 'Survivor' filmed by Margaret Tait. Footage includes outdoor landscape and garden scenes, a fire burning in field and a man drinking tea in his study. [There appears to be no coherence to the footage] See also Additional Information file at 11/1/455. Paper Archives 4/5/119, 4/11/651, 4/5/92.

The three portrait sketches of the title are called 'Claudia', 'Fernando Birri' and 'Saulat Rahman'. Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome.

The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece.