Working together to create more enjoyable local spaces for residents and visitors
Quick Facts
Time frame: 2017 – present
Partners: Atlas Arts
Project Background
If you walk around Portree you will encounter some strategically placed information boards. In partnership with the Community Trust, Portree-based Atlas Arts commissioned New York artist J. Maizlish Mole to create two humorous yet practical public maps: one of the Isle of Skye as a whole, and the other of the town of Portree.
To create the map for Portree, the artist walked in and around town for two weeks, taking in its streets, landmarks, walking trails, quirks, amenities, landscapes and history. Mole’s working process is unique; he travels routes several times and then hand-draws the map to scale from memory, incorporating personalised annotations of the elements that he has learnt along the way through both personal experience and locals’ knowledge.
The maps were available until 2021 as a tear-off map, found in many local businesses. They are still displayed in Portree’s Somerled Square and Bayfield car park and enjoyed greatly by local people and visitors alike.