A contemporary exhibition space and studio in the North-West Highlands
Opening late summer 2026….
Built around 1895 by the Free Presbyterian Church, the Hall stands just beyond the sea’s grasp, where salt-laden winds, dunes, ancient rock and restless water have remained in conversation for millennia.
Looking west across the panorama of the Inner Sound and the Minch towards Skye and the Outer Hebrides, it occupies a place where weather is never merely background, but the principal architect of the landscape.
A meeting place on the margins,
where artists engage with nature
and where wind, sea and stone remain in constant conversation
Recently acquired by Scottish-Canadian painter Alison Dunlop RSW, the Hall has been reimagined as a working studio, exhibition space and place of gathering. Its purpose is not simply to display art, but to foster a dialogue between artists, viewers and the landscape that surrounds them.
Open primarily by arrangement, the Hall will periodically host open studio exhibitions alongside carefully curated exhibitions of work by artists and makers whose practice is rooted in the North and shaped by a profound engagement with its elemental maritime landscape. Here, the art is not separate from its setting; it is a reflection of the enduring conversation between sea, wind, stone and light.
The Coast
Opinan is a small, scattered and coastal crofting community on the Redpoint peninsula, just south of Gairloch.
It is located along the scenic coast road edging the Inner Sound and Northern Minch, with panoramic views towards to Isle of Skye, Rona, Harris, Lewis and the Shiant Isles.
This coastline is a vast, wild and open landscape, an amphitheatre in which we ‘live the weather’. The energy and the light in this place are unique and living here is a daily immersion in a breathtaking (sometimes overpowering) drama played out by light, wind and water. Due to the Gulf Stream and the presence of the Isles, nature seems to be in a state of constant flux and life here really is ruled by the elements.
The North-West Highlands offer a unique environment for artists wishing to engage closely with the natural world. Artists who live and work in this distinctive setting, cannot avoid being influenced by the complex interdependencies that shape both human and ecological experience, being immersed in them daily, as we are. The region’s rugged and wild terrain and dynamic ecosystems offer a powerful source of inspiration and foster meaningful conversations about connection with nature and our evolving relationship with time, place, and the forces that shape the landscape.
untamed
spirit of place
the north
