Bid to make North east artist a tourist draw

Newburgh Village Public Hall will officially launch the James McBey Project later this month, 140 years after the birth of the north-east artist-adventurer, with a free talk by his biographer, Alasdair Soussi.

The project team erected two threshold road signs honouring McBey at either end of Newburgh.

For months, the project team – Isobel Davidson and Ron Macdonald of the Newburgh and Ythan Community Trust, Aberdeen City archivist Phil Astley, Aberdeenshire artist Jane Bradford and journalist and author Alasdair Soussi – have been behind a push to promote the life and work of the Aberdeenshire-born artist James McBey, who would make his name as one of the world's most successful painters and etchers of the 20th century prior to his death in Morocco in 1959.

A few weeks ago, building on the success of Soussi's 2022 biography of McBey, Shadows & Light: The Extraordinary Life of James McBey, and ahead of the 140th anniversary of McBey's birth on December 23, the team erected two threshold road signs honouring McBey.

The signs were installed either end of Newburgh where he lived as a child.

A plaque has also been installed on McBey's childhood home in the village

The team also oversaw the assembly of a plaque on McBey's childhood home in the village and cleaned up the Gillespie family gravestone marking the burial place of McBey’s mother, grandmother and other family members at Foveran Parish Church.

Other developments will include the production of 1,000 tourist leaflets on McBey and the construction of a tourist information board outside McBey's birthplace at Newmill.

The project team see all of these as the start of a bid to make James McBey’s life and works a bona fide tourist attraction, linking his Aberdeenshire birthplace to his spiritual home of Aberdeen Art Gallery where many of his artworks reside.

Chris Foy, Chief Executive of VisitAberdeenshire, said: “This initiative not only brings another dimension to McBey’s work that is on display in Aberdeen Art Gallery, but also provides yet another great reason to visit Newburgh, stay longer in the village, and explore deeper.”

To reserve your spot at the Newburgh Village Public Hall launch at 7pm on Saturday January 27 visit Eventbrite