ABSTRACT
'A hesitation of the tide / betrays this island, daily.' Those lines once read stay with the reader. The poem is about two islands and the mainland country between them. The writer is Gael Turnbull, a poet of cultural and geographical perception. Turnbull's poem thus serves to introduce islandness and art through Lindisfarne and Iona. It is a reminder of the profound importance of island communities to the development of the culture of Europe. One of the most well known of all island cultures with respect to exchange of art, ideas and goods is that of Venice. Venice serves to introduce another key aspect of art as it relates to islands, for their geography facilitates the appreciation of light and colour. The large island of Lewis and Harris shares much with both Iona and Lindisfarne in terms of religious settlement. Just off its coast is Little Bernera, an island that has been described as the Iona of the north.
