About Gail McGarva
Gail McGarva is a traditional wooden boat builder, specialising in the building of replicas or 'daughterboats' of vessels in danger of extinction. In 2014, Gail was awarded a British Empire Medal for her services to clinker boatbuilding and heritage crafts; in 2015 she was awarded the Lord Balfour Prize for exceptional achievement in craft. Gail was previously a Shipshape South West project, but moved to Scotland in 2023.
The Story Boat Project
The Story Boat Project gives a new lease of life to the retired fishing boat Vera of 1923, in collaboration with wheelwrights Mike Rowland & Son, by upturning her and transforming her into a miniature maritime world.
In 2010, Gail built a daughter-boat to Vera with funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust in order to preserve the Lerret, a boat type in danger of extinction, and preserve the art of boatbuilding 'by eye'. With mentor Roy Gollop, the lines were taken from the motherboat and the daughterboat, named Littlesea, was 'built by eye' without the use of designer drawings and construction plans.
In 2017 Gail was awarded an Arts Council Individual Grant for the Arts in support of the Story Boat Project. The Story Boat is a miniature maritime museum that Gail created from the upturned Vera, giving her a new lease of life on land as the keeper of memories, and encapsulates Gail’s passion for the preservation of traditional craft. The on-going work of the Story Boat Project is an integration of Gail’s work as a boat builder, workshop facilitator and teller of stories.
Vera the Story Boat now travels to primary schools and community venues offering maritime heritage workshops, celebrating the story of the motherboat and her fishing community.
Disappearing Lines
The project Disappearing Lines seeks to shine a light on endangered boats and their communities by inspiring people through a one-day workshop in traditional wooden boat building and a talk on endangered craft. The aim of the project is to help preserve the lineage of the endangered vessels, the craft of traditional wooden boat building and give voice to the living history of our coastal communities. It is inspired by the story of Vera and the sense of urgency that many working boats like her are in danger of extinction. Equally the craft of traditional wooden boat building and building by eye are endangered skills.
The Disappearing Lines workshop is a combination of practical hands-on activities interwoven with capturing the stories of craft in danger of extinction. The one-day workshop will give participants the opportunity to try their hand at two key processes in traditional wooden boat building – steam bending and copper-rivet fastening. Through Gail’s demonstration and tutoring, they will create their own miniature oak ribcage of a boat, a ghost ship symbolising the disappearing lines of the craft. Participants will not need to be skilled in woodwork and it will be accessible to all ages. Gail will tailor the delivery of the workshop to suit the participants.
The workshop will also bring to life examples of working boats in danger of extinction. If pertinent to the area or group, participants will be invited to bring their own memory objects linked to a local boat that is endangered or lost and share the narrative attached to it.
Additionally an evening talk is offered by Gail as an open event for the local community on the disappearing lines of craft with an illustrated slideshow accompanied with an exhibition of the ghost ships made during the workshops and a display of memory objects.
Disappearing Lines exhibition
In September 2023, Gail created the Disappearing Lines exhibition for the Scottish Book Festival in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway. This evocative installation captured the disappearing lines of traditional wooden boats, their communities and their shores. A selection of black and white images of boats from the NHS-UK Photo Competition were featured as part of the installation, where visitors were immersed in a disappearing world of images, voices and memory objects of the sea.
All boats have a story to tell
Gail has written & produced a new collection of audio portraits celebrates the stories of traditional working boats: the craft of the people who build them, their communities and their shores. Sadly many of the working boats along the coastline of Britain are under threat and the stories and memories they hold are being lost as the generations pass. These portraits are a celebration of these working boats and their special place in our maritime heritage. Listen via Gail's Soundcloud: The story of Georgie McDonald - The Story of Rebel - The Story of Littlesea
Building Futures Galloway Community Workshop
Gail's current project is to equip a community workshop on the Solway Firth with tools needed to teach young people traditional wooden boatbuilding. The youth employability scheme in Whithorn is aimed at young people with barriers to employment in an area where youth unemployment is endemically high. It already includes traditional skills such as stone and lime construction, green woodworking and architectural carpentry. The town has close links with its nearby mediaeval harbour at Isle of Whithorn, where today there is a vibrant coastal rowing society. Young people have requested traditional boatbuilding as a course option, having been working on a clinker-built faering over the last year. In November 2023, Gail and the team at Building Futures Galloway were awarded a grant from Heritage Crafts' Endangered Craft Fund towards equipping the workshop.
LATEST NEWS
August 2024 Gail McGarva has been shortlisted for the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts at the 2024 Heritage Crafts Awards. Winners will be announced in November. Full story
Find out more:
Follow Gail on social media:
