Tom MacKenzie

Printmaker known for his prints of Scottish landscapes

Born: July 31, 1947;

Died: March 9, 2018

TOM MacKenzie, who has died aged 70, was an artist and printmaker who leaves a rich legacy on paper with his powerful prints of Scottish landscapes and seascapes. Tommy, as he is better known, was a Portree resident extraordinaire who left an equally rich bequest to the oral tradition, or the craic as it is called in Gaelic. Tales from a life lived to the full brought smiles amid the sorrow at his funeral service.

He was a Skye man through and through but was born in Lerwick, Shetland, where his father Jonacks had gone to work. The MacKenzies returned to Skye when Tommy was only 10 months old. He was educated at Portree High School and at 17 left home to enrol at Duncan of Jordanstone art school in Dundee. This did not work out and after a year he went to London. His pursuit of art continued at evening classes in life drawing while working in a variety of jobs by day.

He returned to full-time study at Hornsey College of Art in London but with no grant had to work nights. It was at Hornsey that Tommy became less involved in painting with more of an emphasis on etching which was to be his métier. A post-graduate year at Wimbledon Art College followed.

In 1976 he moved to back to Scotland, joining a team of many talents at the Glasgow Print Studio. John Taylor, a colleague and long-time friend, says: "Tom MacKenzie’s art was made from the Isle of Skye’s unique cornucopia of visual riches: the huge, notched and jagged coastline; sea lochs with many rocky islands; the Cuillins, the most awesome mountains in Britain."

Taylor explains the special skills involved in capturing this natural beauty in print: "His subtlety of light was astounding. Do not be fooled by the amazing simplicity in so many prints. It was hard fought, the plate often undergoing intensive workings. This was the process that Tommy enjoyed. An image moving down a direction and then back through a process of selection and discarding. Sometimes his plates changed like the Scottish weather he so deftly portrayed.

"Tommy could be self-effacing, yet he knew he was good, seeing himself as 'a more than adequate craftsman' but you would be hard pushed getting him to admit he was the great artist he was."

MacKenzie’s art has a wide-ranging appeal. Two of his works are to be found in the British Government’s collection. An early print At the Ebb – which John Taylor describes as "like a vigorous action painting of sea, rocks and weed among strong wind blowing squally showers across a dark promontory" is appropriately housed at the Department of the Environment in London. A MacKenzie etching and aquatint adorns the wall of the British embassy in Muscat, Oman.

MacKenzie prints are ubiquitous, equally in the homes of Skye exiles and city folk who have never set foot on the island, far less climbed a Cuillin. Many a tourist has taken home a memento from the fine little gallery which Mr MacKenzie set up in 1983 when he returned to live in Portree.

His own people took his art firmly into their hearts. No wedding list was complete without the gift of a MacKenzie. Most homes will also have Skye rock band Runrig’s Recovery album with Tommy MacKenzie’s etching of Coruisk from the Ridge on its cover.

Tommy MacKenzie was one of few Scottish printmakers to earn a living solely from his work but he was not driven by money. He was not a man for hype or marketing. He had a relaxed lifestyle, often to be seen sitting in the sun on his favourite Wentworth Street window sill with a recreational roll-up cigarette and a cup of coffee from the Tongadale bar opposite.

His day would have begun with a rapid solving of The Herald crossword. He was particularly adept at The Herald’s devilishly compiled Wee Stinker puzzle, winning no fewer than 10 of the much sought-after prize T-shirts, a feat almost equalled by his formidable mother Isobel.

The T-shirts were pressed into service as uniforms for the Skye Tattie Pickers tug-of-war of which he was coach, one of the many community activities which he pursued with dedication and effortless energy.

He had a passion for shinty but could not match the prowess of his father Jonacks and then his son John. It is said that the midges were more dangerous than Tommy on the shinty park. His dedication to fund-raising and organisation at the Skye Camanachd club was, however, beyond doubt. His application to athletic activity was rewarded with a special medal for completing 20 Skye half-marathons.

There was a healthy air of competition, whether it be growing prize-winning potatoes or orchestrating elaborate practical jokes, between Tommy MacKenzie and the Skye men with whom he shared a dram or two at the Tongadale. The most madcap scheme was when the Portree men challenged their mainland counterparts in Plockton to an adventurous annual boat race. Tommy MacKenzie was the leader at the tiller, not pulling on an oar just as he did not pull on a tug-of-war rope.

One aspect of island life that Mr MacKenzie took with utmost seriousness was the Skye Highland Games which he served for three terms as chieftain. He looked every inch the part and performed the role with authority and dignity. Typically, he played down his contribution, saying: "It seems no-one else wants the job."

Tommy MacKenzie is survived by his sons John and Roddy, sister Fiona, brother Rory, and former wife Susan.

TOM SHIELDS