Evi Westmore 1975 - 2007

Inverness City Partnership gives thanks for Evi Westmore 1975 - 2007
A  tribute by Marie Mackintosh

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“She was like a breath of fresh air for our City and she initiated a whole range of exciting projects that will be testimony to her enthusiasm for life and her ability to enthuse so many folk with her vision.”

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Inverness City Partnership and the arts community are mourning the loss of our Public Art Coordinator Evi Westmore who died on Sunday 18^th March 2007 at the age of 31.

Evi was appointed in October 2005 as the first Public Art Coordinator for Inverness on a 3 year contract, and she attacked this challenging role with an energy of high octane proportions.  She stood out among all other candidates for the position not just because of her qualifications (she held a BA with Honors in Fine Art from Skidmore College, New York, studied for a year in Prague and obtained an MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 2005) but because of her practical experience as a working artist, her immediate understanding of the issues and how to tackle them and her obvious passion for the arts as a way of engaging people and giving a place a sense of identity.  In her application she wrote “I believe successful public art must grow out of the culture and landscape, tended and encouraged by an artist whose goal is connection and communication, not monuments to themselves.”

Evi’s most striking attribute however was her personality.  We knew we needed someone brave, remarkable and charismatic and Evi possessed these qualities in spades.  She was the last candidate to be interviewed and, such was the impression she made on the panel, we asked her to take a walk around the block for half an hour and come back to hear our decision.  She was gob-smacked when we offered her the job there and then.

If you detect a few Americanisms slipping in here and there it’s because Evi was a US citizen.  She was born in to American parents and she had travelled and worked across the world giving her a cosmopolitan confidence and positive outlook on life.

She fell in love with Scotland while studying at Glasgow and had only visited Inverness and the Highlands once as a tourist.  Once she moved here she was charmed by the Highland landscape, the warmth of the people and our sense of humour.  She quickly developed an extensive list of professional contacts and personal friends.

Evi played a leading role in commissioning and managing artists on a wide range of projects including the Centre for Health Sciences, the Ness Islands Enhancement Programme and the City Centre Streetscaping Programme.  She was working on illuminatinginverness, the city lighting strategy and had started exploring options for improving our roundabouts and approaches.  She also played a vital advocacy and advice role on the value of working with artists; Evi had provided advice to the National Trust for Scotland, the Riverside Churches Association, UHI Millennium Institute, Invergordon and Aviemore.

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"I believe successful public art must grow out of the culture and landscape, tended and encouraged by an artist whose goal is connection and communication, not monuments to themselves."  Evi Westmore August 2005.
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She was particularly excited about working with Matt Baker, Susan Christie and 14 Highland-based artists on Imagining the Centre the ambitious one day event on 9^th September 2006 when the artists engaged with the local community to bring to the surface the cultural importance of the old town area of Inverness.  Evi had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma the week before and, after months of planning and preparation, she was desperately sad and frustrated that she could not leave Raigmore Hospital to experience the day first hand.

As the aggressive nature of her lymphoma became apparent Evi returned to New York in October where she could receive specialist medical care and the support of her family.  She remained determined to beat the disease and resume her life and career.  Unfortunately many different chemotherapy treatments proved ineffective in the fight and she was taken from us on Sunday 18^th March.

The City Partnership team have been touched and comforted by the messages of support and tributes we have received about Evi.  It seems that just one meeting with her was enough to leave a lasting impression.

A number of comments have come up time and time again: passionate, energy and enthusiasm, refreshing attitude, warm and open person.

And some specific quotes…

“To meet someone who had such a passion and a love for the arts like Evi was a joy for us all.”

“She was like a breath of fresh air for our City and she initiated a whole range of exciting projects that will be testimony to her enthusiasm for life and her ability to enthuse so many folk with her vision.”

“Evi was an inspiring artist but also a person who loved people and saw the creativity in others and had a real flare for bringing it out for everyone to see.”

In one fleeting year Evi achieved so much and made a big impact on Inverness and everyone who met her.  She has left the city a wonderful legacy.

I found her creativity and passion infectious and she helped bring out the best ideas in me.  She was a unique personality, a one-off and will be a great loss to her family, friends and to Inverness