On Thursday 31st of July 2025, the Higher Spargo community came together to celebrate a momentous occasion - the official launch of the Higher Spargo School of Art and the opening of its brand-new studio space.

Friends, artists, supporters, and locals gathered to celebrate not just a new building, but this new, and very exciting, next chapter at the Higher Spargo farm.

The new studio sits on land that has quietly mirrored the evolving life of the farm itself. Once a pig house, then cow kennels, later a communal dumping ground for odds and ends - it’s now been transformed into something entirely different: a space designed for making art, honing practice, and being part of a creative community. The building’s rebirth speaks to the spirit of Higher Spargo itself - a place where imagination and practicality have always gone hand-in-hand.

The evening included two short speeches that perfectly captured the tone of the occasion: relaxed, heartfelt, and gently humorous. The first was delivered by Alex Midlen, whose leadership has been central to the founding of the School and the transformation of the space. The second came from Michael Polkinhorn, who, back in 1983, first welcomed art students onto the farm as lodgers - an unassuming gesture that quietly seeded the vibrant artistic community that exists here today.

Together, their words reflect the values that continue to define Higher Spargo: generosity, collaboration, resourcefulness, and a deep respect for the land and its stories.

Below, we’ve shared Michael’s speech verbatim as he inaugurated this new addition to Higher Spargo Yard - unfiltered and full of charm, just like the evening itself.

Michael Polkinhorn:

If you want a lovely building like this, you have to have somebody with the vision… and that somebody's Alex.

And then you've got to have the skill set of the people to actually put it up… and we were fortunate in having Reuben and Jake.

And then you need someone to pay for it… and that's me!

And then you need the varied artists who are going to do the courses in here… and that starts with Tim.

So there's a lot of people involved.

My father would have been interested in all of this because we are now on the site of his grand pigs house, which he put up not long before he died. It was a great luxury pigs house.

Then I demolished that and put up cow kennels, which the cows never really liked, they would always rather go out in the field than lie in their beds.

And then the cow kennels turned into a wonderful junk store, and everyone started putting all their rubbish in it, and it was Alex who had the strength of mind to say “get rid of it all”, “throw it all away”, and we cleared the site for the school.

So, it gives me great pleasure to pull this ribbon.

Videographer & Writer: Muirne MacKinlay MacLeod