Features / ‘Human creativity underpins all the fire festivals’: local artist to host Up Helly Aa exhibition
IN MANY ways it feels like Up Helly Aa and local artist Dirk Robertson are a match made in heaven – or perhaps Valhalla.
The artist’s interest in mythology and folklore fits snugly with the Viking aura which surrounds the fire festival.
It is not just paintings for bill heads or collection sheets, though, with Robertson also helping with designs for some recent suits, shields and helmets.
Now Up Helly Aa fans and art aficionados alike can get a closer look at his work in a new exhibition taking place to mark this year’s event.
Held at the Bop Shop on Lerwick’s Market Street from 27-31 January, Robertson will showcase a range of Up Helly Aa paintings and behind-the-scenes designs.
The Bop Shop’s pop-up record store will also be open during the exhibition days.
Robertson’s first foray into fire festivals came around a decade ago, creating a bill head for Bressay Up Helly Aa’s 2016 guizer jarl Gary Thomson.
But it did not take long for the artist to start working with Lerwick’s Up Helly Aa, with the latest collaboration coming with this year’s guizer jarl Lynden Nicolson.
Rewind back to Bressay Up Helly Aa in 2016, however, and Robertson says he was “so proud” to be asked to create art that would in public view as part of the festival.
Since then, he has produced bill heads for jarls in Nesting, Scalloway and Lerwick, while he has painted what he described “somewhat esoteric” collection sheets for the town’s 2023 jarl Neil Moncrieff as well as Nicolson.
His first taste of designing parts of jarl squad suits, meanwhile, came for the 2019 Up Helly Aa in Lerwick.
“This job was eye opening for me,” Robertson reflects.
“I learned about the intensive design process that includes many creative contributors, fabrication techniques and skills that would shape the overall design.
“There was a lot of back and forth with the jarl squad shaping the images to suit them. Since then, I’ve found working with further squads follows that conversational approach.
“At the conclusion of each job I end up with new buddies and I’m always blown away to see what a group of skilled enthusiastic suit makers can create from my drawings.
“The theme that underpins all Shetland fire festivals is human creativity.”
The details of the 2026 Lerwick jarl squad suits are firmly under wraps until Tuesday morning when Nicolson and Co. will head out in public for the first time, although the guizer jarl himself has already hinted at some surprises – such as an unusual helmet.
Roberston was approached around three years ago to discuss ideas for Nicolson’s jarl squad suit, and to see how they could be developed.
“He had a wild idea that was going to take quite a bit of creativity to make it work,” the artist explains.
“Luckily, he also had an excellent grasp of the timescale including enough time to make his vision presentable to his squad so they could get their heads around it.
“I really enjoyed turning Lynden’s very unique ideas into something tangible. Some of the things he came up with could only work as physical sculptures to see how effectively they’d work in real life.”
Robertson’s creations for the squad were then developed further by locals Andrew Tait and Dawn Siegel, “who put their own artistic stamp” on things.
The artist, who grew up in the Westside and now conjures up creations in the basement of his Lerwick home, said contributing to Up Helly Aa fits perfectly with his interest in illustrating Viking and mythological themes, which have underpinned much of his work over the years.
He points to the album artwork recently created for local band Ten Tonne Dozer, which used imagery from the death of Baldr – the son of Odin.
This painting will be included in his Up Helly Aa exhibition, alongside another album cover he created for American psychedelic metal band Goya. This painting also illustrates a scene taken from the death of Baldr.
“These paintings heavily focus on the juxtaposition of cold winter night colours and bright warm firelight,” Robertson says.
“Because of this, they will fit perfectly as part of the upcoming exhibition.”
People will also get a chance to see his original design work behind Nicolson’s jarl squad suit, as well as the original paintings of the 2026 collection sheet and bill head.
He has also worked on the junior jarl squad’s 2026 shield, with those designs set to also be on display.
“And if all that isn’t enough,” Robertson adds, “I will be showcasing a selection of never seen before design work for previous jarl squad suits”.
Visitors will also get the chance to buy original art, and full colour art prints of selected paintings.
The exhibition will be open at the Bop Shop from 12pm to 6pm on Tuesday (27 January) and 12pm to 7pm on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Its final day will be Saturday 31 January, when it will be open from 10am to 4pm.
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