Category: Exhibitions Previous

Three of the most popular and intriguing artists from Glasgow will be bringing a variety of new and recent work to North Berwick. Fidra Fine Art is delighted to welcome Lesley Banks, Alice McMurrough and Neil Macdonald to the gallery this summer.

Lesley Banks studied at Glasgow School of Art (GSA) specialising in Drawing and Painting. After graduating, funded by an Elizabeth Greenshields Scholarship, Lesley travelled and painted throughout Europe. She worked as a gallery assistant at the Compass Gallery, Glasgow, where, encouraged by Cyril & Jill Gerber she began to exhibit more of her artworks winning numerous prizes and awards, such as the 1991 Scottish Prize, Royal Overseas League London. Since this time Lesley has exhibited throughout the UK and as far afield as Singapore & USA.

Lesley’s work is always well crafted with rich colours but it is often a brooding narrative that draws the viewer in. In these paintings, which are a mixture of work from her last trip to Venice and Tuscany, the beautiful land and cityscapes are captured with intense, atmospheric colour but there is always something about the scenes that leave the viewer with a sense of unease.

Alice McMurrough PAI RGI RSW also studied at GSA graduating in 1979. She then went on to teach including Acting Principal Teacher in the 1990’s and marker and moderator for the SQA until she left the profession in 2007 to concentrate on her own painting. She has won several awards including; D Muirhead Purchase Prize, RSA (2002), James Torrance Award, RGI (2011), Joe Hargan Award, PAI (2012) and in 2013 she was awarded the Diploma of the Paisley Art Institute, elected member of the RGI and the RSW.

Like Lesley, narrative is an important ingredient in the mysterious, magical work of Alice McMurrough. Always beautifully crafted there is a mesmeric quality to the detail and mystery behind the characters in her work.

In Alice’s words…“My artwork is a tool to understanding self and the surrounding world. I make connections. I create from memories of particular events and general influences: family legends, cultural myths and religious fables. I aim for an attention that children have for the world, before ritual and maturity strips life of its daily magic. I paint the gap between innocence and experience using distortion, metaphor and symbolism, free form chronological time and place.”

Neil Macdonald PAI RGI RSW completes the trio of GSA graduates. Neil studied from 1975-79 and then a further year of Post Graduate Studies. He attended Hospitalfield Art College Summer School near Arbroath in 1978. Awards include; William Shanks Painting Prize in 1979, David Cargill Travelling Scholarship (Italy & Belgium) in 1981, Robert Innes Award – Scottish Drawing Competition 2011 and was awarded the Diploma of the Paisley Art Institute 2012, elected member of RGI & RSW in 2013.

Again, narrative plays a strong part in Neil’s work. Drawing inspiration from familiar, distinctive, landmarks he subtly distorts and bathes them in a luminescent light then adds a little mystery to further engage the viewer – Dunbar, St Monans and Portsoy will be among the subjects in this exhibition.

In Neil’s words…“I am drawn to locations which exert historic and mythic presence. I explore the lyrical narrative of natural sites and strong bold shapes of castles, old townships and harbours. I do this through distortion of perspective, invention and editing, aiming to capture an essence of the structure or place. Colour is used in an emotive way to heighten the sense of mood. I apply each layer upon layer of paint in a divisionist manner. Slowly I realise a unity of statement as the image emerges, revealing the subject’s unique sense of place.”

From sketches and studies as preparatory work for paintings or as completed works in their own right, drawings offer an intriguing and intimate insight into the artistic process as well as offering a more affordable route into collecting original art.

We will have a wide range of drawings and etchings from great Scottish artists past and present. Incredibly visceral portrait work by Graeme Wilcox, Angela Repping and Suzanne Kirk to very rare and delicate drawings by William Gallacher. Early life study work from college days by Joseph Urie and George Birrell…nudes by George Birrell…not something you see every day. Also on show we will have a few etchings including work by James McBey, EA Lumsden, John Bellany and an interesting monoprint by Georgina Bown which is sure to raise a smile.

Also included will be work from David Foggie, William Wilson, Susan L Crawford, David Hosie, Stephen Conroy, Simon Laurie, Ian Fleming, Keith McIntyre, Patti Yuill, Jayne Stokes, Lesley Banks, Alan Connell and John Lowrie Morrison (Jolomo).

We will also be introducing the work of two new artists to the gallery – Gordon M. Scott and Sandra Collins. Quite detailed figurative work laced with a mythological narrative from Gordon and delicate botanical studies from Sandra…all great stuff!

Our Christmas Exhibition is next up and features two of the most popular and collectable contemporary Scottish artists working today – George Birrell and Simon Laurie. Both graduates from Glasgow School of Art and both have wonderfully colourful and distinctive styles.

Simon has won numerous awards for his distinctive abstract landscape and still life paintings. Drawing stylistic inspiration from (amongst others) the work of the St. Ives School and the Scottish Colourists, Simon uses everyday objects and the landscapes of Scotland, and more recent trips to the Greek Islands, to produce stunningly colourful, well-balanced compositions that never fail to please.

George’s instantly recognisable landscapes, where the architecture, inspired from the towns and villages of the East Coast, competes with the emotion of the “time and place” as the main subject of his paintings. Distinctive, stylised, compositions with an assured, confident use of colour, George’s work just gets better and better.

Fidra Fine Art is pleased to present “The Art of Arran Ross”, a solo exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Photography by the award winning Scottish artist Arran Ross.

Arran graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1987 with a BA(Hons) First Class in Sculpture then completed post graduate studies at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee emerging with a MA Public Art & Design. He has won various awards including the JD Fergusson Award, the Latimer Award from the RSA and in 2000 won an award from the prestigious Pollock Krasner Foundation in New York. He has participated in several solo shows including the Compass Gallery in Glasgow, the JD Fergusson gallery in Perth, and the Artemisia Gallery in Chicago as well as numerous group exhibitions including the annual exhibitions at the RSA and the RGI.

Drawing inspiration from such diverse sources as the great Surrealist artists Giorgio De Chirico and Magritte, the children’s television character, Mr Benn, his disdain of international aggression and state sponsored violence as well as the bleak beauty of his native Highland landscape, it is little wonder that Arran’s work has been described as enigmatic, Slightly Sinister (the title of a 1998 exhibition at the JD Fergusson Gallery in Perth) yet profoundly beautiful. Most widely known for his iconic renditions of Spacemen his work is infused with a distinctive style and humour which is both entertaining and thought provoking. Presented over three mediums, this exhibition demonstrates an impressive artistic dexterity.

As usual we are open 12-5 each weekend but are more than happy to open during the week but ask that you contact us ahead of your visit to ensure we are here. Hope you can make it along.

Joseph Urie was born in Glasgow, 1947, trained at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee and then at the Royal Academy Schools, London. He has won numerous awards, has exhibited widely and is held in various public collections throughout the UK.

This is his first solo show for a number of years and the first retrospective of his work to date. Despite taking a step back from public exhibitions he has maintained a prolific output of painting and drawing and for the past 3 years has been working on lino and woodcuts.

This exhibition will cover mainly work on paper from 1978 to the present day and will include earlier sketches, drawings, lithographs and oils on paper as well as showcasing his recent linocut work.

He is arguably best known for his large, painterly canvases packed with ambiguous symbolism – the paint applied thickly and swiftly with an apparent obsessive agitation. His sketches, again laid down quickly with a similarly frenetic style, are the foundations for these large canvases and are exhibited here giving a wonderful insight into the artistic process. Fully worked charcoal drawings, detailed pen and ink studies as well as vibrant watercolours document the journey Joe has been on – his hopes and dreams, fears, lost and found love, broken hearts, superstitions and mythology all can be found within the ambiguous symbolism of Joe’s work.

The majority of this work has never been exhibited and offers a great insight into the development of a unique artistic talent.

For Easter, we are delighted to be hosting an exhibition of 40 recent works by the widely collected Galloway artist Davy Brown. The current exhibition includes a wide selection of recent landscapes of Port Vendres and Narbonne in the South of France, the Galloway hills, the Isles of Arran and Islay as well as unique interpretations of Bass Rock, Craigleith and views around North Berwick. Also included are a number of recent Still Life paintings, slightly more muted in tone but still typically colourful with a compositional nod, in my view, to Robert Colquhoun – a fellow graduate of Kilmarnock Academy and Glasgow School of Art and an artist who Davy has collected and admired all his life.

Our Spring Exhibition features a number of new artists to the gallery as well as new pieces by gallery favourites.

Jonathan Hood, Suzanne Kirk, George Birrell, Lesley Banks, David Henderson, Brian Henderson, Georgina Bown, Shaun McLaren, Ailsa Magnus, Davy Brown, Alan Connell as well as pieces by William Gillies, Stephen Conroy, Willie Rodger, John Bellany and Peter Howson.