Aberdeen Artists Society
Dating back to 1827, this artist-led establishment showcases contemporary Scottish visual artists. You can see the Society's stunning exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery, just off the Schoolhill Street in Aberdeen town centre.
I was honoured to showcase my original painting here, Pink Rock, a piece from my early 2022 collection. It is a beautifully rich and textured piece. The layers of colour and mark-making, in tones of blues and greens, capture the dramatic atmosphere of the Highland coastline.
With its wide-format deep edge canvas, Pink Rock is a stunning art statement, and you can see it in the Gallery until 3 July, after which it leaves to a private collector.
While I was visiting the Gallery, I stumbled upon Surfer's Tracks, an original painting by Frances Walker. So naturally, being a huge fan, I felt privileged to see her work displayed in the same space as mine.
She was born in 1930 in Kirkaldy, a small town about 11 miles north of Edinburgh. After her studies at the Edinburgh College of Art, Walker taught drawing and painting at the Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. Here, she became one of the founding members of the Peacock Print Studio, which has been a local printing powerhouse since 1974.
Walker's work shows the most remote places of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. She loved the wilderness, which I think is brilliantly portrayed in her study of the Antarctic and South Georgia under the name of Among the Polar Ice.
I often wander into the pages of the book I have from this exhibition which I saw in Aberdeen a few years ago. I can relate to her art, and maybe that is why I feel so close to her and why she inspires me.
I also adored some of the pieces from the St. Ives School, a group of artists associated with the fishing town of St. Ives in West Cornwall, which was the centre for modern and abstract art between 1940 and 1960.
The area of St. Ives is well-known for its unique quality of pink light and has attracted artists since the early 1800s. The landscape of the West Cornwall shaped their art and dictated the colours. In 1993, Tate Gallery opened a space in St. Ives, where its artists could be celebrated for their contribution to the world of art. And although it was closed after the first decade, a significant investment followed by refurbishment allowed the St. Ives School artists to have a permanent residence in the town where they lived and worked.
If you ever wander to Aberdeen and visit the Aberdeen Artists Society, here are my other favourite local spots to visit:
Until next time,
Fiona