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MORNINGSIDE GALLERY
An independent Edinburgh art gallery has announced details of its annual Festival Exhibition, featuring new paintings from a number of notable Scottish artists.
Morningside Gallery has announced details of the mixed exhibition, which opens on Saturday 3 August, with Jennifer Irvine RGI RSW as the featured artist. Alongside Jennifer’s work, the exhibition will include paintings by John Kingsley RSW PAI, Patsy McArthur, Alison Dickson, Nael Hanna, Jenny Martin RSW and Gordon Wilson.
Based at Church Hill in Morningside, the gallery will display over 40 new paintings for this year’s August exhibition, from Jennifer Irvine’s sun-soaked south of France scenes to John Kingsley’s large scale abstracts, still life from Alison Dickson and Gordon Wilson’s much loved ‘Biddy’ paintings.
The full exhibition can be viewed online and a virtual exhibition will be available for anyone who can’t make it to Edinburgh this year.
Eileadh Swan, director of Morningside Gallery said: “We’re really looking forward to this year’s Festival Exhibition - it’s an opportunity for locals and visitors to enjoy painting from some of Scotland’s best contemporary artists, and the paintings included this year span a variety of subject matter and styles so there’s something for everyone. We’re just a short stroll from the bustle of the city centre and all are very welcome to join us in the gallery this month”
The exhibition will run in the gallery from Saturday 3rd - 31st August, and is open to the public. A virtual exhibition will be available online at morningsidegallery.co.uk where all of the paintings are available to browse or buy.
This popular event in Scotland’s capital is on during the Fringe and illustrates a selection of works by featured artists including:
JENNIFER IRVINE RGI RSW
Scottish artist Jennifer Irvine RGI RSW studied at Glasgow School of Art in the mid-seventies before moving into a career in teaching.
She began painting full time in 1990 and has since won awards including The David Cargill Award, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Award and The Sir William Gillies Award.
Inspired by her trips to France, Spain and Italy, Jennifer has a great interest in depicting the nuances of light and shade. She draws on the way sunlight interacts with its surroundings; considering how it falls on the ornate facade of a building in Provence, and the way it reflects on the sparkling surface of a Venetian waterway.
Beginning with a loose, expressive under drawing, Jennifer uses brushes and palette knives to block in elements of the composition, building up layers of vibrant colour and tone that retain an uncanny realism and palpable sense of place.
JOHN KINGSLEY RSW PAI
Scottish painter John Kingsley RSW PAI studied Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art in the 1970s. Since then he has had many successful shows both in London and throughout the UK and his work is to be found in numerous collections around the world.
Working in both representational and more abstract formats, the landscapes of Scotland and Provence in particular have been long-standing sources of inspiration for him.
PATSY MCARTHUR
Patsy McArthur studied painting at Gray’s School of Art in the late 90s and gained a Masters in European Fine Art from the Winchester School of Art Barcelona program in 2001. Since then she has spent periods of time living and working in Barcelona, Berlin and Sydney and has undertaken residencies in NYC, Italy and Shanghai.
Patsy has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and abroad, recently exhibiting at Context fair during Art Miami, and has held recent solo shows with Thompsons Gallery in London and Le Salon Vert in Geneva.
She was a shortlisted finalist of the inaugural Castlegate Prize last year and this year was selected for both the RSA Annual and the SSA Annual shows at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
Her drawings and paintings study space, light and movement. Interested in the fragmented and fleeting nature of experience, Patsy explores the interplay between submission and will, the moving and the fixed, and the figure and its environment in a constantly changing world.
Often the moments she seeks to capture are those where we feel lost; in movement, in music, in a shard of light, in ourselves.
JENNY MARTIN RSW
Jenny Martin studied for an MA (Hons) Fine Art at Edinburgh University; this was an unusual degree, as students undertook a full History of Art degree at the University, and also a full degree in a fine art discipline at Edinburgh College of Art.
She chose painting as her specialism. The History of Art element was very important to her, as she learned a lot about the subject, but also how to critique and use this information to examine ideas.
After she graduated she was offered an MA Postgraduate in Painting at Edinburgh College of Art, where she was able to spend more time concentrating on her practical artwork; it was here that her love of printmaking was born.
When she finished her education, she taught for a couple of years at Edinburgh College of Art, before moving to Leith School of Art. She still works there as a lecturer on the Foundation Course.
Since leaving art college she has worked continuously as an artist and has exhibited throughout the UK and abroad.
She has won many prizes for painting and printmaking and has work in public and private collections worldwide.
She now works from her studio which is in her garden, and makes her large scale prints at Edinburgh Printmakers.
NAEL HANNA
Nael Hanna was born in Nineveh, Northern Iraq. As a young man, he served in the Iran – Iraq war. This was before being awarded a scholarship to study art in Britain. Following on from a foundation course in England Nael completed a degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee.
This was followed by a residency at Hospitalfield in Arbroath where Nael fell in love with the Scottish landscape and coastline. In particular, the drama of the changing weather. A string of prizes and awards followed, including one from Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) to travel to and study in Florence.
After his return Nael completed an MPhil in Art, and went on to lecture in its Fine Art department. Since then, Nael has painted full time, exhibiting throughout the UK and collected worldwide.
His distinctive style of painting is instantly recognisable but pays homage to many of his favourite artists. An ecumenical gathering – Willem de Kooning, Marc Chagall and Joan Eardley.
ALISON DICKSON
Originally from Northern Ireland, Alison has lived and worked for many years in her adopted home of Edinburgh.
Her work is held in collections throughout the UK, Ireland and beyond.
Alison takes her inspiration from the natural world and has a keen interest in exploring the significance of objects and how closely they are linked to the themes of belonging, identity and memory.
Her paintings weave subtle narratives through their composition. Deftly manipulating line, colour and perspective she invites the onlooker to consider the story behind and between the objects carefully arranged on tabletops or in front of open windows.
Alison approaches her paintings in a structured manner but brings them to life intuitively. Using a limited palette, shapes, colours and patterns are simplified to create a level of abstraction. It is not unusual for her to use skewers, knives and sometimes collage to create shifting dynamics within each piece.
ANDREW THOMPSON
Scottish artist Andrew Thompson, who was born just outside Glasgow, in Hamilton, now lives and works on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland. He studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art and graduated with an Honours degree in 1997.
Andrew has exhibited regularly since graduating, both in the UK & Internationally. As well as this, he is being represented at major European art fairs. His work can be found in many private collections, including the collection of her Majesty the Queen.
To view the full collection please visit our website at www.morningsidegallery.co.uk or via the catalogue here https://www.morningsidegallery.co.uk/exhibition/festival-exhibition-24
*Please note that listed sizes are framed sizes. All paintings are for sale and may be purchased or reserved prior to the exhibition opening.
MORNINGSIDE GALLERY, 94 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BY
Tel.0131 447 3041 or join the mailing list at art@morningsidegallery.co.uk
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