2022 saw The Gallery commence its 180th year. This blog just covers a few of the many highlights of the year and does not attempt to cover every exhibition and event! The Gallery is where everything happens, both in person and online and as ever, we are grateful to all our artists, to our gallery friends and The Gallery team who work tirelessly to communicate art which reflects the world we live in.
We opened January with Geoff Uglow’s sensational The Ploughman, which was contrasted with our 180th anniversary Modern Masters edition which does much to highlight our long history and close relationship with artists and art.
In February Alex Knubley began work, transforming our basement garden.
Every year, we discuss and add to the garden, it is an ever-evolving space that magically always has room for just one more plant! We are working to make the garden a really special place for the team and visitors to enjoy.
Impressions in Stone brought together five contemporary sculptors from Scotland and across the UK who specialise in letter cutting and carving, employing meticulous craftsmanship and natural materials:
Gillian Forbes, Mary Bourne, Martin Cook, Gus Fisher and Zoe Wilson.
At the end of March Russia invaded Ukraine, and The Gallery and many of our artists felt compelled to make works of art to help raise money for The British Red Cross. We raised several thousand pounds within a few months, Claire Harkess made Bees for Ukraine which were snapped up in seconds.
In March The Gallery celebrated the life and art of Dorothy Hogg, MBE, an outstanding jeweller and art educator. Sadly this was to be her last exhibition as she passed away on 4th April.
The Gallery was delighted to host Helen Glassford’s first solo exhibition with in April 2022.
Glassford is a painter who seeks out the edges of landscape, travelling to the most remote and distant corners in search of subject matter. Her travels have taken her to the Outer Hebrides and to the outlying archipelago of St Kilda. A trip to Assynt in November provided further opportunity to engage with the ancient landscape of Scotland’s high northwest. Glassford cherishes her time spent in the wilds of Scotland. Each trip in the outdoors, sketchbook in hand, is a journey of personal revelation, her dialogue with the landscape akin to a meditative response as she absorbs the geography and atmosphere of a particular place.
This May, The Gallery celebrated Sylvia von Hartmann’s 80th birthday with an exhibition dedicated to her wax paintings and printmaking. Sylvia is an instinctive artist whose practice explores everyday experience through close observation, and in doing so expresses the human heart.
Sylvia von Hartmann at 80 was a memorable, immersive exhibition bringing together wax painting, prints, painted furniture and objects providing further narrative and insight into von Hartmann’s world of detail.
In June the entire gallery was taken over with paintings and archive material from the late James Morrison. This celebratory exhibition looked back over the long career of James Morrison, pulling together the many strands of a life dedicated to art. This long-awaited exhibition was one of our most visited of the year!
In July we brought together a series of vignette solo exhibitions from past and present artists, which is a modern version of our traditional summer show. We featured: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912–2004), John Brown, Jake Harvey, Kurt Jackson and Alex Knubley.
This year’s Festival Exhibition was Duncan Shanks, The Riverbank. We
released two new films produced by the Edinburgh Film Company. This is a rare opportunity to see this outstanding artist’s working environment, where he offers personal insights into his artistic practice with an audience for the first time.
In August we hosted Festival Fizz, Sizzling Sausages & Summer Samba with Ride for MND High 5 Party. Motor neurone disease affects Davy Zyw, who is the identical twin brother of Gallery Director Tommy Zyw. As keen cyclists, the Ride for MND team embarked on their biggest challenge yet. The Scotland High 5 can be described as the hardest cycle ride in the United Kingdom, tackling 5 of Scotland’s highest roads in one continuous ride, over the course of 260 miles.
The Scottish Gallery has supported MND charities since 2019. Motor Neuron Disease is a terminal, degenerative disease that affects 1 in 300 people. There is currently no cure.
After six months, 162 entrants and 360+ photos submitted, Highland Cinema is pleased announced the winners of its 2022 Red Roofs of Scotland photography competition in October.
Peter RoseI really do feel humbled to have won such a prestigious competition. A great big thank you to the Highland Cinema and The Scottish Gallery for running the competition in the first place. I personally found the challenge exciting and stimulating. It’s great as an amateur photographer to have excellent projects like these to keep you on your toes artistically and - not least - to encourage you to keep your eyes open to everything going on around you...
Scratching the Surface featured exhibitions by 14 outstanding artists. Derrick Guild, Joe Fan, James Maskrey, Naoko Shibuya, Bill Scott, Stephen Bird, Malcolm Appleby, Douglas Fitch and Hannah McAndrew, Koji Hatakeyama, Gregory Alliss, Vicky Linda and Bill Brookes.
In November Lachlan Goudie’s Painting Paradise was a resounding success!
We rounded off an exciting year with Mark Hearld’s A Flight of Fancy, Frances Macdonald’s The Road to the Isles, Clive Bowen’s The Shebbear Pottery and Metal, Minerals & Magic – jewellery by Disa Allsop, Chris Boland and Guy Royle.
