The Petroglyph Cairnryan, 1977

<p>Marj Bond is known primarily as a figurative painter using strong poetic and symbolic elements within her practice. Born Marjorie May McKechnie in Paisley, she excelled in art during her school years, consistently winning the art prize at Paisley Grammar every year. Before embarking on her studies in 1955 at Glasgow School of Art, she assured her mother, who was by then widowed, that she would complete her teacher training to give her something to fall back on. She took drawing and painting with sculpture, when her tutors included the celebrated artists Alix Dick, Mary Armour, David Donaldson and Benno Schotz. But, true to her word, she did train as a teacher and moved to Uist in the Outer Hebrides. This was at a time before all the causeways had been opened and her commute between schools involved travelling on the back of a tractor at low tide. She also learned to speak Gaelic, defying the residents who broke into their mother tongue as soon as she walked into the local shop. In her mid-career, she had made a home and studio in Fife.</p>