Triptych of Talent

Anna King (Boundaries), Stuart Buchanan (Adrift) and Robert Maclaurin (Caledonia Australis) are the highly talented trio currently exhibiting at the Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh.

Anna King may be slight in stature and build but she is huge in terms of talent and output. She was born in the Shetlands in 1984 and studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (2001- 05) gaining a BA(Hons) in Fine Art and Drawing. Her finished works are in oil on paper, pasted onto board – drawing into the wet paint with pencil. This technique results in apparently deconstructed finished work, with great skill depicting both fragility and fluidity showing the world in wastelands, plantations and quarries with peeling paint, grass growing through cracks in concrete. The overall effect is dramatic, even moody and very eye-catching.

Anna is a full-time artist with a highly impressive set of awards, residencies and solo Exhibitions as well as Group Exhibitions like this one. Her hard work and talent won her a number of awards and residencies. At the beginning 2016 Anna was one of only 50 artists from a pool of applications of over 500 to be selected to exhibit at the W Gordon Smith exhibition held at the Dovecot studios.

stuart-buchananStuart Buchanan graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1992 and now lives and works in Catterline – an old fishing village on the coast of North East Scotland. As an undergraduate Stuart attended the Hospitalfield Summer School and in 2006 was Artist in Residence with Aberdeen City Council, through a Scottish Arts Council initiative to develop talent among young artists.

Stuart’s quiet, meditative works reflect the peaceful solitude afforded by the position of his Watchie Studio which is perched on a cliff top overlooking the North Sea. Essentially the richly textured oils depict peaceful solitude with mainly figures, both solitary and as couples with an effect of stillness in each case.

Stuart has been a full time artist over the last 10 years, moving from London to Glasgow.  His work hasbeen  shown at Solo Exhibitions in England and Scotland as well as Group Exhibitions, again in London, Newcastle upon Tyne and Scotland.

robertmaclaurin-33Robert Maclaurin, (born 1961) is a Scottish artist with an international reputation and reach. In common with Anne and Stuart he is also an art college graduate, from the Edinburgh College of Art (1983) with an Honours degree in Drawing and Painting followed by a Post graduate Diploma with Distinction in the following year.

He is now based primarily in Victoria in Australia – hence the ‘Caledonia Australis’ – Paintings from Scotland and Australia, but spending an interim 18 months in Scotland following an Artist’s Residency at Ateliers Hoherweg, Dusseldorf in Germany,His Australian works are en plein air paintings and drawings as well as studio based works with contrasting impressions. Robert’s talent has resulted in many awards and scholarships including a Royal Scottish Academy travelling scholarship to Italy in 1984 followed by a Turkish Government scholarship which led to his painting in Istanbul for over 15 years.

The road to Victoria, Australia his new home and studio, has been distinguished and his awe-inspiring work depicting mountains and regions have won critical acclaim. His regular returns to Scotland bring him inspiration as well as an opportunity to exhibit. In 2004 Robert was commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to pain the famous mountaineer, Sir Hamish Macinnes, and he has major works in public, corporate and private collections all over the world

The Exhibition continues until Wednesday 12 October 2016 at The Open Eye Gallery, 34 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6QE.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm.

www.openeyegallery.co.uk

Telephone(0)131 557 1020

 

Published by

Christine Richard OBE FRSA

http://www.lothianlife.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Christine.jpg Christine has over 25 years' experience in public life in Scotland in the fields of politics, education, public relations and charity work. For 12 years she served on the City of Edinburgh District Council and was her Group's leader for 4 years. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 she was made an OBE. Christine is a member of the Board of The Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy. She has just completed six years on the Board of The Edinburgh International Festival. Christine's business experience has covered the fields of theatre, economic development, science, coal mining, education and training. She has held a number of non-executive directorships in these disciplines. She is a trained and experienced personal relationships counsellor and a business and personal mentor. In 2005 Christine established Christine Richard Associates who undertake Event Management and Public Relations as well as company and individual profiling. She coordinated the 'Yes to Edinburgh' campaign on congestion charging in Edinburgh. ten years ago Christine co-founded West Lothian Women in Business, which is a network for women who are self-employed and also for women managers. Christine has now stepped down from the Chair of this thriving organisation. For 5 years Christine was a magistrate in the District Court. She was also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on the appointment of Justices of the Peace. She has been an adviser to Government in various areas of policy, including health, local government and education. Christine is a trained and experienced radio and television broadcaster and writer as well as an entertaining and accomplished speaker. She has a wealth of topics on which she is invited to speak. These range from witty after lunch and after dinner speaking to the more serious topics of the economy, health, education, enterprise, the Powers of the Mind and Life/work balance. She writes reviews and articles for lifestyle magazine, Lothian Life. She took part as a contestant in an ITV gourmet TV show, Chef V Britain, challenging TV chef Gino D'Acampo to cook her signature dish, Posh Cottage Pie. Currently Christine is a member of the Goodison Group in Scotland and Scotland's Futures. Also she is involved in the group Changing the Chemistry of Scottish Boards. Her first novel, Whitewalls, a modern Scottish family saga has been published by New Generation Publishing and is available on all internet books siets and from libraries. She is writing a sequel Autumn at Whitewalls. Her leisure interests include her family, literature, music, theatre, food, wine and horse racing. She is a member of a racing syndicate, which has two horses in training.

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