An exhibition of narrative art, in stained-glass, prints and paintings.
A group exhibition that brings together three eminent women artists. The approach each of the artists takes varies greatly and for this group exhibition they present work in different two-dimensional media. There is a common thread in that each artist uses figuration, narrative and symbolism and a strong female perspective.
Sam Ainsley, RSA. D.Litt. and Saltire prize winner, former head of MFA course at GSA. Artist, teacher, curator and advocate for Scottish art, Sam taught for twenty-five years at the Glasgow School of Art. The list of alumni for the time she served as head of the MFA course could be seen, to a large extent, to define Scottish contemporary art. Her own work is an exploration of the human relationship with the world and with the experience of living. Notions of human existence are scrutinised and re-formed visually through multiple themes; nature, landscape, the human body, politics and feminism, nationality. In a process she has described as "emotional mapping", her paintings and prints, when exhibited on a characteristic red painted wall, have a feel of a dissection of life-force, as seen through the eyes of a female contemporary artist.
Eileen Cooper, OBE RA and the first woman appointed as Keeper of the Royal Academy. Known primarily as a painter and printmaker, throughout her career Eileen Cooper’s work has been figurative. "Stories are never far away. Mythology, fairytales, bible stories, comics, they are all inspirations." “From my roots in objective drawing to the large-scale imaginative works, the female figure and female identity has always been central to my practice.” [Eileen Cooper] Through meticulous use of composition and symbolism which often features the relationship between people and animals, her work over the decades has mapped a personal relationship with the world. Her art is seen as allegorical, literally drawn from her life, being a woman and a wife and a mother and an artist.
Pinkie Maclure, award-winning stained-glass artist and musician. Pinkie Maclure is a multi-award-winning Scottish artist who uses the allegorical power of stained-glass as used by historical glassmakers, to tell contemporary stories. Linking the characters and events of the past with the world today. Historically, stained-glass was invented to communicate to a largely illiterate population, its vivid colours having a unique, seductive quality that’s hard to resist. However, its narrative role has been largely abandoned in the last century, this is something Pinkie is challenging, by making work that reflects the world around us today. For this exhibition, she is showing four finely detailed, engraved and layered stained glass light boxes which tell darkly humorous stories about contemporary life, from consumerism to insomnia.
