End of The Year

Our Alasdair Gray, Joyce Gunn Cairns and Steven Camley exhibition is ending tomorrow with just a few days to spare before Christmas.

Joyce Gunn Cairns - Toby and His Burd

It has been a wonderful exhibition and I must thank these three amazing artists again for their beautiful works.

Steven Camley - Herald Cartoon

 

Such distinctive and well-known work has drawn great numbers and it has been an incredible show to host at this time of year.

Alasdair Gray - May in Black Armchair

And now for a well-earned rest!  Smithy Gallery is going on holiday and will be closed from Sunday 22 December until 10 January.


Have a wonderful time over Christmas and New Year and all our thanks to the artists and customers who have been a great supporters of the gallery.  Here's to a wonderful 2014!


Thanks for reading!


Natalie

Alasdair Gray

We are incredibly lucky to have been asked by Alasdair Gray to stage this three-person

exhibition.  Alasdair wanted to exhibit alongside Joyce Gunn Cairns and Steven Camley at Christmas time, and how could we refuse. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alasdair Gray describes himself as a ‘maker of imagined objects’. He has been a prolific producer of novels, short stories, plays, poems, pamphlets and literary criticism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course he is also an accomplished artist.  Well known for his remarkable murals, he is the designer and illustrator of his own books and those of other writers.  These illustrations often evolve into larger screen prints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also paints portraits of friends and colleagues.  These have an intimacy about them.  His technique looks stylised, but he always captures the essence of the sitter, as if a private conversation is being shared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are exhibiting several signed screen prints and original paintings.

 

This exhibition contines until 22 December.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Natalie

The Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts

The annual Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts exhibition is now in its 152nd year.  Open to all, it is a fixture in most artists' calenders.  Many enter and many wait apprehensively to see whether their prized works will be accepted into this grand tradition.

 

Housed this year in the beautiful McLellan Galleries for the first time in seven years, the organisers hope to welcome thousands of visitors to the biggest contemporary art exhibition in Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, the usual entry fee has been waived, although I would have been more than happy to have paid.

 

As stated in the RGI website: 'To mark this landmark event for the RGI, and for Scotland, the usual exhibition visitor admission fee has been dropped - making the exhibition free for all to enjoy.  By reopening the galleries and staging an exhibition of exceptional quality and variety, the RGI hopes to ignite public and political passion for the McLellan Galleries and see this incredible cultural asset permanently reinstated as major venue for arts in Scotland.'

 

They certainly succeeded with the exceptional quality and variety of works. I was incredibly impressed and I thought the exhibition far exceeded previous years when housed in the Mitchell Library. 

 

Always on the lookout for exciting artists, I found myself in awe of many of the works by familiar artists, but I was also delighted to be scribbling down the names of several artists who I wasn't familiar with. 

 

The hanging of this exhibition was exquisite.  A huge task had been undertaken, and executed brilliantly.   But where were the red dots?  There were many, but the amount of works I saw that would have been snapped up with the right buyers in front of them.  Moving from room to room, it was a treasure trove of talent in there and I do hope enough people made it through the doors.

 

There is still this weekend, with the exhibition running until Sunday.  Well worth a visit.  I would have another look if I could.  I think this year's exhibition is an incredible showcase to the talent we have in Scotland, and what a fitting venue.

 

I so hope that 'public and political passion for the McClellan Galleries' has been ignited.  It certainly worked for me, and I think Glasgow deserves to see the 153rd exhibition in the McLellan Galleries next year.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Natalie

 

 

 

 

 

 



Steven Camley

We are delighted to be currently exhibiting works by Herald cartoonist Steven Camley, alongside Alasdair Gray and Joyce Gunn Cairns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Veteran author and artist Alasdair Gray is a huge fan of Camley's satirical cartoons and requested an exhibition with him and his other favourite, Gunn Cairns. 

 

 

Steven Camley is a multi award-winning cartoonist, and his career has been stratospheric.

 

In 2000, he was invited to join the Sunday Herald where he spent three successful years providing the weekly ‘Backyard’ strip before being invited to join The Herald, where his cartoons have surprised and delighted readers five days a week since 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

Every Herald reader is rewarded by their purchase of the paper by his hard-hitting pithy observations of the world as he sees it. His occasionally caustic cartoons usually give readers material for meditation. Always on the side of the underdog, willing to lampoon the most powerful and fearless in cross-party criticism, no politician nor political leader is protected from his irony.

 

The original water colour paintings are full of high-quality draughtsmanship, wit and energy.  They are also quite beautiful.


To view more, click on the link to our facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.579093708812719.1073741860.171388499583244&type=3

This exhibition continues until 22 December.


Thanks for reading!


Natalie