Exhibitions at The Swanson Gallery, Thurso Library
Gallearaidh Swanson, Inbhir Theòrsa
Davidson's Lane, Thurso KW14 7AS
M, T, W - 1 to 5pm, Fr – 1 to 8pm, Sat - 10am to 1pm
Closed Thurs and Sun Admission Free
Current Exhibition:
3/6 to 27/6
Matisse: Drawing with Scissors
The French painter, sculptor and designer, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. His vibrant works are celebrated for their extraordinary richness and luminosity of colour.
Drawing with Scissors is a Hayward Touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre, featuring 35 lithographic prints of the famous cut-outs which were produced in the last four years of his life when the artist was confined to his bed. It includes many of his iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.
Matisse continued creating highly original works into his eighties. For his cut-outs he used paper hand-painted with gouache, laid down in abstract or figurative patterns: ‘the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour … Instead of drawing the outline and putting the colour inside it…I draw straight into the colour’. The colours he used were so strong that he was advised by his doctor to wear dark glasses!
The lithographic reproductions in this exhibition are taken from a special double issue of Verve, a review of art and literature, published by Tériade, a major publisher of fine art books in 1958.
Matisse began his working life as a lawyer, before going to Paris to study art in 1890. At first strongly influenced by the Impressionists, he soon created his own style, using brilliant, pure colours, and started making sculptures as well as paintings. In 1905 he and his colleagues were branded the Fauves (wild beasts) because of their unconventional use of colour, and it was during this time that he painted his celebrated Luxe, Calme et Volupté (Luxury, Tranquillity and Delight).
‘There is no gap between my earlier pictures and my cut-outs’, Matisse wrote, “I have only reached a form reduced to the essential through greater absoluteness and greater abstraction”.
Forthcoming Exhibitions:
4/7 to 1/8 Glass 7/8 to 12/9 Quiltmakers 19/9 to 17/10 New Graduates 24/10 to 21/11 Now u c it 6/11 to 12/12 tbc 19/12 to 16/1/10 Quilts
Recent Exhibitions:25/4 to 23/5 As Others See Us
A selection of unique and engaging contemporary portraits of some of Scotland's best-known figures alongside their favourite pieces of poetry and song by Robert Burns. People featured in the exhibition include musicians and writers, such as Eddi Reader and Christopher Brookmyre; also politicians and business people,farmers and others. Photographs by Ross Gillespie and Tricia Malley
21/3 to 18/4 Gray’s School of Art Printmaking Department Portfolio
Original prints combining the work of 4th year undergraduates, invited artists and staff. The portfolio reflects the tradition and innovation in modern printmaking. The idea of the portfolio is not a new one. There is a long tradition of artists being involved in projects that examine the making of a multiple image in the context of a group body of work. The portfolio can function as a portable exhibition, bringing together eclectic visual interpretations of the project brief.
The portfolio has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Venues have included Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen; R.K. Burt Gallery, London; National Library of Estonia, Tallinn; Academy of Fine Arts, Prague; Anchor Graphics, Chicago and other venues in the USA. Invited artists for this exhibition are David Blyth, Francis Convery, Julia Gardner, Fiona Hepburn and Rosalind Lawless.
14 Feb to 14 Mar
Precious Cargo
2009 is Scotland’s Year of Homecoming and the calendar’s theme of migration, boats and the sea reflects this. The exhibition has been designed by Brodie Nairn and Nicky Burns from Glasstorm in Tain as an innovative installation of closed Cargo boxes, one of which opens every day over the festive period to reveal a new object or contemporary ‘souvenir’ of the Highlands which travellers to lands across the sea might have cherished to remind them of ‘home’.
The best of craft makers from across the Highlands and Scotland were invited to respond to the theme and create the ‘souvenirs’ or ‘Precious Cargo’ to go inside the crates. The work of 30 artists was selected from jewellery, textiles, wood and ceramics to film and represents a stunning collection of contemporary craftsmanship. A selection of unique crafts will also be available to buy .
10 Jan to 7 Feb 2009 ~ China
1 Nov to 29 Nov
Highland Print ~ Highland Print StudioWasps 2008
6 Dec~ 3 January (excluding Public Holidays; closed Sun and Thurs)
14 June to 12 July ~ Cats by Louis Wain
Scape and Landscape 10 May to 7 June
Seeing Dragons in The Clouds
5 April to 3 May 2008
‘Over the Hills & Far Away’ for North Galleries
City of the Immortals by Michelle Lord
Sat 19 Jan to Sat 16 Feb 2008
Swanson Gallery 01847 896357
Swanson opening times; M, T, W 1 to 5pm, Fr 1 to 8pm, Sat 10am to 1pm, Closed Thurs and Sun
St Fergus opening times: M, T, Th 12 to 5.30pm, Fr 2 to 8pm, Sat 10.30am to 1pm, Closed Wed & Sun
Further information:
Swanson Gallery 01847 896357
Area Cultural Officer 01349 885114