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Recent releases
This summer at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, we’re celebrating the lives and work of Elizabeth Blackadder and John Houston with works on loan from the Royal Scottish Academy and drawn from our own permanent art collection.
A Journey Shared gives an unparalleled insight into the work and lives of these two hugely influential Scottish artists, and honoured Royal Academicians and includes works from across the breadth of both artists’ careers with Blackadder’s enduringly popular botanical and cat studies together with still life and landscape studies by her husband John Houston.
The exhibition is be accompanied by a publication featuring writings by Alexander Moffat RSA, Stuart Duffin RSA and other Academicians who worked alongside Blackadder and Houston. Selected artworks, including prints and paintings will be available to buy. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 10 August.
Council leader Gail MacGregor says:
“Dumfries and Galloway Council is delighted to welcome the exhibition from the Royal Scottish Academy, and to see such a wonderful selection of these popular and influential Scottish artists here in the region for the late summer-autumn.”
A Journey Shared continues in Gallery 2 until Saturday 26 October, so there’s plenty time to catch this special exhibition with gallery talks and a special printmaking masterclass with Stuart Duffin in September and October – see the website or social media for all the details.
Coming soon to Gallery 1 is locally based artist, Mishi Bellamy who’s exhibiting her work for the first time in Dumfries and Galloway in a major exhibition: Faces and Places, 1990-2024 which open Saturday 17 August.
After nearly thirty years of living abroad, first in India, then in France, Mishi Bellamy has now made Dumfries and Galloway her home. After living in London (briefly working for the Beatles) a second marriage brought international travel and great change, where from the rich culture of Rajasthan to the elegance of the Loire valley in the Touraine, she found much to inspire her creativity in both those very diverse countries, during the long-extended period of happy exile.
During her time away she exhibited in Delhi and Jaipur, in St Tropez, Aix en Provence and Chinon. European at heart, earliest influences came from her artistic German family and she preferred sculpture to painting until finding her metier as a portrait painter in the early 1980's.
Her husband played polo in India and many of the equine paintings stem from that period. History was one of their shared passions and living so closely to the various royal chateaux brought a romantic feel to the large paintings she produced at that time. Portraiture work continued, in both countries, in a variety of styles and mediums and the unusual latter portraits, from here in Scotland and mostly pastel work, now reflect a contemporary departure. Mishi continues with a career in graphics and illustration, designing book covers, prints, posters, working digitally as well as using conventional methods. Exploring new techniques and mastering them (if possible) is still her way forward, but painting will always be the focus of her life.
Admission to Gracefield exhibitions is always free and we are open Tuesday-Saturday 10am -5pm.
