Work by elected members of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts is to be seen in not one but two exhibitions across Scotland this month: in Glasgow and at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane, East Lothian*.
Recently-elected members are featured in the Glasgow exhibition New Voices at the RGI Kelly Gallery, including Gary Anderson, Sandi Anderson, Rosemary Beaton, Ashley Cook, Ian Cook, Carol Dewart, Michael Durning, Annie Ferguson, Joe Hargan, Hazel Nagl, David Schofield, Lara Scouller, Ann Wegmuller and Chris Wood.
There is an engaging and varied selection of paintings, prints and stained glass in the show, and all works are for sale. This is the third exhibition since the Kelly Gallery’s re-opening in late 2024, after the pandemic, as the RGI looks to the future.
Some of the works in the current Glasgow show that caught my eye on visiting included:
I Will Look For You In The Night Sky by David Schofield, which depicts a tin toy chair-o-plane set in a maze, creating an air of mystery, as does his second picture Waiting, which captures what looks like a clockwork train, again deep in a topiary maze. Toys and trains are subjects the artist returns to frequently. Both works are in oils on panel.
Carol Dewart creates an elevated view in her View From A Hill – a highly colourful semi-abstract painted landscape in oil on board, with paint strokes precisely applied in many patterns with the look of different forms of stitching, making an almost tapestry-like landscape. Known primarily as a painter, the artist did study embroidery for part of her time at Glasgow School of Art, and this looks to have informed her distinctive landscape painting work.
Michael Durning has made several paddle steamer paintings, recalling a bygone era of travel on the Clyde. Here, the artist has one of these on show, Nuclear Elegance, in watercolour and Conte, where a vessel with elegant lines appears against the forbidding massive forms of a power station backdrop.
Rosemary Beaton’s The Magical Loch, in acrylic on board, scenically lives up to its title, in a lively style with a highly colourful palette of warm and cool colours, and some nice pencil work in the fishes in the loch foreground.
Ann Wegmuller’s Tidal Flow, in oil on board, in soft blues and greens, conveys the movement of water, but not in a literal, pictorial way – the viewer can interpret the scene, which to me seems to show a water’s edge with the landscape.
Lara Scouller’s Velvet Crab II, in mono-screen print and pastel, is one of her two works in the show and displays wonderful observation of the subject and vibrant coloured pastel work. A number of Lara’s recent works have focused on ‘little nippers’ of this kind.
There is also a selection of small postcard-sized unframed works, including two works in gouache and pastel by Hazel Nagl, Well Strand Fields, Kibarchan and Old Railway Bridge, both of which feel as if they have been painted with great spontaneity, with a limited number of lines effectively used, and bold patches of colour.
*Across the country, over twenty more RGI elected members are currently in exhibition at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane, in the show Work on Paper, running until 11th May 2025, and again with this collaboration some of Scotland’s most accomplished contemporary artists are represented.
In conversation at the Glasgow show, RGI Administrator and artist Michael Durning expressed the hope that the RGI is on its way to being revitalised through their re-started regular programme of exhibitions, and that the Institute can play a part in sustaining the cultural life of this area of the city centre. Close to Sauchiehall Street and Bath Street, the Glasgow School of Art, Centre for Contemporary Arts and other organisations, the area was recently designated a cultural heritage district by Glasgow City Council, with a view to meeting the many challenges faced here over recent years.
With this fresh start and a strong new cohort of members, I look forward to seeing the RGI continue to raise its profile across Scotland, with its ongoing exhibitions and collaborations.
The Glasgow exhibition runs until 28th April 2025.
Note that up-to-date information can be found on the RGI’s Instagram page.
With thanks to Gordon Reid for this review.
