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Elizabeth Waugh 1929 – 2023 : A Celebration of Her Life & Work

‘When Pluto Crossed My Moon’

A Celebration of Life & Work by the late Elizabeth Waugh (1929 – 2023)

27th January – 24th February 2024

A Final Poem For Liz
When Pluto crossed my Moon

At the time when Pluto crossed my Moon.
The outer night was full of cool Spring promise
and Crow moon shrinking in the sky.

As the window was opened,
her free soul crossed a rush of night air.
St Bride’s birds, the oystercatchers, wheeled,
circling round, their calls echoing deep into the dark.

I swear they were sent to carry her soul away,
gradually drifting into the night
… and she was gone,
just her earth shell remained.

That morning her deserted earth suit met the great fire,
I stood alone, amid bog and heather, high out on the moor.
I looked south and west, saw the sunlight spreading
her glow across soft Lakeland Fells,
skimming silver across the Solway, to touch our shore.

On that hilltop I asked for a sign we both knew.
My neck cricked as i looked up at the song and
above my head, one lone skylark split the silence.

I knew it was Liz who was there,
streaming her love through the sunlight,
her soul waiting to seek its next quest.

(poem by daughter, Fiona Russell)

In March 2023, the sculptor Elizabeth Waugh passed over.  Elizabeth was very dear to many who knew her, and was a cherished friend and exhibitor of us all at The Whitehouse Gallery, exhibiting since our doors opened nearly 20 years ago.  It seems only fitting that the first exhibition of our anniversary year should be a celebration of Elizabeth and her work.

Elizabeth’s work was usually built in plaster and then cast in bronze resin, and is mainly figurative, including both human nude and animal forms. However, there will be some rare foundry bronze pieces on show too.

 Elizabeth was brought up in close contact with animals and aimed to incorporate the diverse character, movement and general “feel” of the different species from which she worked.

Elizabeth gained a scholarship at the age of 15, and went on to attend Reigate Art School and then on to Goldsmiths College in London, where she specialised in sculpture. She then progressed on to the Anglo French Art Centre in London, working under the tutelage of sculptor Sean Crampton, where she was lucky to benefit from other prestigious visiting tutors such as Leger, de Ze Gonzac, Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein, Ronald Searle and Victor Pasmore.

Elizabeth went on to enjoy a successful career as a sculptor, and her work has become very collectable over the years.  She was the winner of the PF Charitable Trust Fund Sculpture Prize at VAS 2006 & The Powderhall Foundry Bronze Award at VAS 2008, RSA Edinburgh. She exhibited in the VAS show for 2009, and won the A4A Art Foundry Prize for her sculpture ‘Godiva’s Day Off’ at the RGI in 2012. 

Elizabeth’s work is held in collections across the world, including a small piece ‘Highland Mare & Foal’ which was bought by H.M. The Queen in 2010

Elizabeth and her husband bought a hill farm near Langholm in the 1960’s, where she had a studio. She spent her later life in Langholm, Dumfries & Galloway, where she latterly lived with her daughter Fiona and their beloved dogs (who very often offered inspiration for her much loved sculpture). Liz was working right to the end of her life.  When sculpture became too difficult, she enjoyed painting and drawing.

This exhibition will bring together some of Elizabeth’s remaining available sculpture alongside some of her paintings. We also aim to celebrate her life and loves, and will include paintings by some artists who she greatly admired, including Andy Cross, James Fraser RSW, alongside the late Silvana RSW and Victor Henderson.

The exhibition preview will take place on Saturday 27th January, from 11am – 5pm.  Following this, normal opening times will resume (Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm).

For more information, please contact us on 01557 330223  /  info@whitehousegallery.co.uk

The Whitehouse Gallery, 47 St Mary Street, Kirkcudbright DG6 4DU

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