2017 Coming Home

The Whitehouse Gallery in Kirkcudbright welcomes in the Autumn months with an exhibition exploring the concept of home, and what it means to the artist.  The exhibition preview opens from 11am on Saturday 9th September, and closes at 4pm on Saturday 28th October. Opening times are typically Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm.  All are welcome to attend the preview opening, and enjoy the exhibition with a glass of fizz and complementary chocolates.

We are very excited to be welcoming George Gilbert RSW to the gallery for the first time. A hugely respected and influential Scottish Artist and Glasgow School of Art graduate, George is highly regarded for his still life work, as well as his depictions of coastal towns and fishing villages. In this exhibition, we are treated to some of his garden studies and still life paintings.

Local artist Stewart Morrison is also giving us some work for the first time.  Stewart is often seen around Kirkcudbright painting plein air, and is well known for capturing Kirkcudbright scenes. He loves to paint the hustle and bustle of the harbour with boats coming and going, and the old town around the Tolbooth with its closes and array of gables.

Suzanne Stuart Davies offers a different take on the theme, having recently left Dumfries & Galloway to live nearer to family in Cumbria. Having called this region home for 19 years, sadness and regret have been combined with just ‘getting on with it’ and trying to look forward for Suzanne. This series, painted slowly in oil on canvas, with knives & brushes, charts Suzanne’s reluctant, eventual departure.

We welcome the return of Georgie Young, who is known for her contemporary Scottish landscapes. Also a GSA graduate, she aims to evoke a feeling in her paintings, a sense of place and an atmosphere rather than an exact reproduction of a landscape.  Amanda Phillips will also be giving us some of her dramatic landscapes, with a style that has been very popular with our customers.

Patricia Sadler is exhibiting some of her landscapes which are inspired by her surrounding area of Berwickshire and The Scottish Borders, and will also be including some of her beautiful still life paintings in the exhibition.  We will also be exhibiting still life work from Janet Cleghorn, Gwen Adair and Morag Muir, each bringing their own distinguishable style and approach to the mix.

Janet Cleghorn’s background is in textiles, which is evident in much of her paintings which often features a tablecloth as the background to the objects. It is her unusual perspective from above which makes Janet’s work interesting and appealing.

Morag Muir usually brings together little objects, textiles and brick a brack from her own life and memory for her work, to create wonderful paintings with their own narrative.

Gwen Adair’s still life paintings are all based on colour and form, using everyday objects mostly from the kitchen, which would seem to be the heart of any home. She also enjoy painting birds, the most domestic of which are hens, and has included some in this exhibition.

For many, no home is complete without a much loved pet. Joyce Gunn Cairns explores the relationship between humans and their pets, cats in particular, something very close to the artists heart. Tracy Rees focuses upon capturing domestic animals in the home, within dreamy, nostalgic and colourful settings. She enjoys placing them in domestic situations where guilty dogs sit on forbidden sofas, resulting in charming work which strikes at the heart of many.

There will be new collections including felted creations from Dinny Pocock; Raku Ceramics by John Scott; Sculpture by Pratima Kramer & Urpu Sellar; Jewellery by Sheana M Stephen;  Porcelain ceramics by Shirley Vauvelle & Wendy Kershaw and ceramic houses by Pauline Montgomery.