Tuesday 31 March 2009

The Great Peter Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt

Potter Sue Dunne, who is exhibiting with us from the 14th of June 2009, has just completed a mammoth task. She made ONE HUNDRED beautiful ceramic eggs for The Great Peter Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt.

The hunt is on on the 8th of April at 10am!

Monday 30 March 2009

Review - The Galloway News

Here's a review of our current exhibition from The Galloway News. It was published on Thursday the 26th of March.

The McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas may have a small unassuming exterior but behind the shop front their meandering exhibiting space is displaying an extraordinary selection of original prints by some of the UK’s foremost artists.

This exhibition is a celebration of the art of Printmaking; showing visitors the variety of techniques artists use to create a print, including Linocut, Etching, Mezzotint, Screen print, Collagraph and Woodcut - to name but a few.

Zoe Blamire, who curated the exhibition, said ‘I have quite literally travelled the length of Britain to select this work. I’m very excited about the way it has all come together and to be able to bring art of this calibre to Castle Douglas’

She is very proud of this exhibition as it showcases big names from the Art World both past and present including artists Elizabeth Blackadder, Barbara Rae, Craigie Aitchieson, Norman Ackroyd, Albert Irvin and John Byrne. Looking round the exhibition proves you can buy an original print, such as an etching, by a very famous artist, at a fraction of the cost of one of their paintings.

The exhibition wouldn’t be out of place in a much larger gallery, in a much bigger place than Castle Douglas. However Dumfries and Galloway with it’s thriving artists’ community means this exhibition has been incredibly popular even in its rural location. Although the work is from all over Britain, local highly talented artists are showing their prints alongside their national counterparts. The diversity of the artists and their different styles gives the exhibition its energy.

Subjects chosen by the artists are wide ranging, from a view of Goat Fell on the Isle of Arran by Craigie Aitchison to glowing, orange fish by Susie Perring. Pamela Grace has chosen to make delicate studies of allotments and there is a captivating self-portrait by John Byrne. Lisa Hooper continues her popular local bird studies with her ‘Head of Curlews’ and Albert Irvin’s ‘Angel’ is depicted with his vibrant, unmistakable abstract composition. The exhibition runs until the 15th of April.

Saturday 28 March 2009

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Email newsletter

You can now sign up for our Email Newsletter. You will be the first to know of any news from the gallery and we will announce the opening of the online shop to all the Email subscribers.

Z

Monday 23 March 2009

New web site now LIVE

Our new web site has just gone live - it still needs more content and will be constantly updated, so check-in often!

Online shop coming very soon...

Zoe

Thursday 19 March 2009

New Pots


Hannah McAndrew has fired the pots that she made and let me decorate and I'm very pleased with my first attempt at scraffito and slip decoration. I've decided to use them for flowers in the gallery - the pots are the perfect shape.

I picked the first daffodils of the season and some beautiful helibores this morning, the sun was actually really warm even at eight 'o' clock in the morning, amazing!

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Printmakers' Exhibition Photos

Here are a few photos from our current show, our UK Printmakers' Exhibition. We have an extraordinary collection of prints for sale from some of the UK's foremost artists. I have so many favourites it would be difficult to choose between them.

PHILOMENA PRETSELL Very Large Jug, ANITA KLEIN Watching Gardeners' World Etching

HELEN FAY I.M. Gustav Etching, ELIZABETH BLACKADDER Still Life With Boxes Screenprint

ELIZABETH BLACKADDER Japanese Garden I Etching, NORMAN ACKROYD Pentland Firth Etching



CLARE MELINSKY Kitchen Cat Linocut, WEMYSS WARE Ginger Tabby Cats

MARTIN RIDGEWELL Blossom Etching ELIZABETH BLACKADDER Fred On Top Of The Cupboard Etching

Jill in the long room


Spring is on the way in the gallery garden...

Monday 9 March 2009

Spring Fling Ceilidh

We are selling tickets for the 'Spring Fling' Ceilidh. Full price tickets cost £7.50 and concessions cost £6.50. Cash or Cheques made payable to 'Spring Fling Open Studios' only please.

Doors open at 7.30pm and the Ceilidh starts at 8pm on Saturday the 23rd of May in Castle Douglas Town Hall. Spring Fling takes place from the 23rd to the 25th of May and is a fantastic open studio event for the region's artists.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Printmakers' Opening and a Weekend of Art

Jill & Zoe at 'Spirit of Air' by Lizzie Farey

Our weekend started with a trip to Hazel Campbell's exhibition opening followed by the opening of Lizzie Farey's willow sculpture exhibition 'Spirit of Air' at Gracefield. It was lovely just to be able to enjoy the shows without any responsibilities and be able to catch up with friends.

Saturday was spent finishing hanging our Printmakers' Exhibition and worrying over all the finishing touches. We are delighted with the work in the show: it is definitely the celebration of UK printmaking that we intended it to be.

There was just time for a cup of tea with Barry and my cousin Joanna before the busy Private View this afternoon. People travelled from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cumbria to the opening and everyone seemed to enjoy the huge variety of different prints from so many talented Printmakers.

Monday 2 March 2009

The red browser

Unpacking the browser

The run up to a new exhibition is always exciting, nerve wracking and hectic. We are constantly thinking about the composition of the show and worrying about the logistics of getting everything from the artists, who often live in far flung paces, and always seem to work right up to the very last minute. Everything is coming together nicely for this show but I still wake up worrying about how we are going to get it all exactly right before the Private View on Sunday.

Today we unpacked a very fetching red browser. We have a lot of new unframed work in the Printmakers' Exhibition and this browser looks really great in the front room, I wish we'd known about this company before we bought our other browsers.

As we wheeled the browser into place it looked as if Anita Klein's 'Lady with a Hedgehog' was peering down to get a closer look!

I've got a mammoth amount of labels to print so I'd better get started...