Festive Opening Hours

Here are our festive opening hours. We are open between Christmas and New Year and also on the Friday and Saturday after New Year. We are then having a weeks break from the 7th to the 14th of January 2013.

Monday 24^th - Christmas Eve – OPEN 10am – 5pm
Christmas Day CLOSED
Boxing Day CLOSED
Thursday 27^th December OPEN 10am – 5pm
Friday 28^th December OPEN 10am – 5pm
Saturday 29^th December OPEN 10 am – 5pm
Sunday 30^th December CLOSED


Monday 31^st -New Year’s Eve - OPEN10 am – 4pm
Tuesday 1^st January CLOSED
Wednesday 2^nd January CLOSED
Thursday 3^rd January CLOSED
Friday 4^th January OPEN 10 am – 5 pm
Saturday 5^th January OPEN 10 am – 5 pm
CLOSED for a week’s holiday Monday 7^th January.

We will re-open as normal 10am Monday 14^th January.
If you need to contact us during this time please phone:
07525745826
07970854961
01556 503209

Gallery Garden by Candle Light

At our recent evening drink reception in the gallery we lit the garden with large candles (thank you Jools!). What a wonderful effect, with the candle light highlighting the trees and winding path. I love the gallery garden in winter.

Evening drinks in the gallery

We are holding a drinks party tomorrow night (Thursday 29th November) in the gallery. We will be serving mulled wine or non alcoholic spiced fruit punch from 7 pm - 9 pm. It will be a great chance to view our brand new Winter Exhibition and catch up with friends.

I'm looking forward to a relaxed evening after all the work we put in last week when we were installing the new exhibition at the same time as having a new floor laid and the gallery kitchen was being renovated!

Hope to see you there.

Leo @ The RSA

 Leo with his screenprint 'Adam and Eve part I'

Well, November has been a crazy busy month. So much going on. So much to write about. I thought I'd start with the news that my brother Leo has one of his screen prints in the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Open Exhibition. We were too busy setting up our Winter Exhibition to go to the Opening on Friday but Leo and Inga were there. The cocktails were great apparently!

I'm looking forward to seeing the show in Edinburgh next week.

I'll be back soon with more news.

Wigtown Book Festival

Jill at Gifted - The Paper Sculptures exhibition

Jill and I had a fantastic day out at the Wigtown Book Festival today. Even the drive there was wonderful with Galloway looking its best - drenched in Autumn sunshine as the trees start to turn.

Our first talk was Richard Holloway talking about the links between creativity and boredom. A truly fascinating subject. He reminded us all of the artist within us and the importance of nurturing this by allowing time for meditation, play and playfulness in our busy lives. 'We are all artists even if the only art we create is our own life' - Richard Holloway.

Next we heard Alex Danchev talk about his new biography on Cezanne. I was interested to learn that Cezanne's paintings were bought by many of his fellow artists including Picasso, Pissarro and Monet. They all collected his work and wanted to study it. I loved 'The Card Players' exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery a couple of years ago. I learnt so much more about Cezanne today - both in the way he approached his work and also his amazing intellect - had he not been a great painter he could just as easily been a great writer. I am really looking forward to reading the book, and look at the lovely inscription from the author:

Our final talk of the day was William Fiennes on his book The Snow Geese, ten years after it was published. Jill had read (and enjoyed enormously) the book in anticipation of the talk and I can't wait to read it now. The theme of having to be at home with your parents due to illness resonated with us, as did the desperate need to leave and fly the nest!

Hidden away in 'The Studio' in Wigtown was an extraordinary exhibition - I was so glad some friends drew our attention to it. It's on tour - Glasgow next, I think. This video explains all:

Autumn Exhibition

Bronze elephant by Richard W. Boardman and painting Herbal Jar with Fruit by Simon Laurie RSW RGI

Glen Scouller RSW RGI's painting Fishing Boats Ferragudo, Algarve

Ceramics by Archie McCall

It's the first of October already! As promised, here are some photos of our current show. So many wonderful vibrant paintings alongside ceramics by Archie McCall and Sue Dunne - there are quite a few pieces that I would love to hang in my own home.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Wigtown Book Festival, followed by some filming at artist Lisa Hooper's house. We are making a series of films about print making and Lisa is our first. It should be great fun!

Photos from the Private View

I'm a bit late, but here are some photos from our jam packed Opening on the 30th of August. We decided to have a Thursday evening Private View and we were lucky to get a rare sunny evening, it was really good fun. I loved hanging the show - it is such a contrast to our August Galloway Paintings exhibition and the gallery, as always, transformed as the new work filled the walls. More photos of this exhibition to follow...

CABN Connects with McGill Duncan Gallery

CABN has been holding a residency over the past month at Gracefield in Dumfries. As part of the residency artist Hazel Moore came to the gallery to make a film for artists about working with a gallery. Our ideas were formed in a very limited time frame and the film is designed to be informal - we'll see how it turns out!

We really enjoyed working with Hazel and we'll stay in touch and make sure that some of the fantastic ideas that came out of the residency continue.

Here's a mind map Hazel made after our meeting (click to enlarge):

Leo Blamire @ the RGI

I had a really nice weekend in Glasgow. On Saturday the RGI opened their Annual Exhibition. My brother Leo had two of his oil paintings accepted for this prestigious show. The opening was great fun - lots of artists who we work with were there and it was good to catch up with friends and see some stunning paintings.

Congratulations to Michael Durning and Euan MacGregor - they are both regular exhibitors in our gallery and both won awards.

We were all delighted to see a red dot already on one of Leo's paintings when we arrived. It was great to meet up with my friend Helen and her baby Serge - at 11 months old it was his first exhibition opening and I think he enjoyed himself!

Grayson Perry @ Victoria Miro

I was looking through my photos from earlier in the summer and I thought I should put these on my blog.

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The Grayson Perry exhibition at Victoria Miro is over now. I went to see it at the beginning of the summer when some very kind friends invited me to London to see the dressage at the Olympics. I met up with Kathryn for an afternoon of art followed by delicious food at Ottolenghi. In spite of all the warnings of Olympic chaos in London the city felt quite quiet.

I loved the show and still think about it. The gallery has a huge light filled room at the top of the building and it was the perfect setting for the grand scale tapestries.

The Victoria Miro also has a tranquil garden. No matter what the exhibition, I recommend a visit.

If you are going to London and you want to see some of Grayson Perry's work, his magnificent Walthamstow Tapestry is on display at the William Morris Gallery . I have never been there, but it's on my list for my next trip to London which I hope won't be too far away...

Join us for drinks in the gallery tomorrow

 SIMON LAURIE RSW RGI Still Life, Lamp and Fish

Well, we've had an exceptionally busy August. The Galloway Paintings exhibition created quite a buzz in the gallery, with a constant stream of visitors.

No time to rest though as our exciting Autumn exhibition opens tomorrow evening.

The group of eight artists are Sue Dunne, Simon Laurie RSW RGI, Archie McCall, Hilary McElderry, Jock MacInnes RGI, Sandy Murphy RSW RGI PAI, Glen Scouller RSW RGI, and Felicity Walker.

We are just finishing the exhibition installation and the work looks fabulous. It's so exciting to see the gallery transformed, and to

 see how well the different artists work goes together.

Please join us for a glass of wine on Thursday 30th August from 7 to 9 pm.

I'm really looking forward to it!

You can read our current newsletter here.

Artists Advice Day

Matt Baker and I are holding an Artists Advice Day at the gallery on Tuesday 11th September. Sessions are FREE but you need to book.

Contact Stephanie.Carrick@dumgal.gov.uk to book your place.

Click on the poster above and it will enlarge so you can read all the details.

August Sweet Peas

Arm fulls of Sweet Peas

The Opening of our new exhibition on Saturday was an amazing success. Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a memorable occasion.

I was too busy to take photos during the opening but my dad snapped this photo of Jill and me outside the gallery first thing in the morning.

I always associate this August Galloway Paintings exhibition with sweet peas. Mitchells the greengrocer in Castle Douglas is selling them for only £2 a bunch so I was there early to pick up a bundle of scented blooms. Their gorgeous perfume filled the gallery, and so many of our customers wanted to buy some sweet peas just like ours so I imagine Mitchells sold out pretty quickly on Saturday!

Web Site Make-Over

We've also been making lots of improvements to our web site so if you haven't visited for a while, have a look here. We now have a section for videos and we are also offering FREE DELIVERY on all items on our site with the 'add to cart' button. Other pieces of art on our site are still available by mail order but require a shipping quote first.

Here's our 'Day In The Life' video of what might happen in the gallery on a typical day here in Castle Douglas. We had fun making it and I hope you enjoy it - Antony the whippet is the star of the show!

a day in the life from McGill Duncan Gallery on Vimeo.

Galloway Paintings and Paul Young Ceramics

WILLIAM HANNA CLARKE The Shepherdess

We've been very busy recently getting everything ready for our new exhibition of Galloway Paintings with ceramics by Paul Young.

The exhibition opens on Saturday the 4th August from 11am - 1pm and I hope as many of you as possible will join us for a glass of Pimms.

You can view a lot of the paintings online here. If you are interested in purchasing please telephone the gallery on 01556 502468 and we can arrange for you to view the work. There has already been a huge amount of interest in this much anticipated exhibition.

David Palmer on Mrs Osborns's Shopping Spree

Our David Palmer etchings have been featured on the Mrs Osborn's Shopping Spree blog. It's the second time we've been featured on this blog, which champions British designers, makers, shops and galleries.

CHARLES OPPENHEIMER: From Craftsman To Artist

I have just added this newly published book about Charles Oppenheimer RSA RSW 1875-1961 to our online shop. 

Author Euan Robson was a member of the Scottish Parliament for eight years. He studied history at University, and has long had a fascination for the life and work of Scottish artists. His earlier book, George Houston - Nature Limner was particularly well received.

The book is illustrated with colour photographs throughout. I'm sure it will be very popular with our customers. Charles Oppenheimer is always one of the most admired artists in our August exhibition.

Looking forward to August

August is going to be a busy month for us. On Saturday 4 August we have the opening of our Galloway Paintings exhibition. We'll be showing work by Charles Oppenheimer RSA RSW 1875-1961, William Hanna Clarke 1882-1924 and James Paterson 1854-1932, to name only a few.

Alongside the paintings we'll be showing the slipware ceramics of Paul Young. His work, which is firmly rooted in the long tradition of English Slipware, is going to look stunning with our 19th and 20th century paintings.

We will also be welcoming author Euan Robson to the gallery on the same day. He will be signing copies of his new book, CHARLES OPPENHEIMER: From Craftman To Artist. Euan will be available to chat to visitors about writing this fascinating book on a much loved Galloway artist.

As it's summer we'll be serving Pimms at the opening, which is from 11am to 1pm.

See you there!

Rain, Rain

Rain Rain , Go To Spain ...

I rushed out to my garden before work this morning. I could see a huge rain storm coming over the loch and I knew it would obliterate the last of the peonies if I didn't go out and save them. I got quite a few other flowers too.

 Blue Iris, which look stunning with this Paul Young bowl and Sue Binns jugs.

 My favourite scented peonies.

Cheerful pink daisies next to a Jonathan Chiswell Jones Autumn leaves vase.

 

Yellow lilies brighten up the fireplace beneath this Helen Turner  PPAI PAI  of Loch Ken and delicate bird paintings by Claire Harkess RSW.

John Douglas Piper Drypoint Etchings

New to the gallery, beautiful, delicate, drypoint etchings by John Douglas Piper. I have added seven of his etchings to our online shop. They are unframed and start at just £45. I think they would make a lovely gift.

Greetings From Italy

The beautiful garden at Villa La Pietra,  New York University, Florence

My holiday in Lucca is sadly coming to an end. I have had a wonderful week with some wonderful friends.

Today I was lucky enough to visit the foundry in Pietrasanta where Richard W Boardman's bronze sculpture is cast.

Richard brought a new sculpture to be cast - a duck named Quickquack. This is Ivo, the foundry owner taking down all the details.

Measuring the height from beak to table so that Quickquack can be finished at the correct angle when the feet are welded to the body.

And here we all are, Richard, Quickquack, Pietro, me and Ivo.

I got a great tour of the foundry and saw the casting process from start to finish. Ivo and Pietro are incredible artisans.

After that we took a trip to the coast and Forte dei Marmi where even the pavements are made of marble. The strange weather that's crossing Europe at the moment had made the sea unusually choppy, with huge waves crashing up the beach. This is Patrice and me standing on the pier.

What else did I get up to? Lots of things including...

Shopping in Florence (this is at the famous Farmacia Santa Maria Novella).

And falling in love with Italian cars!

COUCH

This evening I went to see Alice Francis's brilliant 'Couch' - a Galloway cottage covered in Plums stretchy fabric.

The cottage is right next to Doach woods; I've been going for walks there since I was little, so the cottage is really familiar to me. How the whole place has changed for the four days of Spring Fling. There was quite a crowd of people and a lovely buzz about the place, with children excitedly running round and round the cottage and lots of people sitting on the grass chatting. The building looks smaller now it has been cosily wrapped in flowery fabric.

You've only got tomorrow to see it and I would highly recommend a visit.