Tag Archives: Patriothall Studios

Studio Visit: David Forster and Michael Craik

28 July 2011 at 6pm

A visit to the studio spaces of David Forster and Michael Craik to discuss their current practice in contemporary painting.

David Forster’s landscapes refer to the traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries. Though the scenes depicted are topographically correct, Forster subtly alters the light and colour to create a fictionalised reality that conveys the authority of photorealist document. Whilst exploring the romantic narrative of landscape, Forster’s work presents the industrialised wilderness of farmland, the well-trodden solitude of the British uplands, and the tame sublime of the country park.

Michael Craik is fascinated by modernist architecture and creates abstract oil paintings which have been described as a ‘contemporary minimalism for an urban audience’. His most recent works focus on the geometry of squares or hexagons and are painted on aluminium panels to create works which evoke perspective and create a play of light which recalls the buildings from which the patterns have been drawn.

Patriothall Studios is parts of WASPS which has grown to become one of Scotlands largest arts organisations, providing studio space to over 750 artists each year at 17 locations throughout Scotland.

Studio Visit: Alan Kilpatrick

27 March 2008 at 6pm

This month we will be visiting the studio of Alan Kilpatrick to join him in discussion about his work, and in particular, his recent exploration of the cultural diversity of contemporary India. Some of you will remember Alan Kilpatrick from our January Spin event at the Carol Rhodes exhibition.

Kilpatrick is interested in the lives of others in the new India, particularly the many artisans whose traditions and methods are coming under increasing threat from India’s rapid technological advances. Using henna, spices and rice paste as well as marble dust and Indian inks, Kilpatrick has incorporated many of the customary materials employed by artists and craftsmen in his work.

Alan Kilpatrick was born in Assam and has lived and worked from his studio in Edinburgh since 1991. He graduated from St Martin’s School of Art in London. He recently had a solo exhibition at Art First in London and his work is held in many collections including the Fleming Collection, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, The Bonham, Turcan Connell and Hans Rausing.

WASPS Studio Visit

30 September 2005 at 6pm

With the Festival now a distant memory, we kick off the Spin Autumn season with a special visit to WASPS Artists Studios. This former bakery in Stockbridge houses 60 individual artists studios over three floors and features both up-and-coming and established artists. The work produced here ranges from painting, ceramics, jewellery, sculpture, photography, digital media and installation art.

Prior to the annual WASPS Open Studios Weekend (8 & 9 October), Spin has been given special access to some of the artists studios, making this an exciting opportunity for us to find out what goes on behind closed studios doors. We will also be able to explore the creative process first-hand by talking to the artists in their studio spaces.

We will be visiting Michael Craik who creates photo-real, abstract, architectural-inspired paintings; Di Hope who had a recent show at the Open Eye Gallery and creates abstract, collage paintings, Lorna Fraser, a ceramicist, is currently working on sculptural works inspired by exotic plants, Stella Auchinleck, is a figurative painter, whose work, both in terms of content and colour, is informed by her experience of living in Turkey, Shelagh Atkinson who is a printmaker and a painter, uses photography and lithography, and Gerry McGowan is a figurative painter who often works on small canvases or board. He has an eye for capturing figures going about their business where shapes of architecture and angles of light play as much part as the figures.

As well as housing the artists studios, the building also has a successful exhibition space on the ground floor, which features work by new, emerging and established artists. Over the years, Patriothall Gallery has supported hundreds of artists at varying stages in their careers and worked with the local community on many initiatives.