Gwen Black
With an Honours Degree in Fine Art from Grays School of Art, Robert Gordons University, Aberdeen, Gwen shows her work extensively throughout Scotland in both solo and collective exhibitions. She has her work both in public and private collections.
Working on her art, full time at her studio gallery in the Highlands of Scotland, she also runs an extensive program of day workshops and short courses in the full range of art and printmaking techniques.
At the moment my work is based around the examination of man's constant need to control his environment. His endless fight against nature and its voracious re-growth. In his efforts of suppression he has employed a spectacular series of mazes; in fencing, walls and dry stone dykes; the maze - and its precursor the spiral - being the primeval structure for the containment of Chaos. While looking at this enclosing of land a patchwork of vital colours and shapes appears, a patterning that has been translated into cultural and ethnic art and design throughout history.
Along side my interest in the enclosure of land runs an interest in the dilapidation and dereliction of abandoned buildings, especially in areas where nature has regained superiority in the environment. Taking a closer look at shapes and form left by this slow degeneration, I finding endless interesting examples of texture and colour. Wood pitted with bore holes, alloys which have been eaten and eroded by the elements and mottled with metal fatigue, faded paintwork and bleached surfaces, rusts and verdigris, all weaving another rich tapestry - of decay.
I aspire to assemble a body of work which is harmoniously pleasing to the eye, engaging to the viewer, bringing with it a moment of sensory stimulation, a quiet calm and a colourful interlude to the grey bustle of the every day
Work currently on exhibition at
Inchmore Gallery Inverness-shire.
Milton Gallery, Milton of Crathes, Banchory, Aberdeenshire,
Carbyart, 50 Cotton Street, Aberdeen.
Peacock Visual Arts, Castle Street, Aberdeen.
The Art Instate of Seattle, Seattle USA.
Tore Art Gallery, Inverness-shire
Just Art, Fachabers, Moray
Larks Gallery, Ballater, Aberdeenshire
Leap Gallery, Craigellachy, Aberdeenshire
Work exhibited in open exhibitions
RSA Edinburgh
The Aspect Prize
Aberdeen Artists Exhibition
Highland Open Exhibition
I teach a wide range of courses in my studio, from single day workshops to week long courses. Subjects are full range: painting, drawing, print-making, book-binding, portfolio building, sketchbook creating......all with the emphasis on self expression, personal development and most of all enjoyment.
Oils, Pen And Wash, Drawing, Pastels, Pencil/Charcoal, Acrylics, Mixed Media, Acrylic Inks, Canvas, Collage, Coloured Pencil
Landscape, Abstract, Figure, Still Life, Portrait, Expressionism
Invernessshire, United Kingdom mainland