exhibitions
sea
12th May - 19th June 2021
We open our exhibition schedule of 2021 with a solo show of paintings by Beth Robertson Fiddes. Her first of the year, our first of the year – a year of enforced change, creating an interlude in our normal life patterns. This has given many of us time to reflect on what is important to us; whether it is the power of friendship, the loss of accepted freedoms, the warmth of neighbours, the absence of convivial gatherings, the comfort of family, a heightened awareness of the sound of the waves and the cry of birds. For Beth, this interlude has provided the peace and tranquility to revisit some past influences on her work and focus on her close surroundings as the inspiration for much of this exhibition – the sea, the coast and the landscape of Wester Ross – an impressive backyard to explore during a period of reflection in the recent national crisis. “I am mesmerised by the sea. Ominous, yet comforting. From childhood, I have been close to it. It is in my blood. The seemingly unchanging and unceasing return of the tide. Yet I observe that much of this is transient, fleeting and elusive - alive almost. It is this brief glimpse of the life of the land and the sea that I try to preserve in my painting.”
Exhibition Images
(click on thumbnails to view - please check with gallery on availability of work)
Beth Robertson Fiddes
Beth Robertson Fiddes graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1995 with BA (hons), won The RSA Benno Schotz award in 1997 and won second place in the 2011 Jolomo Bank of Scotland competition – the largest Art prize in Scotland.
Her return to her Highland roots has deepened her continuing artistic exploration of land and sea. A move in early 2013 to Inverbroom, in Wester Ross, took her back to where she feels she really belongs. She now has more time to spend in the surroundings that have inspired so much of her work.
“Returning to favourite childhood haunts and seeing them afresh has given my painting a new dimension allowing memories to combine with new sights and experiences.”
Indeed, her work – in acrylic, ink and oil and also paper – vividly evokes the fleeting moment of a surging tide crashing onto headland or hissing through rock pools, the sharp intensity of a shaft of brilliant sunshine through a swirling cloud of mist, rain or spindrift, at the same time raising the possibility of a primeval landscape.
Raised in Tiree, Beth has a deep understanding of how rapidly changing and often extreme weather patterns are an integral part of the rugged beauty of the north-west Highlands.
Her work has always been based on observation and drawing outdoors is fundamental to her working methods.
“I find more and more now that I want to retain the spontaneity of the initial impressions and sketches in the final pieces.”
There has been a steady growing recognition for an artist with a unique eye and the ability to transfer onto canvas – on a grand scale when necessary – the colours, textures and moods of the dramatic landscape around her.
“My work has sometimes been described as having an otherwo ... Read More