6 Women Artists

Lime Tree Gallery, Fort William

This exhibition came to life after visiting the Paisley Art Institute’s Annual Exhibition in 2013. Whilst viewing the exhibition, it became abundantly clear that a great number of paintings being exhibited in Scotland, were the

work of female artists. This has inspired us to take it upon ourselves to spread the word about some of these artists and for our first exhibition of 2014, we are exhibiting some fine examples of the work of Helen Turner PPAI PAI, Margaret Ballantyne, Claire Harrigan RSW, May Byrne PAI,

Jennifer Mackenzie and Lynn McGregor RSW.

Although this exhibition is titled ‘6 Women Artists’, gender and nationality are the only significant traits that these women share. Painting a range of still life, landscape and figurative works, each artist brings something completely different to the show in terms of

technique, medium and philosophy.

For example, Helen Turner and Lynn McGregor both paint landscapes, but Helen favours an impressionist style with a soft tonalrange, whereas Lynn’s paintings command a more vibrant palette as she creates her abstract works.

As well as introducing some of these artists’ works to Fort William for the first time, we feel this show brings a great range of skill and experience to the Lime Tree Gallery - 6 Women Artists is not to be missed.

Open 10am – 10pm8th February till 16th March.

KenmoreOil on Canvas, 66 x 76cm, £4000

Helen Turner PAI PPAI

Helen M Turner PAI PPAI was born in Glasgow. When she left schoolshe joined the design studios of James Templeton and attendedGlasgow School of Art in the evenings from 1952 to 1960. There shestudied drawing, still life and portraiture under Trevor Mackinson andWilliam Gallagher. Continuing her career with James Templeton,andother companies, she became a documented designer in Aubusson andBeauvais, travelling extensively throughout the world. Helen's designscan be seen in the Waldorf Astoria, Turnberry Hotel, San FranciscoOpera House, The New York Plaza, P & O Cruise Liners and manyCasinos throughout the world.

Eventually, she gave up her design work to become a full-timeartist. Helen was elected President of the Paisley Art Institute from2001to 2004. She is also a member of the Glasgow Society of WomenArtists and exhibits regularly in galleries throughout the UK.

Helen won the East Linton Award in 1972 and 2004 and wascommended in the Soroptomists' International Fine Art Award in1992. In 2000 she became a Diplomat of the Paisley Art Institute[PAI]. Helen has work in the corporate collections of Robert FlemingHoldings, Dunedin Fund Managers, Ramco Oil, the TSB, Dunedin FundManagers, South Ayrshire Council, Paisley Museum and ArtGalleries and many in private collections at home and abroad.

Caravans at Treigh Bay Solitude Loch SunartOil on Canvas, 61 x 86 cm, £4100 Oil on Canvas, 71 x 101 cm, £4500

NarcissusOil on Canvas, 50 x 56 cm, £3500

Whispering Grass Sanna Hills of GallowayOil on Canvas, 66 x 71 cm, £3900 Oil on Canvas, 61 x 71 cm, £3800

Jennifer Mackenzie

Still Life with Pink LilliesOil on Canvas, 60 x 60cm, £1350

Jennifer Mackenzie is a Scottish artist who lives and works in Golspie,Sutherland but is originally from Coatbridge near Glasgow.

She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1971, spent a further yearat Jordanhill College of Education and then taught Art and Design inschools in Lanarkshire, Inverness and Sutherland.Since leaving teaching in 2001, Jennifer has been a full timeprofessional artist.

“My paintings are very much a personal response to my environment, interms of colour, light and space, and in the Scottish painterly tradition,reflecting my time at GSA with tutors such as William Drummond Bone,Sandy Goudie, and David Donaldson. I enjoy exploring colour andthe tactile qualities of oil paint, largely through still life.”

Lillies by the Window Chrysanthemums and LemonOil on Canvas, 90 x 90cm, £1750 Oil on Canvas, 54 x 54cm, £800

A Little Still Life Winter WhitesOil on Canvas, 59 x 59 cm, £800 Oil on Canvas, 67 x 67cm, £950

White TulipsOil on Canvas, 46 x 40cm, £450

Margaret Ballantyne

Early Snow PerthshireOil on Canvas, 76 x 66 cm, £2500

Margaret Ballantyne lives and works in Glasgow where she attendedGlasgow School of Art.She is an elected member of the Glasgow Society of Women Artists and thePaisley Art Institute, where she won the Col. Neville Award.

She exhibits with the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, the Royal ScottishAcademy and the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours.Margaret has also exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions forseveral years.

She was invited by International Artist Magazine to contribute an article onher painting and method. Her work was chosen at the Mall Galleries inLondon for the Laing Calendar.

For several years the National Trust for Scotland used her paintings for theirannual Christmas card, and many of her paintings have been reproduced bythe Robertson Collection as cards which are available in numerous galleriesand National Trust for Scotland.

Margaret’s work is in many private and public collections at both home andabroad.

Iona Corner of the Village, IonaOil on Canvas, 36 x 36 cm, £500 Oil on Canvas, 77 x 77cm, £600

Still Life with PineappleOil on Canvas, 66 x 66 cm, £1500

Tide Patterns, Bute Scalpsie Bay, ButeOil on Canvas, 41 x 42cm, £600 Oil on Canvas, 80 x 70cm, £2500

Claire Harrigan RSW

September MoonAcrylic & Oil Pastel on Board, 73 x 92cm, £2500

Claire was born in Kilmarnock in 1964. She studied art at Glasgow School of Art from1982 – 86 graduating BA Hons in Fine Art (Drawing and Painting). She very quicklycame to the attention of several galleries and set up studio to become a full timeartist. Her early exhibitions proved successful and demand for her work grew steadily.

Her first solo show was staged at the Macaulay Gallery at Stenton in 1988 followed inthe same year by a solo exhibition at Christopher Hull Gallery in London. Since thenand over the years, her solo shows were a major feature of her work schedulealternating every two years between prestigious galleries, with mixed shows alsobeing accommodated in many of the major UK commercial galleries.

Claire has been the recipient of many major awards including The Mary ArmourAward at the Glasgow School of Art, The Lily McDougall Award by the Scottish SocietyArtists and Artist Craftsmen, James Torrance Memorial Award by the Royal GlasgowInstitute of the Fine Arts, The Latimer Award by the Royal Scottish Academy, and theGlasgow Arts Club Fellowship award, RSW.

In 1992, Claire became an Elected Professional Member of the Royal ScottishWatercolour Society – RSW. She was listed in “20th Century Painters and Sculptors”by Frances Spalding and first listed in “Who’s Who in Art” 26th edition (1994)published by Art Trade Press Ltd. In 2007 a book about her work entitled “Abstractand Colour techniques in painting”was published by Batsford.

Her painting style is vibrant and bold in use of colour with a high key palette apermanent feature of her work. She paints distinctively with colour and abstractelements working well together in clever and mature compositions

Leafy Oranges TulipsAcrylic & Oil Pastel on Board, 49 x 49cm, £800 Acrylic & Oil Pastel on Board, 49 x 49cm, £800

Young MusicianAcrylic & Oil Pastel on Board, 93 x 118 cm,£2500

SunflowersAcrylic & Oil Pastel on Board, 70 x 78cm, £1500

Winter Landscape, UistMixed Media, 51 x 51 cm, £380

May Byrne PAI

May's artwork focuses mainly on the islands of the Uists in the Outer Hebrides. Withher family history intrinsically entwined with that of South Uist, May's art is anevocation and interpretation of the Gaelic rhythms of her native island. Anunconscious absorption of the history, culture and environment of the chain ofislands that make up the Outer Hebrides has proved to be integral to her art.

Although born and raised in Glasgow, May gained first-hand experience throughoutthe 1960s and 1970s of her family's traditional methods of crofting. Whether it wascutting hay, stacking peat or tending to the livestock, including everything fromchickens to native Hebridean sheep, there was an expectation for family membersbig and small to help out during a busy summer period.A subsequent lifelong fascination with the crofting lifestyle, the environment and itsresilient people, allied to her instinctive awareness, appreciation and understandingof the Hebridean landscape, has shaped May's very distinctive voice. Usingphotography and sketches to record the underlying tension of the changing weatherand seasons of the islands, she expresses the huge expansive skies, the colourpalette of the machair, the hidden depths of the lochans, vastness of the beachesand drama of the mountains.Over a number of years May has developed an expressive, loose approach topainting. Two styles of painting dominate her artwork – on the one hand, a colouristapproach, using strong, vibrant colours and on the other hand, a more muted andunderstated approach. May uses broad brushstrokes and palette knives to createlayers of texture as means to capture the light and effects of the weather on theenvironment.

House on the Hill Sandy CoveMixed Media, 54 x 54 cm, £420 Mixed Media, 44 x 44 cm, £420

Summer Days Rannoch MoorOil, 41 x 41cm, £450 Oil, 44 x 44 cm, £420

Winter SolsticeMixed Media, 44 x 44cm, £280

Lynn McGregor RSW

Imprint After the RainAcrylic on Board, 61 x 61 cm, £2200

Lynn McGregor was born in Pittenweem in the East Neuk of Fife and trained atEdinburgh College of Art.In 1988 she completed a BA Hons in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh Collegeof Art, going on to achieve a postgraduate diploma in Painting and Printmaking.

In 1991 Lynn was awarded the Scottish Society of Women Artists Special Awardalong with the Scottish Arts Club Award. In the succeeding years Lynn was alsoelected a Professional Member of Visual Arts Scotland, the Elie Lilly PurchasePrize, the Mabel McKinley Art Prize, McLellan Galleries.

In 2001 Lynn was elected RSW (Royal Scottish Society of Watercolours) and hersemi-abstract landscapes are shown in galleries throughout the UK.

She works between Scotland and Ireland, currently living in the otherwiseuninhabited island of Islandmore on Strangford Lough, with her writer husbandMichael Faulkner. Their island home is the primary source of inspiration forLynn’swork at present.

Late Spring Snow Light Breaking ThroughAcrylic on Board, 58 x 58 cm, £2200 Acrylic on Board, 61 x 61 cm, £2200

Summer IslandsAcrylic on Board, 61 x 61 cm, £2200

Island TreesAcrylic on Board, 61 x 61 cm, £2200

For more information on any of the artists and paintings, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Lime Tree An EaldhainAchintore Road

Fort WilliamInverness-shire

PH33 6RQ

T: +44 (0)1397 701 806E: gallery@artfortwilliam.co.uk