mary morrison
DESCRIPTION
Solo exhibition - Undersong 22nd August to 2nd October 2014 - & Collective Art Gallery Bridge of AllanTRANSCRIPT
Mary Morrison Undersong22nd August - 2nd October 2014
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e - [email protected] - andcollective.co.uk
Maple House, 28 Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan, FK9 4HR
Sea, Music and Mapping - Themes in the work of Mary Morrison
Mary Morrison grew up in the Western Isles, and was drawn to exploring a sense of space and light which is particular to these islands. Aiming to combine a sense of place in the work with notation – variously suggesting mapping, measuring, music. Grid references, staves and tide tables recur in the work.
Where works have titles referring to specifi c locations, the intention is to draw on personal connections to these places in order to explore wider themes. Mary’s intention is not to render the topography of a landscape but rather to explore the relationship between the individual and the landscape that has shaped them, something you carry with you – a ‘geography of the mind’.
She is continually inspired by relationships between the written word – poetry in particular – and image, and some paintings have titles which respond to works by Kenneth White, and the Sufi poet, Rumi for example.
Iain Crichton Smith’s poem ‘Lewis’ goes some way to expressing the current preoccupations in the work:
‘It follows me, that black island without ornament,Which I am always questioning….Sea, immortal waters, you are the harmony around us forever.We exist in your music, In your blizzard of white gulls….
Wherever I am, you are with me, My music is the music of your stones, …You are the book which I always study In sunsets over the Minch,You are my gaunt theme, my poem which burns in water.
Mary Morrison’s current practice is focussing on the word ‘Fonn’ as a link between the works. Fonn is a gaelic word with several meanings - ‘land, music, tune, state of mind’ - which echoes ongoing preoccupations in the work.
Selected Exhibitions:
2014
Undersong - & Collective, Bridge of Allan 22nd August - 2nd October
Fonn - An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. 10th May - 24th June
2010-2013:
Paper Planes – works on paper by 16 artists, 17th August- 15th September 2013
The Cloudhouse Café and Gallery, Stow
Casting the Net: Coast to Inland March/April 2013 Mission, Eyemouth & 1 Tower St Selkirk
Rumi Festival – August 2013
RSA Open Exhibition - Royal Scottish Academy Nov 2012-Jan 2013
Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition – Royal Scottish Academy 2011-2013 2011 prize winner)
Mellerstain Gallery Summer Show, Mellerstain House, Scottish Borders, August-September 2012
Breakwater Studio, Edinburgh –December 2012, April and December 2010
Way Installations: Artists Collaborative Project, Over Phawhope Bothy, Southern Upland Way April-June 2011
Inner Landscapes – Joint Show with glass artist Rachel O’Dell, Robson Gallery, Selkirk Aug 2011
Utopia – Artists Installations in a specially converted horsebox gallery. Touring Oct 2011 – Perth Visual Arts Forum, Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival, Heriot Toun Studio, Borders
Sea Spirit, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries Aug 2010
Pre 2010:
Atlantic Edge - Solo exhibition. Pringle Room, Old Gala House, Scottish Borders Aug-Sep 2009
Artist of the month - Timespan, Helmsdale, Sutherland May 2008
Voyages & Visions - Exhibition with Norman Shaw, Morven Gallery, Barvas, Isle of Lewis, July 1994
Shining Wall, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, April 1994
Paperworks III, Seagate Gallery, Dundee, Oct 1993
Thall s’ a bhos, Isle of Harris Arts Festival, Aug 1993
Obair Ur – Joint Exhibition with Sandra Kennedy, An Lanntair Gallery, Stornoway, Oct 1992
Artists Collective Group Show, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh Festival 1991
181 Show, 181 Bow Road, London. Artist run Group Show – Aug 1991
New Generation Show, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, June 1991
Born 1967 and brought up on the Isle of Harris, Western Isles
1985-1990 Edinburgh University & Edinburgh College of ArtJoint Degree MA (Hons) Fine Art 2:1
1989 Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Tours, France
1990-1991 Edinburgh College of ArtPost Graduate Diploma in Painting (Distinction)