December’s art exhibition: Noni Choi

The December exhibition in the Art and Design Library showcases artist, Noni Choi, whose work is a gorgeous celebration of nature, colour and energy.

Noni Choi is a botanical artist and illustrator based in Edinburgh. She is from South Korea and trained in ceramic arts in Seoul. Noni worked as an art teacher in Korea until 2009.

“As a painter and an illustrator, flowers and stars are a rich source of inspiration in my art. My work captures the precision of nature creating meditative studies of the beauty of the natural world I see around me.  To me painting is a return to nature. I hope that my paintings which are created with bright colours, full of happiness and vibrant energy help people to return to innocence.

I love nature and I hope to protect nature with my works someday.”

You can learn more about Noni on her website: www.nonichoi.com and follow her on Instagram: @artistnoni

The exhibition runs from 3rd December until 31st December.

October Exhibition – Art and Design Library

The October exhibition in the Art and Design Library is a group show showcasing the work of Edinburgh based artist, Norma Henderson and her father, Forbes Dunn.  Friends, Family and Photography features painting and photographs by the two artists, along with several examples of work by close family friends.

Forbes Dunn (1925-2016) studied Technical Drawing when he left school in 1939 aged 14, going on to a lifelong career as a Technical illustrator & Advisor with the Scottish Gas Board. He was passionate about all aspects of art and was skilled in a range of areas including acrylics, pen & ink and watercolour. He was a member of Musselburgh Art Club for many years and travelled abroad with groups on “Painting Holidays.” He remained an active member of the Art Club until his death in 2016.

Norma Henderson discovered her love for photography early on, thanks to her artist father who gave her a camera when she was 7 years old. She became fascinated with darkroom processes and went on to study photography at Napier University. She made her career with the University of Edinburgh where she worked as a photographic technician for 28 years. She says that, “Art has gone along on a parallel life with my photography – it’s a relaxing hobby.” The exhibition includes examples of her paintings as well as her photography.

The exhibition also includes work by Sue Cavanagh, who has studied art since she was at school with a focus on etching and watercolour, and Mark Douglas, a photographer inspired by his interest in film and television.

“Friends, family and Photography” runs from 3^rd to 31^st October in the Art and Design Library on George IV Bridge.

July’s art exhibition

WENCH, an exhibition of paintings by Mira Knoche opens on 2nd July in the Art and Design Library. It focuses on sisterhood and the paintings on display consider female friendships, rivalries, solidarity, as well as heroes worth remembering.

Mira describes her exhibition as “a visual manifesto and love letter to all libraries that evolved from a display of three paintings as part of International Women’s Day at Leith Library. WENCH is a warm invitation for women to see, curate, and celebrate each other’s stories.  Here’s to championing the female gaze on women and women becoming loud and visible.”

An Edinburgh based artist who loves painting people Mira is intrigued by the human mind, bodies, stories, and the interplay between art and community, she enjoys hosting creative platforms where different art forms meet.  She has co-curated several groups exhibitions and life drawing events.

In addition to her exhibition in the Art and Design Library, Mira is co-programming the event ‘Sonic Leith: WENCH’, a female-led feast of punk, poetry, art and electronica at the Old Dr Bell’s bath in Leith on 25^th August. You can learn more about her work at www.miraknoche.com

The exhibition runs until the 30th July.

 

April’s Art and Design Library Exhibition

Room Time, an exhibition of paintings by Marcus Oakley opens on 3^rd April in the Art and Design Library. The exhibition of new drawings explores the artist’s interest in the potential of the line across a variety of formats. The artworks investigate the infinite possibilities of hand-drawn systems to construct and manipulate space, and manifest lightness, density and structure.

Marcus lives and works in Dunfermline, although he is originally from Norfolk, a coastal county in south-east England. He studied at Camberwell College of Art, and since graduating with a BA honours in Visual Arts in 1996 he has been working as a graphic artist on various projects including book illustration, products, textile design and packaging.

Here’s what he has to say about his artistic inspirations:
“My influences include folky, harmonic and melodic music of all kinds; the pastoral and folkloric delights of the countryside and the various eccentric beasts and humans that inhabit it; the joys of cycling; the stimulations of tea; the dizzy geometries of architecture and design – and overall the wonders of making stuff.”

The exhibition runs from 3^rd to 29^th of April.

February’s Art Exhibition

Why not pop along to the Art & Design Library and see their February exhibition. This month’s exhibition is entitled Edinburgh Scenes & Others and is by Michael Topley. You can see his work from 3 – 27 February.

Michael lives  in Morningside having moved up from North Somerset five years ago and started painting seriously having been previously involved in photography. His job as an engineer and family commitments prevented him from giving too much time for art, but he has always had a strong interest.  Along with his wife he is a member of an Edinburgh Art Group which meets once a week.

About his work Michael says “As I hope I have expressed in my paintings, I like to reflect modern life, particularly with urban street scenes, but don’t limit myself to these and will tackle most subjects with varied results. I feel that watercolours can be as expressive as any other medium and try hard to show this in my work”.

 

The people who helped shape Edinburgh Libraries: Thomas Ross

Thomas Ross was born in Perthshire in 1839, the son of a tenant farmer. He  moved to Glasgow in 1885 to become an apprentice architect. In 1862, Thomas Ross was employed as an assistant to architect David MacGibbon, and in 1872 they went into partnership. As well as working on their architectural commissions, MacGibbon and Ross undertook an ambitious project travelling across Scotland, mainly by train or bike, sketching and gathering information about the country’s architectural heritage.

This resulted in the five volume work “Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland” (1887- 92) and the three volumes of “The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland” (1896-97).  Both series remain key texts for Scottish architecture (and can be found in our Art Library collections).

Ross’s influence increased when he became a founder member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCHAMS) in 1908. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Edinburgh University in 1910.

Alfred MacGibbon (David’s son), fell ill in 1914 and dissolved the partnership. Ross continued to undertake small jobs that interested him from his home in Saxe-Coburg Place. His main occupation continued to be Commission business and it was while studying Rossend Castle, Inverkeithing that he fell foul of wartime restrictions when he was arrested and later fined 5 shillings for “sketching in a prohibited area”.

Ross continued to work as an architect until 1916 making surveys and sketches of old buildings. In 1918, Ross became Professor of Antiquities at the Royal Edinburgh Academy. He died in 1930 aged 91.

After his death, his son James MacLaren Ross destroyed most of the practice papers but those relating to the books and to Commission business were given to the National Library.  Drawings and paintings relating to Edinburgh, Scotland and England were given to Edinburgh Central Library. 

Our latest Capital Collections exhibition brings together some of these unique watercolour paintings Ross completed on his various travels around Scotland and England and focus on landmark domestic and ecclesiastical buildings, many of which appear in his classic architectural texts.

 

Read all the articles in this series of ‘The people who helped shape Edinburgh Libraries’:

George Washington Browne: architect

Robert Butchart: City Librarian

Andrew Carnegie: steelmaker and philanthropist

Henry Dyer, engineer, educationist and Japanophile

William McEwan: brewer and philanthropist

David Mather Masson: scholar and biographer

Charles Boog Watson: local historian and antiquarian

The tradesmen who built Central Library

Colin Povey Exhibition in Fine Art Library

This month’s exhibition in Fine Art is a collection of paintings by West Lothian artist Colin Povey. Colin describes his work as the evolution of a personal visual language.

“My paintings are informed by a wide range of artists, encompassing influences as far apart as 18th Century English landscape and portrait painter, Thomas Gainsborough, and neo-expressionist Cecily Brown.

I do not follow any strict rules when I paint but feel my way until I find the right balance, harmony and poetry in the paint. My paintbrush searches and explores the world that it is experiencing, discovering its rhythms and producing a dynamic, coherent surface of paint. I strive for a lyrical flow, that carries calm, considered brushstrokes alongside active, spontaneous passages of paint.”

The exhibition runs in the Fine Art Library, George IV Bridge until 30th April.

My Perfect Place

Children in Scotland have just announced My Perfect Place, a national art competition for children and young people aged up to 18.

Through drawing, painting, collage or photography, participants are encouraged to express their ideas and inform international architects, planners, policymakers and designers about what makes the perfect place and why they like to spend time there.

The competition runs alongside Making Space 2010, a conference focusing on the importance of creating innovative and inspiring environments in which children and young people can live and learn.

The competition deadline is 12 July 2010.  For further information and details on submitting an entry please see

http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/html/ArtCompetition.htm