Fire Station Creative will kick 2018 off with a stunning exhibition of paintings by local artist, Donna McGlynn. The exhibition is titled ‘Thought and Memory’ and is concerned with, ‘human emotions and experiences drawing on myth, fable, history and storytelling‘ says the artist.
Donna has loved drawing and painting from early childhood: ‘I don’t know if anyone remembers the Bunty, the Mandy or Misty comics, but as a little girl I was mesmerised by the drawings and spent a lot of time obsessively trying to copy them. As soon as I found out there was such a thing as Art College, that’s where I wanted to go.’
Although she studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, Donna feels she wasn’t a very diligent student: ‘I was much lazier back in those days, and pretty clueless. Like most artists, after I left college I fit my painting practice around my day job as a teacher. It wasn’t until I left that profession and moved to Dunfermline that I started painting with real intent again. Dunfermline is my home, and moving here heralded the start of painting seriously again. It’s an interesting town with a lot of history that surprises many people who don’t live here.’
Donna has exhibited in juried exhibitions such as the BP Portrait Awards, The Morrison Portrait Awards, annual Exhibitions at the Royal Scottish Academy and Royal Glasgow Institute and the Lynn Painter-Stainer’s Award at the Mall Galleries in London. Most recently, her work was included in the shortlist of the inaugural Scottish Portrait Awards in Edinburgh.
Gallery curator, Ian Moir said: ‘Donna is a real painter’s painter. As soon as I saw her work I knew we had to book her. Her work is beautifully executed with a magical, dreamlike quality that carries you away. They’re full of things to look at and you always come away from them feeling very satisfied. We’re very lucky to have her exhibit with us. Visitors will not be disappointed.’
Thought and Memory will run from Friday 12 January to Sunday 4 March. Entry is Free.
I love this exhibition and will revisit it! Donna’s pictures are captivating: a pleasure to eye and mind.