Original Art Group Exhibition Reviews
THE ORIGINAL Art Group’s latest exhibition opened on Saturday at the Dundee University Botanic Gardens visitor centre.
Many of the paintings are of Scottish subjects, though several of the artists are also exhibiting work from mainland Europe.
Probably the best known is Harry McGregor. Though an established artist, he is not resting on his laurels and his fans will find a subtle difference in his style and a number of new subjects and venues.
Margaret Simpson shows a number of attractive watercolours, among which Auchmithie, Port Wemyss and a sea of heather in Glenesk stand out.
Helen McGrow has a more varied range, with a very nice painting of primroses and another, Ferry Resident, of one of the Broughty Ferry swans, sticking in the mind.
Graham McCrow has a real hit with Autumn Morning, where he shows what stunning work can be produced from a subject as simple as reeds and grasses.
Isobel Reid deserves praise for striking out in a different direction with Open Day, Leuchars; the helicopter was well done, but the figures, though well drawn, need more work to bring them more forcefully into the foreground.
Jim Dewar has the humility and the courage to keep experimenting and pushing at the boundaries, and he produces some beautifully atmospheric work, Misty Morning, Skye, and Rackwick Bay, Orkney, are terrific.
The exhibition runs until Saturday, July 2.
THE OWNERS of the Cross Keys gallery in Perth are to be congratulated for breaking new ground-the latest exhibition is of works by artists from two groups from Dundee and Monifieth, writes an art critic.
The Graham Street Group are all artists who studied together at Dundee College’s Graham Street annexe, and the Original Artists group are from Monifieth.
The exhibition merits a visit-these are no amateur daubers, but serious artists gradually carving out a niche for themselves in the local artistic community.
On offer are Anita Hutchison’s charming cottages, painted simply on white paper with no background, Gillian Swanson’s lovely soft melting watercolour Winter Seed Heads and Jean Craig’s Autumn Leaves. I found Isabel Brown’s two still life studies intriguing. Vicki Hepburn shows some attractive collages and watercolours and Jean Craig some flower studies.
Downstairs in the main gallery Vicki Hepburn has taken the fashion of sticking tissue paper and materials on the ground and then painting on top a little further-too far, I thought.
Helen McCrow’s little acrylic, Misty Blue, worked better, for me, than the companion Orange Glow, and I preferred David Hopwood’s ``straight'' paintings-especially Church: La Tour d’ Aigues-to his experiments with gold leaf and other materials. Liz Yule, the Watercolour Challenge winner, never lacks the courage to experiment, and I thought some of her paintings here were a good deal more impressionistic than usual.
Jack Ash contributes a number of his attractive palette-knife pieces.
I thought Jim Dewar’s Nature Walk, Birkhill, and Jean Craig’s Fruit & Flowers: Still Life were amongst the best paintings on show.
The exhibition is open until June 8.
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