Earlier this year, an email from Paisley-based arts organisation, Outspoken Arts Scotland, dropped into my inbox.
They were on the look-out for artists’ work “in any medium” to be submitted by “anyone who considers themselves an artist” for an exhibition in the autumn. The exhibition, The Big Art Show, opened on Friday.
Boy, does this diverse and inclusive show live up to its name!
The Big Art Show, supported by new charity, Art Paisley, features around 1,000 artworks. It includes drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed-media, digital art, film, video, photography and much more.
In this vast art mash-up, paintings by pupils at Todholm Primary School (loved your King Dudes Triptych, guys) sit alongside work by established artists such as Art Paisley co-chairs, Rowena Comrie and Eòghann MacColl. There’s also a section devoted to work by Society of Scottish Artists members.
From kids to amateurs to professionals, it’s all here and most of it is for sale. I took advantage of the fact I had a preview a few days before the opening to reserve a gorgeous wee etching called After the Calm by Dunfermline-based Nicola McInally.
How I found this quiet work in among it all, I don’t know, but there’s something for everyone here. Talking of quiet, Lorna Pirrie’s mixed media sculpture of a masked NHS worker in scrubs, One Percent, was incredibly moving.
I was also drawn to the mysterious, beautiful mixed media abstract paintings of 15-year-old Dylan Mackenzie from Glasgow. Further inquiries led to a chat with Dylan’s dad, Al, who was helping hang the show. Dylan, it turns out, is autistic and (mostly) non-verbal. Painting is his way of communicating.
The Big Art Show is on until November 26.
An exhibition which charts the collecting process and legacy of Sir William Burrell and his wife Constance, Lady Burrell, who donated one of the single greatest gifts to the city of Glasgow, opened yesterday at The Burrell Collection.
The Burrells’ Legacy: A Great Gift To Glasgow is the inaugural exhibition to be held at The Burrell since it reopened earlier this year following a major refurbishment and redesign. Some of the objects on show have never been seen in public. Free to enter.
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