Alison Harper
Alison Harper: Artist, Tutor and Founder of The Essential School of Painting
Alison studied at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art (1981 to 1985) and as one of “The Glasgow Girls” was part of the resurgence in figurative painting that emerged at that time. In 1993 Alison won The Commonwealth Scholarship to paint in India for two years (1993 to 1995) and upon her return to the United Kingdom took up the post of part-time lecturer in Painting and Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art (1995 to 2002) becoming one of the youngest lecturers to teach there. Selected exhibitions include The National Portrait Gallery, London; The Royal Academy, London; Leicester City Art Gallery; Stirling Museum; The Boundary Gallery, London; The Compass Gallery, Glasgow; The Collins Gallery, Glasgow The City Arts Centre, Edinburgh; The Graphic Museum of Tokyo, Japan; The India Today Gallery New Delhi, India and The National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi. Alison is a recipient of numerous Scholarships, awards and prizes including The Commonwealth Scholarship, The Norwegian Government Scholarship, The Cheltenham Drawing Prize, Ruth Davidson Memorial Award and The Prince’s Drawing School Bursary Award. Alison is included in the following publications, The Who’s Who in Art andWho’s Who of Women in the World. Aside from being the Founder and a director of TheESOP, Alison works part-time as a tutor and the Co-ordinator for Drawing and Painting at the City-Lit Institute in London.
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Alexander ‘Sandy’ Moffat OBE, RSA
Sandy Moffat OBE,RSA
Artist, Tutor & Honorary President of The Essential School of Painting
Sandy Moffat is The Honorary President of The Essential School of Painting. A painter, author and tutor of great renown, Sandy’s works can be viewed in numerous galleries and public spaces including The National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Arts Council of Great Britain and The Yale Centre for British Art. He is a member of The Royal Scottish Academy and received an Order of The British Empire for his great contribution to The Field of Fine Arts. A former Head of Painting and Printmaking at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art, Sandy has been visiting lecturer and external examiner to several schools of art including The Winchester School of Art, Croydon School of Art in London, Canterbury College of Art, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London; Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen and The University of Brighton. Solo Exhibitions include A View of the Portrait (Scottish National Portrait Gallery) 1973; Gallery of the Press Club Warsaw 1975; Seven Poets (Third Eye Centre Glasgow and tour) 1981-83; Portrait Drawings (N E of Scotland Library and Museums Service) 1984; Portraits of Painters (Scottish Nat Gallery of Modern Art) 1988; Glasgow Art Gallery & Museum 1990; Pittencrieff House Museum Dunfermline 1991; Images From Three Decades (Open Eye Gallery Edinburgh) 2008 and Town Hall Gallery Langholm 2012. In his long and illustrious career Sandy has written, contributed and edited numerous books and publications inclusive of the critical acclaimed ‘Arts of Resistance: Poets, Portraits and Landscapes of Modern Scotland (2008)’ and is presently writing a sequel, ‘Arts of Independence’
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Gwen Hardie
Gwen Hardie
Artist & Tutor The Essential School of Painting
Gwen was born and educated in Scotland and has lived and worked in London and Berlin before settling in New York City in 2000. Gwen Hardie’s work engages with figuration and the act of perception. She first gained attention with her large scale tightly cropped portraits of women. Her magnifications of skin lit by natural light resemble light effects in the landscape and micro/macro views of cells/earth. Observing from life, she employs aspects of classical painting and colour theory to render a lifelike presence. Intimate and monumental, the body-image shifts back and forth perceptually between an atmospheric illusion and a thing of gravity, real and tangible. Recent shows in 2013 include, “Borderline; Depictions of Skin”, with Cynthia Lin and Diana Schmertz at Garis and Hahn, New York City; In March / April; “Skin; An Artistic Atlas”, a group show with Marlene Dumas, John Coplans and others at The Royal Hibernium Academy in Dublin, Ireland and “Terra Incognita” at The Castle Gallery, at New Rochelle, New York. Gwen had two solo shows; “Boundaries” in the Hebrides, Scotland, at An Lanntair and Taigh Chearsabhagh in 2012 / 2013. Upcoming shows in 2014 include; “The Real in British Painting” at The Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, UK with Lucien Freud, Cecily Brown, Peter Doig and others and a solo show at The Smoyer Gallery, Roanoke College, US. The youngest living artist ever to be given a solo show at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, Scotland; Gwen has shown with the Lennon Weinberg Gallery and Dinter Fine Art. She has been offered residencies at The Bogliasco Foundation in Italy; Yaddo, MacDowell and the VCCA in America. Her work has been reviewed in UK and US publications such as Art in America, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Glasgow Herald, The Sunday Herald, Contemporary Visual Art, Time Out of London, The Scotsman and The Independent. She lived in London in the 1990s and had solo shows with galleries such as Annely Juda Fine Art, Beaux Arts and Fischer fine Art. Private and public collections that have bought her work include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, British Council, London, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, and the Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon.
Henry Kondracki
Henry Kondracki
Artist & Tutor Essential School of Painting
Edinburgh born Henry Kondracki studied and qualified with a 1st class honours degree at The Slade School of Fine Art in London and is now based in his home city. It’s in Edinburgh that he seeks his inspiration, primarily focusing on the changing faces of the city and it’s denizens, capturing familiar scenes afresh. In he’s own words ‘you register something in your mind and you try and sort of reinvent it somehow’ The recipient of several awards including The Scottish Arts Council Award (1978); The Slade Prize in Fine Art (two years consecutively in 1985 and 1986); Cheltenham Drawing Prize (1999) and 1st place in The Hunting Art Prize (2004) He’s works are widely exhibited in the United Kingdom and abroad with numerous sole exhibitions such as The Artist’s Collective Gallery, Edinburgh (1984 and 1992); Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London (1987 and 1989); Michael Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (1988); ‘Kondracki’s Edinburgh’ Flowers West, Santa Monica, California (2000), Flowers Gallery , New York (2007) and Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall (2008) Several of his works are also included in renowned collections including The Arts Council of Great Britain, City Arts Centre in Edinburgh, Glasgow City Museums and Galleries, London Guildhall, Royal Bank of Scotland, University College London and Virgin Atlantic.
Rosemary Beaton
Rosemary Beaton
Artist & Tutor The Essential School of Painting
Rosemary studied at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art graduating with a 1st Class BA Honours degree. As one of “The Glasgow Girls” she played a part in the resurgence of figurative painting that emerged at that time, culminating in Rosemary becoming the first scot and the youngest person to win the prestigious (John Player) National Portrait Award (1984) and as part of this award Rosemary was commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Robin Day OBE for The National Portrait Gallery in London. Rosemary’s work has become synonymous with colourful and highly personal figurative works which combines supreme draughtsman-ship with an unusual and individual colour sense. The humour and odd juxtaposition of people and places is irresistible with the individual works displaying a celebration and a love of life that is rare and welcome at a time when painting per se and happiness as subject matter were and are on the defensive. She has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad and has been a part-time lecturer at Glasgow School of Art. Her work is represented in a variety of collections including the National Gallery and the BBC Art Collection, the latter organization using her work in their productions “Tutti Frutti” and “Paris”. Awards, prizes and commissions include Winner of the National Portrait Award; National Portrait Gallery, London; The Summer Scholarship to Hospitalfield House, Arbroath and The Emmy Sachs Drawing Prize and a West End Window Installation of 11m high x 2.2m wide stained glass window, commissioned by Palisade Properties of Glasgow. Exhibitions include amongst other things Group Shows like “Monumental Women” with Alison Harper, Anita Klein, Paula Rego and Niki de Saint Phalle at The Boundary Gallery, London (2005) and the “400 women” show held in London, Edinburgh and Amsterdam (2012)
Lesley Burr
Lesley Burr
Artist & Tutor The Essential School of Painting
Lesley is a graduate and post-graduate of the prestigious Glasgow School of Arts (1981 to 1984) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (1985 to 1986) respectively. She is one of the “Glasgow Girls” involved in the resurgence of figurative Art coming out of Glasgow in the 1980s. A profuse artist Lesley seeks her inspiration from her environment and landscape with many of her works displaying an intimate and profound sensitivity to the inter-relationship one has with their environment. In her own words “Symbolic landscapes form the central focus of my work. The paintings are inspired by mountains, landscape and the processes of nature, often suggesting or exploring our human relationship with the world. Recurring themes are used such as family, unusual land-forms, birds, trees, creating a metaphorical visual world. There is a spacious simplicity along with a vibrant love of colour.” Lesley has exhibited her works on both sides of the borders (Scotland and England) and has travelled, studied and crafted her work in China and India. She is the recipient of several awards including the Ruth Davidson Memorial Award both north and south of the borders and The Scottish Arts Council Visual Artists Development Grant. Her works appear in various public collections and has executed numerous public commissions. Lesley teaching experience include Lecturing at the Glasgow School of Art, Visiting lecture Masters level at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee and Tutor Art & Ceramic Argyll College.
Simon Laurie RSW RGI
Simon Laurie RSW RGI
Artist & Tutor The Essential School of Painting
A graduate of Glasgow School of Art, Simon Laurie’s personal iconography has evolved out of the landscapes and everyday objects of his native rural Scotland: lanes and footpaths, the peaked roofs of coast-houses, hay-ricks and agricultural implements. Blocked out in bright acrylics – the flatness of their shapes reminiscent of collage – these basic forms, apparently simple yet charged with meaning, achieve balance within rhythmic, deeply satisfying compositions. Pattern-making – a fundamental artistic impulse – transcends anecdote, ensuring that these works have relevance much wider than the specific events that inspired them. He has had several one-man shows in London and in Scotland and his work is held by well-known collections including the Contemporary Arts Society, London and the Aberdeen Art Gallery. He was awarded a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute in November 2000. A regular exhibiter at the Royal Glasgow Institute and Royal Scottish Watercolour Society, his public collectors include the Contemporary Arts Society, Aberdeen Art Gallery, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, the Nationwide Building Society and Unilever.
Jacqueline Orr RSW RGI
Jacqueline Orr RGI RSW
Artist & Tutor
The Essential School of Painting
Jacqueline Orr is a native of Glasgow who went on studied at Glasgow School of Art under the late Dr James D Robertson, Barbara Rae, Jack Knox and the late Dr John Cunningham. She graduated in 1983 having gained the Armour Prize in her final year. Between 1986 and 1988 she returned to study a Master’s degree in Information Technology at the University of Glasgow; subsequently gaining employment in the private sector specialising in IT and technical project management. Throughout this period Jacqueline continued to paint and exhibit in a number of galleries with intention of eventually pursuing a full time career in painting. This aim was realised in 2004 and today she has established full time working studios in Scotland and France. Her works appear widely both in the United Kingdom and internationally with successful shows in London, Paris, Versailles and Johannesburg (South Africa) In 2007 Jacqueline was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) and has since gone on to receive a number of esteemed awards including two RGI awards The James Torrance Memorial Award and The Armour Award; Two RSW awards The Alexander Graham Munro Award and The Riverside Gallery Award and from the Paisley Art Institute The Joe Hargan Award. Jacqueline’s work is based on high colour and simple lines. Painting mostly in oils, her subject matter is varied and interesting, reflecting her personal feelings, experiences and interactions with locations in France and in Scotland. As she succinctly puts it “I’m a painter. I tend to be drawn to subjects that visually stimulate me. In addition, the process and the craft of making paintings are very important to me, so draughtsmanship, mark making, composition and the intelligent use of colour are all key tenets of my work. I try to make best use of these tools to create rich and dynamic paintings”.