A new exhibition of artwork by past, present and future Artists in Residence of the Oil and Glass studio will open this Saturday 23rd February at 7pm. Mainly working in Painting and Glass the artists have all spent, or will be spending time in the Oil and Glass studio working alongside and collaborating with Owner/Artist Shelagh Swanson. Shelagh, who is well known for her colourful images of Aberdeen Streets will be unveiling new figurative works, which will be shown for the first time.

Oil and Glass was opened in May 2012 after being selected for funding through Aberdeen City Council’s “Retail Rocks” initiative; a regeneration through retail scheme where winning businesses were awarded free rent periods and financial assistance to open. Almost a year on, the move into a retail premises has proved positive for Shelagh and she is now in the process of signing contracts to continue trading in Torry. The Retail Rocks initiative itself has been recognised for it’s successes by being nominated for a Local Government Chronicle Award. Shelagh will be attending the awards ceremony at Grosvenor House, London on the 13thof March.

This new exhibition showcases the work of a number of artists – mainly at the start of their promising careers. This includes 2012 Gray’s School of Art graduate Katrina Chomova who has just been selected to show her work in the Annual Society of Scottish Artist’s Show at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. This accolade adds to her selection for this year’s New Contemporaries Exhibition, which will again see her work being shown in the RSA. Katarina will be Artist in Residence in Oil and Glass in April. Other Gray’s Graduates represented in the exhibition are painter Hannah Beresford, who now has a permanent studio space at Oil and Glass and designer Levi Bunyan who completed a residency at Oil and Glass in October 2012. Two current Gray’s Students are also represented – 3rd Year Painter Aileen Paton and 3rd Year 3D Design Student Lucy Jamieson. In December last year Lucy used facilities at the studio to develop designs for a range of glass corporate gifts. Rossyln Oman, a Campbeltown based 2011 Painting graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee will be showing her work for the first time in Aberdeen. Rossyln will be taking up the opportunity to spend time in the studio in Torry later this year.

Complimenting this array of up and coming talent are paintings by already well-established painter Richard Colquhoun who will be showing a range of his sought-after atmospheric landscapes. During his career Richard has exhibited widely in many prestigious exhibitions including at his own gallery on Fonthill Road which is soon to be re-launched as the Richard Colquhoun Gallery.

The exhibition continues until the end of March.

Source: Oil and Glass