Local graduates are to bring a small church to life in Angus to celebrate the Year of Young People.
‘Young and Free’ is a four-day art and design exhibition being staged in Barry Parish Church, Carnoustie, and some of the work will evoke memories of Dundee’s rich industrial past.
Featuring the work of local graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College, Dundee, among others, the exhibition will run from Wednesday October 24 to Saturday October 27.
Kate Cunningham graduated with a BA Honours Fine Art and Media Degree in 2014 and since then she has worked as a full-time artist and private tutor from her studio in Arbroath.
Fascinated by nature and her close connection to the Scottish landscape, she creates her paintings based mainly on the ephemeral qualities of clouds and land.
Most recently Kate was commissioned by Gordon and Macphail to complete a painting in conjunction with the release of a 75-year-old bottle of Mortlach Single Malt Whisky.
The painting was then exhibited in the Royal Opera House in London.
Kate’s work is currently exhibited in galleries across Scotland and is held in many private collections.
“As an oil painter, I view painting as an act that holds an emotional charge,” she said.
“The physicality of manipulating a material to portray such insubstantial objects is something that I find both fascinating and therapeutic.”
One of the exhibitors, Lucie Pattullo, who graduated this summer, said she was passionate about Dundee’s history and particularly the jute industry.
“My work explores memories of Dundee’s industrial past through the discovery of shapes and pattern with in mill machinery,” she said.
“By drawing these and expressing them in a contemporary way, my work aims to connect all of us to Dundee’s rich material heritage and underscore its continued relevance in the modern age.
“I visited the remaining jute mills and Dundee museum containing artefacts and machinery related to the textile industry.
“I took sketches, notes, and reference photographs and using collage techniques, drew out shapes, pattern and colours that for me represented the intangible essence of the atmosphere of the mills.
“I would love for my work to reach and be appreciated by others interested in Dundee and more widely in our industrial heritage, however I would hope that the prints would appeal to all, not just visitors to a museum and that the images would be a reminder of the past yet feel contemporary and fresh.”
Not all the exhibitors are graduates.
Carnoustie High School sixth year pupil Megan Athey is displaying a selection of her photographic prints.
The majority of Megan’s photos were taken in the local area for example including Balgavies loch, Pitmuies Gardens and Carnoustie itself.
Exhibition opening times are Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10am to 4pm and Friday 2pm to 8 pm.
Admission is free, but donations in aid of Barry Church funds will be accepted.
