Crossing Borders

Barbara Rae
27 February – 26 March, 2020

Bringing vibrancy into our February, the prolific Dr Barbara Rae CBE, RA, RSA, HRE, HRWS, RGI FRCA, FRSE, HFRIAS, Royal Academician painter and master printmaker, will be exhibiting her recent works at SO Fine Art Editions. Works that summon the history of place, people and the passing of time with powerful, fluid brush strokes and outstanding colour.

During journeys to Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Southwest USA and the Arctic (to name a few), Rae accumulates her inspiration. Before beginning to sketch, she spends weeks meeting people in the particular location, researching local history, delving into the spirit of the place. Then brings that research back to develop it into prints and paintings in her Edinburgh studio. The exhibition will include screen prints, etchings and monoprints from such travels.

One notable example is Rae’s 2018 exhibition ‘The Northwest Passage’ which began in 2013, followed with a series of expeditions into the Arctic. The Orcadian cartographer and explorer Dr. John Rae inspired this journey, resulting in a series of works that were imbued with history while retaining the contemporary intensity that is a signature of Rae’s work. The exhibition premiered at the Royal Scottish Academy before travelling to the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, and Canada House, London, in autumn 2018.

Barbara Rae studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, after some years as a secondary school art teacher she went on to lecturing in drawing and painting at Charles Rennie Macintosh’s School of Art in Glasgow. Rae is a recipient of numerous awards, scholarships, and honorary degrees, her work is exhibited in national museums, and public and private collections the world over.

Click on the thumbnails below to see larger images of the works.