Scottish Borders Artist Collective Bring New Show to Edinburgh Gallery
Visual and applied artists who have worked at The Borders’ Marchmont Estate open a collective exhibition with an ecological theme at Wasps’ Patriothall Gallery in Edinburgh next week.

Second Nature appears at the capital’s Patriothall Gallery from Friday 10 June to Friday 24 July and features sixteen artists who have conducted their creative practices at the Borders estate at some point over the past three years, including four artists who won residencies at Marchmont Estate through the partnership between Marchmont and Scotland’s national provider of creative spaces, Wasps.

The exhibition theme centres around Art and Nature and takes inspiration from a former high profile resident of Marchmont, Rory McEwen, one of Scotland’s most versatile creative figures of the last century, a leading figure in the folk music scene from the late 1950s and a pioneer of botanical and multimedia art.

Despite having received no formal graduate training in art, Rory McEwen became one of the most gifted botanical artists of the 20th century. Influenced by the surrounding landscape and countryside, Rory’s artwork can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate, National Gallery of Modern Art, Scotland, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, and MOMA, New York.

Second Nature exhibiting Wasps artists include Helen Flockhart and Laura Derby, whose work will be on show alongside Emma Hislop, Jack Brindley, Charlie Poulson, Martha Ellis, Gary Anderson, Andrew Mackenzie, Richard Goldsworthy, Michelle de Bruin, Sara Rhys, Frippy Jameson, Josephine Crossland, Tod Hanson, Redbraes Pottery and Annabel Wightman, all artists with connections to Marchmont Estate.

Wasps Chief Executive Officer Audrey Carlin: “Second Nature is a fabulous way to celebrate what has been achieved with Wasps’ and Marchmont’s partnership so far, and this exhibition gives the public a flavour of the diversity of output emanating from this idyllic location. It not only features some of the fantastic works by residency winners Laura Derby, Helen Flockhart, Emma Hislop and Jack Brindley, but also artists from outside the Wasps network who have taken part in the Marchmont House programme and have become part of this flourishing creative community. We look forward to welcoming their work to Wasps’ Patriothall Gallery and wish the artists continued success.”

Second Nature appears at Wasps’ Patriothall Gallery, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, EH3 5AY from Friday 10 June to Sunday 24 July. The exhibition is free to attend and opening times are Fridays and Saturdays, 11am to 4pm, or by appointment.

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