Bank Street Gallery
Although born in the west, Anne Barclay would consider herself an east coast girl and, more particularly, an East Neuker. Perhaps the most significant word in that brief introduction is "coast". The sea is in her very being - perhaps an inheritance from her shipwright father.
Barclay devoted her younger years to being a wife and mother but in the mid 1990s followed her heart and began to formalise her passion for design and painting. In 2001 she graduated BA Honours in Fine Art, Drawing and Painting from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art.
"I am very much influenced by what I see around me." Anne Barclay's land and sea scapes, however, speak of more than a mere influence. Her affinity with the sea seems to permeate her work, creating nuance and atmosphere - an intangible "being there" quality. This is all the more redolent in her recent work which combines both painting and monoprinting. The autonomy of the marks made by the roller produces a spontaneity which Barclay sezies and makes her own. Those of us who enjoy Scottish coastal waters will love Anne's show - each piece producing a welcome homeliness. Although Barclay does not work representationally, her images produce the warmth and comfort of recognition.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the Scottish art scene, Anne Barclay is already collected throughout Britain and beyond. Founder of the Ovenstone Artists, a studio set up at Ovenstone just outside Pittenweem - she is never too far from her beloved sea.
The show runs from Friday 30th September, 2011 to Friday 11th November, 2011