Ruth Brownlee: Shetland: Land and Sea

13 - 28 October 2017

Ruth Brownlee: Shetland: Land and Sea

An exhibition of paintings by Ruth Brownlee exploring the dramatic environment of the Shetland Isles.

Ruth Brownlee’s practice shows a deep understanding of Shetland’s landscape as well as an acceptance of the islands’ ever changing environment. Her paintings emphasise the overwhelming control of the weather on those who live and work on the land and at sea. The ability to capture serene moments contrasted by vast skylines make her paintings some of the most desirable impressions of the Shetland Isles. In some of the scenes the sea thrashes onto desolate beaches whilst in others gales wrestle with the land. Nature emerges as the sublime force by which life on the islands is governed.

Born close to Edinburgh in 1972, Brownlee graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1994 with a BA Hons in Drawing and Painting, and Tapestry. In 1998 she moved to Shetland to concentrate on her painting. She was a finalist for the Gilchrist-Fisher Memorial Award for Landscape Painters in 2002; won the Visual Artist Award at Hi-Arts Highland & Island Visual Arts in 2003; and the Shetland Arts Development Visual Arts Grant Award in 2012.