Posts for May, 2024

The Mountains are Calling is our new summer exhibition, taking inspiration from the rugged landscape of the Highlands and beyond.

Our specially selected artists will show their beautiful works of art, including photography, painting and printmaking, and reveal how they are inspired by those imposing peaks.

Artists include Kitty Watt, Shona Cammack, Campbell Bryson, Esther Tyson, Rona Kant, Myrddin Irwin, Georgia Murray and many more.

This collection is representative of Joanna Wilson’s early interest in the metaphysical power of art. The healing properties of crystals, the inner wisdom of oracle cards and the outward sense that a greater power
is at work — all of these inform her attempts to connect her own creativity with Creation itself. Her hope is that the unique intentions with which each piece is created transfers to its viewer or owner.

Come and meet Van Coo: the curly-haired bull missing part of his ear, just like his namesake! In 2021 he wandered into the creative imagination of local artist Joanna Wilson. Here he was joined by other creatures of the Cairngorms before finding form in the expressive mixed media for which Wilson is best known.

An award-winning artist of international acclaim, Wilson grew up among these glens before work and study took her far and wide, from the Hayward Gallery to Yale University. Her abstract and figurative paintings can be found in private and public collections all over the world.

Coming home to set up her studio in Grantown-on-Spey reconnected Wilson with her Highland roots. This limited collection of prints represents a unique opportunity to own a lighthearted example of her work that celebrates this land and its inhabitants.

Not many people around here know about Joanna Wilson’s secret life as an international artist. And yet her hideaway studio on Heathfield Road is filled with thousands of art works: floor-to-ceiling abstracted figures that seem to leap from her fingertips and dance across her walls.

A Saatchi Featured Artist and the recipient of numerous awards, Joanna’s work appears in private and public collections throughout the world. But not until now has it received an exhibition space of its own right here in her hometown.

Encountering her work for the first time you will notice a lilting, musical quality to her handling of form, reminiscent of the glens where she grew up. But her compositions incorporate geometric and purely decorative elements too, which seem to reference the urban settings of Edinburgh and London, where she has also lived and worked as an artist.

A full-circle moment for Joanna, this very room is where she met with the Bank Manager to open her business account some 18 years ago. Now with a flourishing business of her own, she has created O P E N S P A C E to share her platform with other contemporary artists searching for a safe space to showcase their own groundbreaking work.

Thoughtful and expressive, modest and exuberant — to know Joanna’s art is to know the artist herself, which is why her work so universally approachable and collectible.

Meet Van Coo: the curly-haired bull missing part of his ear, just like his namesake! In 2021 he wandered into the creative imagination of local artist Joanna Wilson. Here he was joined by other creatures of the Cairngorms before finding form in the expressive mixed media for which Joanna is best known.

An award-winning artist of international acclaim, Joanna grew up among these glens before work and study took her far and wide, from the Hayward Gallery and the Albert Hall to Yale University. Coming home to set up her studio in Grantown-on-Spey reconnected her with her Highland roots. This limited edition of originals and prints represents a unique opportunity to own a lighthearted example of her work that celebrates this land and its inhabitants.

A solo exhibition of Joanna’s abstract figurative work can be found in the O P E N S P A C E gallery.

Come along and see our NEW Contemporary Art Gallery In Grantown-on-Spey.

HEARTSONG Contemporary Abstract Expressions

OPENSPACE | THE VAULT Contemporary Art Gallery + Exhibition Venue.

OPEN EVENING Fri 23rd 4-7pm
Open Mon-Sat 9-5PM