Artist Statement
My work explores the natural world, ranging from the wild beauty of coastal landscapes to the flamboyant abundance of garden flowers. My inspiration and source material is found by sketching and painting outside. I absorb physicality, light, mood and atmosphere, and seek to capture vital information on paper. Back in my studio, considerable selection and editing take place; a final work may draw on just a small part of its original.
Details dissolve into pure gesture and colours are emphasised but not invented. They are inherent in the actual landscape or flora. The paintings that emerge reveal something more than simple description: they articulate an emotional resonance.
Curriculum Vitae
1965 Born Glasgow
Studies:
1984 - 1988 BA Fine Art II.i Honours
Glasgow School of Art
1988 – 1989 Statens Kunstakedimi, Oslo, Norway Postgraduate Year (Scholarship from Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities)
1991 - 1992 MA European Fine Art
Winchester School of Art in Barcelona
Solo Exhibitions:
1989, 1991 and 1993 - Flying Colours Gallery, Edinburgh
1990 - Gallery 10, London
1993, 1995, 2013 and 2020 (virtual) - Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
1994 and 1996 - Atholl Gallery, Dunkeld
1999 and 2002 - Flying Colours Gallery at Edinburgh Festival
1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013 and 2016 - Flying Colours Gallery, London
2006 - Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie
2015 – ‘Shona Barr at 50' Glasgow Art Club
2015 and 2017 - Bohun Gallery, Henley-On-Thames
2022 - Kilmorack Gallery, Beauly
International Exhibition:
2021 Represented Scotland in the EuroCeltic Art Exhibition, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, France.
Distinctions:
2023 Elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour
Awards:
1987 Landscape Prize, Glasgow School of Art,
1988 Armour Prize for Still Life, Glasgow School of Art,
1989 David Cargill Award, Royal Glasgow Institute
1998 Superior Prize, "Small Paintings, Great Harmony" Winter Olympic Games Exhibition, Nakano, Japan
2024 Fidra Fine Art Award, RSW
Collections Include:
Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie
Prior's Court School, Berkshire
Walter Scott and Partners
University of Strathclyde
United Distillers
Procter and Gamble
Scottish Provident
and private collections including U.S.A, Canada, Germany, Australia
