About the Artist

Tansy Lee Moir

Biography

Edinburgh based artist Tansy Lee Moir has been perfecting her charcoal techniques for the last 15 years, focusing her drawing practice on capturing the movement and growth of old trees. After a 25 year career in Community Arts, Learning and Development, she now works full-time as an artist and educator, exhibiting and teaching across the UK.

She exhibits regularly across the UK and her work is in private collections around the UK, Europe and the USA. Tansy is a professional member of Visual Arts Scotland, a member of the Society of Scottish Artists and the Art and Nature Collective.

Artist Statement

My work is inspired by trees and how their history shapes them. They are tangible evidence of a life lived: old trees are time made wood. I forage for images in woodlands, capturing the essence and energy of trees through drawing. I transform those visual memories in the studio, building bodies of work around themes which chime with my own experience. My drawings weave together elements of tree, figure and water and are always about movement, whether it spans three seconds or three centuries.

The material qualities of charcoal are core to my process, which feels like sculpting, carving out contour lines, scraping and wiping to reveal light, form and texture. There’s something poetic about drawing trees with carbonised wood.

For me, old trees are powerful symbols of struggle and loss, resilience and hope and I draw to discover what looking at them can teach us about ourselves.

CV (Abbreviated)

Born 1968 in Derbyshire. Living in Scotland since 1994, professional artist and educator based in South Queensferry.

Education

1996-97 Post Graduate Certificate in Community Education, Moray House Institute, University of Edinburgh

1987-90 BA (Hons) Three-Dimensional Design (Wood, metal, ceramics), Manchester Metropolitan University

1986-87 Art & Design Foundation, Chesterfield FE College

Solo Exhibitions

2022 Turning Towards the Light, Linlithgow Burgh Halls, Linlithgow

2021 On Tree Time, Edinburgh Palette, Edinburgh

2016-17 Dialogues With Trees, Howden Park Centre, Livingston

2014 Time Around Trees, The Meffan Gallery, Forfar, Angus

2014 Figured Wood, Dawyck Botanic Gardens, Peebles

2012 Damaged Woods, Art's Complex, Edinburgh

2011 Time Made Wood, Art’s Complex, Edinburgh

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026 Common Ground: The Living Landscape, Visual Arts Scotland, Kirkcudbright Galleries.

2026 SSA 127th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (Greyfriars prize winner)

2025 The Thread That Pulls, Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2025 More Than Human, Custom House, Leith (two person with Inês-Hermione Mulford)

2024 The Nature of Art, Art and Nature Collective, Dundee Botanic Gardens

2024 SSA 126th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2024 Now and Then: Dalkeith Palace, Visual Arts Scotland Centenary Show, Dalkeith

2024 Waymarkers, Artmoves Fife, St Andrew’s Botanic Garden

2024 13 Windows, Edinburgh Palette, Edinburgh

2024 Creative Freedom, John Muir Trust, Pitlochry

2024 Then and Now: 100 Years of Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2023 Calder Wood: Contemporary Perspectives on an ancient woodland, Linlithgow Burgh Halls (co-curator)

2023 Conversations with Trees, Kilmorack Gallery, Beauly

2023 Drawing (Paper) Show, Bridewell Studios, Liverpool

2023 Dara-Tree of Life, Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford, Derbyshire

2020 Out of the Wood, Edinburgh Palette (two person, online)