A new private art gallery has opened on Edinburgh’s Southside. Incorporated back in December 2020, The BirdsNest Gallery was the brainchild of art historian, Dr Natalia Brand, and the artist and teacher, Ken Johnstone.
The core of the BirdsNest collection – which currently comprises some three hundred drawings, paintings and sculptures – was built up by Natalia and her late husband. A scientist at Edinburgh University, Professor Brand devoted over half a century to art collecting.
The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, A Woman’s Touch (15 March-14 May 2022) will feature paintings by a host of celebrated Scottish artists, both male and female. Among the better known are Sir Robert Philipson, John Bellany, William Birnie, Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, Barbara Rae,CBE, and Victoria Crowe.
This is also a chance to encounter or reencounter talented lesser known figures such as the contemporary Glasgow-based painter, Andrew Fitzpatrick, whose skillfully executed portraits are both nuanced and thought-provoking.
As the gallery’s modest name implies, this is an unusual opportunity for the art lover or collector to discover and appreciate individual works and artists in a domestic setting. Think 19th Century Paris Salon. In addition to two open afternoons (27 March and 1 May), a poetry reading and piano recital by Elena Fischer-Dieskau, are also planned. Entry is otherwise by appointment.
Future exhibitions will showcase work by emerging young artists alongside a curated exhibition of pieces from the Brand collection. And the observant visitor may also spot the eponymous empty birds nest discovered by Natalia in the back garden. This particular work of art is presumably there to stay.
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I am an Edinburgh-based freelance writer with a background in teaching. Among my chief interests are biographical writing, education and the arts.
