What do Edinburgh councillors do when they leave politics?
Some become artists. That’s what Vicki Redpath-Watson (2012-2017) and Trevor Davies (2001-2007) have done. Together they have now created a new art exhibition shown in Stromness, where Vicki now lives, and in Edinburgh.
Vicki has recently gained a degree in fine art and in 2022, winning a New Graduate Award at the long-established annual exhibition for the Society of Scottish Artists at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). Trevor has exhibited at the RSA and the Society of Scottish Artists as well as the popular annual “Paperwork” exhibition in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Their first joint exhibition was shown in Stromness at the Northlight Gallery from 28 April to 6 May and will be at the Whitespace Gallery in Edinburgh from 25 – 30 May. The exhibition is called “Driftwood and Black” and features artworks using wood and graphite (as well as paper and paint, of course).
Vicki said: “My practice is self-reflective and confessional. It addresses long-standing concerns about my body image, my identity and the way society views the female form. I make prints using myself as a template. The process is the same every time but the results are unpredictable, only visible when graphite, pastel or another medium is applied to the paper. What appears is a self-portrait. It is also a kind of journal so sometimes I write down what I am thinking over the images.”
Trevor said: “Sometimes I start with an idea, sometimes with simply a reaction to a mark or a stain, or to a piece of found material. I’m always attracted to something old, worn, used, discarded; it provokes a sense of mystery. The human form constantly appears as do the marks and artefacts bearing the imprint of human hands. I work in oil paint, in various water media and in collage and
move between representational and abstract themes, but always, it seems, with an emphasis on surface and texture”.
At Whitespace Gallery from 25 to 30 May 10am to 6pm.
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