Grantown exhibition will focus on the mountain landscape

The Spey Bank Studio’s new exhibition will take visitors on a tour of some of Scotland’s most beautiful mountains via an array of fantastic painting and photography.

‘The Mountains are Calling’ takes its inspiration from the famous John Muir quote and will showcase work by a group of specially selected artists.

Highlights of the show at the Grantown gallery include a look inside a snowhole in Glenfeshie and a brocken spectre on Skye.

A host of artists are participating including Kitty Watt, Shona Cammack, Elizabeth Pirie, Paul Phillips and Myrddin Irwin.

The exhibition starts on Saturday June 29 and runs throughout July and into August. Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm during this time.

Entry to the family friendly show is free.

Gallery co-owner Angus Grant said: “We’re delighted to launch our second summer exhibition.

“I grew up going on walks in the hills with my family and it’s how I first learned an appreciation of Scotland’s stunning landscapes. The mountains are a source of constant inspiration for me and many other artists.

“Depicting their magnificent beauty and scale is a challenge to relish and the diverse range of artists we have selected for this show have definitely risen to the task.

“I love that big bold expressive marks can become the recognisable forms of a moody landscape, seen in Elizabeth Pirie’s work.

“That contrasts with the detail found in Kitty Watt’s etchings and Paul Phillips intricate drawings.”

Also among the works on show will be a 360 degree view inside a snowhole.

The photograph, by Grantown-based photographer Myrddin Irwin, was taken during a trip to Glenfeshie in March, earlier this year.

Irwin and a friend spent two nights in the snowhole. The picture, part of a series about spending time in wild places, shows all their equipment, including sleeping bags, shovels and ice axes.

Meanwhile, Paul Phillip’s large scale drawings depict Highland mountains in intricate detail. One of the most striking images is of a colourful brocken spectre in the Cuillins. This phenomenon is the magnified shadow of a person against the clouds, their head surrounded by a halo of rainbow light.

The Spey Bank Studio is based in the former offices of the Bank of Scotland in The Square, Grantown-on-Spey. The business is owned and run by Angus Grant, an artist and teacher, and his partner, Jane Candlish, a writer and journalist.

It opened in October 2022 and comprises a gallery, workshop space, shop and pottery.

A bit about the exhibitors

Myrddin Irwin is a photographer and mountain leader based in Grantown on Spey. His work explores the wild and mountainous regions of Scotland, with a specific passion for wild camping. Originally from Lancashire, Myrddin studied and worked as a photographer, before making a full time switch to living in the Cairngorms just over a decade ago.

Kitty Watt is a printmaker, based at her croft at John O’Groats in Caithness. She has lived in Scotland since 1981, and has exhibited her work all over the country.

Paul Phillips is an artist and outdoor enthusiast based in Aviemore. He has completed the Munros and published two books about his cycling trips, including one about pedalling solo across Europe.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.