Exhibition: Feathered Souls by Fiona Mackenzie
Our exhibition programme runs between March and December, showcasing both established and emerging artists working in all mediums who represent the very best of talent in the Highlands, and from further afield. Details of our current programme can be found below. We have a specifc interest in textile art and always have some on display.
Exhibitions are hosted in our main gallery at the top of a much admired original staircase; artwork is displayed in our two bright interconnected first floor rooms. With exhibitions changing every six to eight weeks, lots of lovely new works are always being created and then appearing, so there is always something new. Perhaps in due course one of these originals will be hanging on your wall.
Please note that access to the main gallery is by stairs only, but all currently available work can also be viewed online, and there is lots to see downstairs as well. We are very happy to take work down to show you, and provide more information at any point. A full listing of all works in each exhibition will be available online from the opening date onwards. Why not join our mailing list or follow us on social media for ongoing updates? We hope you can visit us soon.
Exhibiting
New ideas and talent always catch our attention. Enquiries about consignments of work - from artists, printmakers, designers or other creative people for general display in the shop or gallery - are welcome at any time. We are also now taking expressions of interest for exhibitions, across all mediums, as part of our 2025 programme. If you are interested in exhibiting your work, please email further information, including some representative images of your work. We do hear from quite a lot of people, so it may take some time to reply; please do bear with us.
Current
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Sally Wild: Drawn to Print
10 October 2024 - 13 January 2025 A collection of linocut prints and etchings celebrating Scottish wildlife and scenery as well as everyday scenes. Read more -
Fiona Mackenzie : Feathered Souls
10 October 2024 - 13 January 2025 This poem by Emily Dickinson helped with the sense of the metaphysical within the birds, how I ‘see’ them. l hope to show the vital life within these small, feathered souls. I study them most days and keep sketchbooks and drawings to work from. Hope 'Hope is the thing with... Read more
Past
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Allison Riddell : Woollie Hats and Wellies
29 August - 8 October 2024 This new group of work explores where I live and work, and my childhood memories of Dornoch and Embo beaches where I would rock pool ,swim and ride my pony all in my favourite outfit of woolie hat and wellies. I work on wooden panels with mixed media acrylic, ink... Read more -
Carol Sinclair : Continuum
29 August - 8 October 2024 Continuum is an exhibition that celebrates the rich tradition of hand made ceramics, where each piece tells a story and invites viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of past, present, and future. Carol is inspired by all things circular, from the shapes of her gracefully formed porcelain vessels to the intricate... Read more -
Lynne Roberts : Northern Shorescapes
18 July - 27 August 2024 The coastal villages of the Highlands provide me with all the colours, shapes and textures I need to make my paintings. It begins by going out sketching, looking for material that might be useful. Then, back in the studio, I try to combine elements that may work together compositionally to... Read more -
Kim McCormack : Lay of the Land
18 July - 27 August 2024 ‘Recently, work has been particularly focused on some of the huge expanses of open land such as the criss-crossing trails leading from Ardendrain into Glenurquhart. Sometimes when walking along these trails, the land will change from farmland through forest into huge expanses of heather carpeted hills interlaced with small lochans.... Read more
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Jill Mackenzie : Coastal Concepts
6 June - 16 July 2024 My exhibition, “Coastal Concepts” focuses on the beautiful Moray Firth Coast in Scotland. These paintings began with visits to local towns and villages, where I collected sketches, photographs and memories. Back at my studio, paper collage on canvas formed the basis for my work, then many layers of acrylic paint,... Read more -
Alanda Calmus : Reviving Biophilia
6 June - 16 July 2024 Biophilia noun an innate love for the natural world, supposed to be felt universally by humankind. 'Reviving Biophilia' celebrates the beauty and wonder of Scottish wildlife through mixed-media, semi-abstract art. Alanda Calmus uses intuitive painting techniques to create her unrepeatable pieces. Fine detailing and vibrant colours bring the fauna of... Read more -
Bo Gort : Stars, Roots and Feathers
25 April - 4 June 2024 You would be forgiven for not noticing this when you look at my paintings, but I think that what I am trying to do is to express the fullness of life. The interconnectivity of everything. Separation is an illusion, we all inter-are. Stars, roots and feathers; all part of the... Read more -
Elaine Wilson : All Things Bright
25 April - 4 June 2024 As a student I was always encouraged to work from first hand sources and this has never left me, my sketch book is a source of inspiration and experimentation. The inspiration for many of the pieces in this exhibition arose from the early days of the first covid lockdown where... Read more
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Jane Keenan : Summer Haze
14 March - 23 April 2024 I am always inspired by my Scottish surroundings. I love the fields that change dramatically as the seasons progress, the huge skies where I live, the small details in plants as they grow. I try and capture the mood and feel of the scenery through both drawing and bold colours.... Read more -
Woven by Nature : Julia Complin
12 October 2023 - 4 January 2024 'I create handwoven textile art that is inspired by the colours and shapes of the Scottish landscape. The relationships between Scotland’s rugged mountains, ancient woodland and tiny flora fascinate me. Everything exists in a complex interconnected natural world and I interpret this in an abstract way with small weave patterns... Read more -
Incandescent: Emma Nightingale
2 October - 14 November 2023 In this exhibition, Emma’s design approach towards her distinctive and individual kiln formed glass considers both function and aesthetic. She draws her inspiration from her natural surroundings, textures, shapes and colours found in the big skies, deep waters, mountains, forests, fauna and the flora drawn from the wild landscape and... Read more -
The Western Edge : Jane Harlington
21 September - 31 October 2023 I have lived in Scotland for over 40 years, the last 23 of them on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. During this time I have built a place of retreat in both my studio and more recently in my garden. This body of work will explore these... Read more
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Land and Sea : Bethan Nadin
31 August - 10 October 2023 A series of large acrylic on canvas paintings aiming to capture the land and sea of the Northern Highlands where I grew up. Now living in the Peak District, I love to return to the Highlands to run, climb, cycle, kayak, explore. The huge, open and dramatic landscapes make me... Read more -
The Liminal : Rachael Jane MacDonald
20 July - 29 August 2023 In this exhibition, Rachael's gloriously detailed textiles aim to capture that shifting changeable place with layered imagery, narratives and lived experience. Textiles for The Liminal evolved through lino block printing, natural and rust dyeing and a meditative slow stitch process to give a hand-crafted quality to the work. Read more -
Colours of the North : Tania Mackie
8 June - 18 July 2023 Read more -
Botanical : Carole Saxon
27 April - 6 June 2023 'This exhibition of paintings stems from my love of studying plants and flowers, my love of growing them as well as observing them, and from the joy it gives me to be surrounded by them. My hope is that incidentally, if not deliberately, that glorious feeling will come across to... Read more
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Ceramics : Lois Carson
27 April - 6 June 2023 Mainly inspired by nature, Lois creates work that reflects both her love of flora and fauna, but also encapsulates her passion for utilising colour, design and form. The varied range of her creations almost defies categorisation as it crosses so many different genres; hand-building with no boundaries. Read more -
Fragments : Katherine Sutherland
16 March - 25 April 2023 The term 'collage' comes from the French word coller meaning “to glue” and was coined at the beginning of the 20th century by Cubist artists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Collage artwork existed long before there was a modern term to describe it; t has been used by a wide... Read more -
The View From Where I Stand: Debbie Lee
6 October - 15 November 2022 Graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1992, I worked firstly as a woven textile designer, then a designer of outdoor clothing. It was not until having my children and moving to the far north of Scotland, to Caithness, that I began to make art to show. Initially my landscapes... Read more -
Acton and Aitken Autumn Show
25 August - 4 October 2022 Read more
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Coastal Folk: Lynne Roberts
7 July - 23 August 2022 Lynne, born and brought up on the Lleyn Peninsula in north Wales, now lives in Lochcarron, in the north-west of Scotland. She arrived there via Dundee and Edinburgh, where she studied and taught art, so has a lifetime of coastal living experience to call on for this exhibition. Lovely and... Read more -
Epoch: Daniel Fairbairn
26 May - 7 July 2022 As a man of the coast, Dan is acutely aware of ongoing change in sky and sea, both natural and man-made. He is also living through a time of change in his working life, witnessing first-hand the energy industry moving from harnessing what nature provides, initially oil and now increasingly... Read more -
Capturing the Firth : Lian Dodd
5 May - 5 July 2022 We're delighted that Alchemist Gallery is the venue for Lian's first ever exhibition : 'Capturing the Firth' runs from 5th May - 14th June 2022. The ever-changing shores of the body of water that stretches from Cromarty to Dingwall, is a wild landscape, full of energy. 'I believe... Read more -
Reflections : Sandy Gracie
14 April - 24 May 2022 This work bears the typical hallmark of Sandy's former profession as an architect; drawings based on, and generally of, buildings and people in the landscape or townscape, exploring the dominant colours of the setting. Read more
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The Land, The Sea & My People : Cathy MacLeod
24 February - 12 April 2022 Cathy MacLeod (nee Street) Cathy works as a graphic artist and illustrator using both traditional art media and digital art technology. She completed her studies in graphic design with CATC Design School, Brisbane before moving to Scotland with her family in 2015 and now lives in Dingwall. Born in a... Read more -
North West by North: Jane Appelbee
2 July - 18 August 2020 The beautiful white, shell sand beaches, turquoise waters, colourful Machair, moody mountains and fabulous, big open skies. My inspiration comes from nature and how light plays on forms, water and landscape. Textile art is where I can express my love of colour, design and texture. I hand dye my own... Read more -
Wild Impressions: Louise Worthy
14 May - 30 June 2020 Louise Worthy is a printmaker and artist, with a past career as a fashion designer. This exhibition of new works combine textiles, dyeing, hand and machine stitch with her considerable print-making skills, and promises to be rather special. 'I am drawn to colour, pattern and texture and inspired by the... Read more
