WELCOME OPENINGS IN THE LOCAL WORLD OF ART
POS? It means artists and public can really get together

 
Strathallan News
By Henry Ainslie, 3 Sep 2009
Local art enthusiasts are in for a treat this month with the start of the second annual Perthshire Open Studios (POS). Almost 80 artists from up and down Perthshire will open their workshop doors to the public for the event - designed to offer a unique opportunity for the public to get to know the people behind the local artworks.
Throughout the nine-day event, the public will be able to visit the galleries and studios in which Perthshire artists work in a variety of media including paint, sculpture, photography, stained glass, woodwork, ceramics, jewellery, metalwork and much more. Organisers hope that POS will give enthusiasts the chance to explore the inspiration behind an artist's work, and offer a rare opportunity to ask questions about the processes involved.
Auchterarder artist and Ruthven Gallery owner Suzanne Hay will be displaying the work of three reputed artists in her Lang Toon gallery during the event, and is expecting a warm reception from the public who turned out in numbers to the first event last year. The 39-year-old Glasgow Art College graduate explained to the Strathallan News: "Perthshire Open Studios is a fantastic idea and I'm glad it's now coming regularly to Perthshire.
"It's a concept that has proved very popular in other parts of the country, and I'm confident that it will prove equally so in this area too." Suzanne, the daughter of celebrated contemporary Scots painter Andrew Hay, hopes that by displaying works by artists such as Dunning's Susan Cook, popular Dunblane painter Iona Leishman and Fife-based Mairi Clark, she will be treating the visiting public to art that's different from that available elsewhere in Perthshire.
She continued: "I always try to show a diverse range of art - something different - and the Ruthven Gallery is often the only place in Scotland where work by certain artists is available." The public are also able to purchase many of the artworks on show during POS, and Suzanne stresses that they need not break the back to purchase their own piece of original art.
She added: "The way the climate is at the moment, buying art may not be at the top of everyone's list of priorities, but we sell affordable pieces that are an excellent investment. If you look after a piece of art, its value holds and can even increase as the artist's profile does."
Another South Perthshire artist to open her doors during POS is stained-glass specialist Lorna Radbourne who, along with friend and self-taught painter Gail Robertson, works out of a studio near Dunning.
More that 50 people visited their studio - built in Lorna's back garden - at last year's POS, and Lorna admits that the event is one of the pair's annual highlights. This year, the pair will be working on a range of large and small pieces inspired by wildlife, nature and Scotland's west coast, visited by Lorna earlier this year.
The 43-year-old artist said: "Perthshire and even Dunning is brimming with talent, and the POS is something we really look forward to. "Gail and I are such fantastic friends that it just seemed sensible to exhibit our work together. It's important to display a variety of art, and that's what we tried to do - we complement each other."
Most venues throughout the POS will be open between 10 am and 5 pm throughout the event unless otherwise stated in each individual entry. Some venues may offer late night opening until 7 pm. In order not to be disappointed, please check individual venues for their opening times before visiting the studios.
© Forth Independent Newspapers.