The Scottish Gallery is staging an exhibition by Scottish artist Victoria Crowe, who celebrated her 80th birthday on 8th May – having been born on Victory in Europe (VE) Day, which marked the end of the second world war in Europe. The exhibition centres around powerful new work by Victoria, alongside a special curation of earlier works from the 1960s to the 2010s, offering a richly-layered view of her evolving practice.
Spanning six decades, the exhibition’s perspective is at the same time reflective and forward-looking, as Victoria remains focused and contemporary, responding to the world’s shifting tides, rooted in themes of continuity, memory, and transformation, with the enduring resonance of her connection to place. Much more than depictions of terrain, her landscapes are poetic spaces with metaphor and meaning woven into them – literally in the case of woven works with Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios (see below).
From her early works at Kittleyknowe, with the solitary shepherd Jenny Armstrong, to the luminous canals of Venice and the elemental light of Orkney, Crowe’s paintings speak of ephemerality, stillness, and an intimate awareness of time’s passage.
The Gallery has also collaborated with Dovecot Studios for an exhibition on its balcony space, examining her relationship with the Studios since 2007. Shifting Surfaces explores the connection between her paintings and woven interpretations, highlighting her exploration of light, landscape, and memory.
Decades and Shifting Surfaces will be supported by a full programme of events.
