DAWSON MURRAY

“My paintings have always been about light and for some years now they have been based on drawings of my own garden, friends’ gardens, intimate secret gardens and even exotic gardens as rich and sumptuous as a vision of Paradise.”

Dawson Murray, ARE RSW RGI Dawson studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1961 - 66. After his post-diploma year a number of prestigious awards permitted him to spend two years in Italy where he studied under Giuseppe Santomaso in Venice. He then moved to Sicily where his painting reflected the heat and fertility of the northern coast. Returning to Scotland he spent 35 happy years involved in art education. A member of the Glasgow Group for 30 years, he was closely involved with the Richard Demarco Gallery in the 1980’s. He now lives in North East Fife and is married to the painter Liz Murray.

His passion for watercolour springs from the innate volatility of the medium, the constant vigilance required when painting wet-into-wet and the critical scrutiny necessary while watching paint dry.

Dawson has over 50 years experience in etching and is an elected an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers (ARE). Dawson is a well-established Scottish artist whose portfolio includes a 50ft high painting; a permanent feature in the Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow. After living with multiple sclerosis for 22 years he is now quadriplegic and is able to create prints with the aid of an assistant, using his own version of the traditional sugar-lift technique, allowing him to “replicate the bleeding edges of areas of colour” that he so enjoyed in watercolour painting.

Solely working with his preferred medium of etching however, hasn’t hindered his work from exuding the transient movement, light and energy that he sees in nature surrounding him. Some of his prints are actually often mistaken for watercolours, due to their unpredictable yet graceful qualities. Both paintings and prints capture a rich depth of colour which is then broken and abstracted by a reflective and fluid light that seems to skim across the surface of the work. We are left lingering, drawn to the tranquillity of a beautiful moment waiting for it to eventually glimmer or sway like our ever changing environment.

AWARDS

2004 - Winner: Channel 4 'Move It' Animation Competition

2002 - RSW Council Award

2000 - Noble Grossart Competition, Third Prize, RSA

1995 - Alexander Graham Munro Award, RSW

1966 - Carnegie Travelling Scholarship, RSA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2006 - British Miniprint International Tour

2000 - Noble Grossart Competition, RSA, Edinburgh and GSA, Glasgow

1999 - Solo Show - Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

1999 - Connections, RSA Edinburgh Festival

1998 - Lord Provost's Prize - Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

1997 - Solo Show - Nancy Smillie Gallery, Glasgow

1993 - International Drawing Triennale, Wroclaw, Poland

1990 - Solo Show - Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh

1988 - New Tendencies in Scottish Contemporary Art, Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo

1983 - Six Scottish Painters, Galleria del Cavallino, Venice

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Lillie Art Gallery, Milngavie

McManus Galleries, Dundee

Scottish Arts Council

BBC Scotland

Dumbarton Burgh Council

Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow

Hamilton District Libraries