Edinburgh exhibition to showcase 'meaningful' 50 year collaboration with Falkirk-born artist Elizabeth Blackadder
A new woven rug inspired by a painting created by Dame Elizabeth Blackadder 50 years ago will form the centrepiece of an exhibition to celebrate the artist five years after her death.
Elizabeth Blackadder: Her Life in Colour, at Edinburgh's Dovecot Studios, will mark the painter's five decade collaboration with the studios.
It will also incorporate works from the Royal Scottish Academy’s collection of Ms Blackadder’s art.
At the heart of the exhibition is the artist’s long-standing creative relationship with the tapestry studio, when, over five decades, their collaboration resulted in more than 30 tapestries and hand-tufted rugs, translating her distinctive use of colour into richly textured forms.
A major highlight of the exhibition is the debut of a newly created hand-tufted rug The Red Bouquet, inspired by the 1975 painting of the same name. Made by Dovecot’s studio team, the work will be shown publicly for the first time in this exhibition.
Heather Carroll, curator at Dovecot Studios, said; “Presenting Elizabeth Blackadder’s work at Dovecot is particularly meaningful. Her collaboration with the Studios spans more than fifty years and represents an extraordinary dialogue between painting and textile.
“The unveiling of a new rug inspired by The Red Bouquet is especially significant - it reflects both the vibrancy of her work and Dovecot’s commitment to reimagining important artistic legacies through contemporary making.”
Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, who died in 2021, was one of Scotland’s most significant modern artists and the first woman elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy of Arts.
The breadth of her work in oil, watercolour, and printmaking techniques has long been celebrated for its new perspectives in contemporary art.
She was married to Scottish colourist John Houston for over 52 years, until his death in 2008.
Prior to a major exhibition of her work in 2011 to mark her 80th birthday, Dame Elizabeth was described as a “national treasure” by John Leighton, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Born in 1931 into a family of engineers who owned the Garrison Foundry in Falkirk, close to Macfarlane Crescent, she was brought up in nearby Weir Street, in a house built by her grandfather.
She went to Falkirk High School and then went to study in Edinburgh where she could do a joint course where she could attend both the university and college of art.
The Dovecot exhibition will run from 20 June to 14 November.