Graham McKean Exhibition!

Graham McKean, 'Bunkered Again!'

First of all, I must apologise for a long absence from our blog! It has been an exceptionally busy summer, and I may have neglected some of our readers - so a big sorry!!

Secondly - a quick round-up of summer in St Andrews......CRAZY! It has been such a busy season, with a fantastic amount of tourists from all over the world, lots of golfers, our ever-present local support, day trippers, and many of our St Andrews Uni' students who have stayed for the summer. With such a varied collection of shoppers, it has made our summer really interesting and exciting. It's always great to know where our support comes from, and to meet some of our 'online' customers has been great - we have had a few customers who have come from far-flung corners of the world and said to us that they had viewed the gallery online. It's great for us to meet you - and so strange to think that you have been looking at our gallery from your home in Texas, or in Nice, or St Petersburg, and now you have actually been in here! The world wide web has really made the world a bit smaller.

We have some exciting news for you as well - this week, from Saturday 25th September - we are hosting an exhibition of Graham McKean's work.
Graham has previously exhibited with us, back in 2007, and since then he has gained world-wide acclaim for his paintings. His commissions include the very famous painting of Michael Jackson, created last year, which generated global media interest, and his well known portrait for Celtic FC. Hopefully with our six-week exhibition of his work, we can bring you some of this excitement!
The exhibition is running from 25th Sepember until 6th November - we hope you can come along and have a look, and if you can't make it, images of his full collection with us will be availailable on our website from Saturday.
Also remember you can follow all of our news, gossip, and great photos from within the gallery on Facebook.

www.arteryuk.com

Tom Payne's 'Grunts'!

'Windy Grunt V' £80

We have recently received a new collection of Tom Payne's 'Grunts' - which are a lot more pleasant than they sound!!

Tom, a graduate from Kent Institute of Art & Design, works in clay to produce his quirky and fun figures. Each 'grunt' has a character, which Tom clearly enjoys creating. He uses tools as little as possible, using his hands to create each piece - giving them a rough and solid finish, adding further to the personality of figure.

Tom's work is instantly recognisable and he has created some large-scale pieces - predominantly animals - for a series of different projects, all still retaining his unique look. His portfolio includes a full size baby elephant for Bolton Council, a set of dinosaur jaws for the natural history museum and a polar bear for an MTV advert.....anymore and he could open a zoo!

Tom's full collection can be seen in Artery on South Street, St Andrews, or on our website www.arteryuk.com

St Andrews Has a Fours Star Arts Venue.....Us!

We have reason to celebrate this week at Artery - we have just been given the prestigiuos award of Four Star Arts Venue by VisitScotland!

We are delighted to receive this award, in recognition of all our hard work and attention to detail over the years. We also think it's great to be able to bring this accolade to St Andrews - we can now boast that St Andrews has one of only sixteen four star arts venues in the whole of Scotland.

VisitScotland award star ratings to different types of establishments such as hotels, restaurants and museums and these star ratings are used to give customers and tourists a guide to what to expect from an attraction. Every detail is scrutinised such as pricing, cleanliness, appearance, customer service, and consideration of children - everything!

Artery's selection of interesting and unusual artwork - everything from clocks, to ceramics and paintings - and our clear and sensible pricing structure were a particular positive for us, pushing us into the four-stars category.

We'll continue to push ourselves to bring our customers the best in contemporary art, great customer service and a different class of gallery altogether.

*New* David Keenan - Handblown Glass Sculpture

We are proud to introduce glass artist David Keenan as our latest exhibitor to Artery Gallery in St Andrews.

His sleek, slender figures are formed from hand blown glass and finished with a smooth frosting effect that gives his work a wonderful feel of contemporary elegance.

David is an international glass artist, whose work has been in numerous specialist glass exhibitions, including New York, Puerto Rico, and London. His contemporary glass artwork is held in prestigious collections all around the world.

"Ribbon Dance" - £85

Training as a glass artist at the mark studios in Cheshire, David also spent 8 years working on a glass artwork project in the West Indies, during which time, he developed the style of contemporary art glass that has dominated his work. David has been commissioned to design several sculptures that have been gifted to royalty, including Her Majesty the Queen.

Each glass sculpture is individually handmade and signed by David.

We think you will agree that his work is absolutely stunning and really does have to be seen to be fully appreciated.

www.arteryuk.com

New Ceramics From Daniel Kavanagh * Now In *

Chlick here to visit Daniel Kavanagh's page on our website or visit the gallery at 43 South Street, St Andrews, Fife (01334 478221)

Fountain Vase by Daniel Kavanagh

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Contemporary Landscape Paintings of St Andrews

Scottish artist Martin Devine has been painting the Scottish landscape for many years. Employing colour theory, Martin varies the use of tone and differing brush strokes to present a contemporary image of the landscape: inspired by minimalism, spare with detail, and encouraging a regard for simplicity. Using a palette of bright, bold and vivid watercolours, he catches the essence of the Scottish landscape beautifully.

Martin has now created a small series of paintings especially for Artery Gallery, capturing the distinctive skyline of the historic town of St. Andrews, and this collection shows off St. Andrews in all it's differing light tones, in his own distinctive abstract form.

Take a look for yourselves by clicking on this image that links to Martin's work on our website, or visit us at 43 South Street, St Andrews for a closer look.

www.arteryuk.com

The Lie of the Land - Aerial Abstract Landscape Paintings by Peter Davenport

("Field Patterns, Holkham" by Peter Davenport)

Peter Davenport was born in England in 1931 to a French mother and Anglo/Scots father. Peter followed his father into the army and just like his father, eventually became a highly ranked officer himself. With the army being a major part of his early life, this meant moving around the country was common practice without settling anywhere for any great length of time. Eventually Peter moved to Perthshire and has been living there now since 1962.

After his time with the Army he studied drawing and painting at the Edinburgh College of Art.

During the 1970`s Peter went on to teach Photography at the Edinburgh College of Art and has worked in various branches of this field since then. With photography always being a huge passion of Peter’s, he bases many of his semi-abstract paintings on his collection of aerial photographs of the landscape below.

Combining the two different viewpoints of the landscape from above and from looking across the horizon, Peter Davenport’s contemporary oil paintings have developed into a very distinctive style unique to himself.

His latest series of works are of the coast line and patchwork-like field patterns of the North Norfolk coast. With this particular area of East Anglia striking a chord with Peter’s consciousness, the outcome of his paintings of Holkham tide line are full of passion and emotion with a vibrant mix of green and brown hues working with, as apposed to conflicting with, the sharp blue tones.

He has held various solo shows including those at the renowned Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh and with the English Speaking Union. His paintings hang in collections across the United Kingdom, in Canada, France, Germany, Denmark and the U.S.A.

Peter Davenport now exhibits exclusively all year round at Artery Gallery in both Crieff and St Andrews where his oil on board paintings of landscapes and geometric abstracts continue to be well received by new, as well as existing collectors of his work.

His works can also be viewed on the Artery Gallery website at www.arteryuk.com

Artery Gallery Celebrates Two Years in St Andrews

Throughout the end of May, Artery Gallery on South Street are celebrating what has been an exciting and enjoyable second year in the town.

The many locals and overseas visitors to have visited the gallery have showed great excitement and support since the opening in the town in May 2006. The continued growth and variety of local, national and international artists has been the major factor in Artery Gallery’s development from the early beginnings of the Crieff gallery to the expansion of the St Andrews branch.

Together with the addition of popular Scottish landscape painters Martin Devine, Jane Duckfield and John Wetten-Brown, Artery Gallery has also introduced two renowned International artists. Italian painter and cloud appreciation society member Alberto Bertoldi was introduced to exhibiting in Scotland last year with great anticipation. His photo-realistic oil paintings of storm building and sunburst clouds transfix the viewer with their immense beauty. Alberto has arranged over 30 exhibitions of his work across Italy and has also had books published based solely on his cloud paintings.

Following on from Alberto Bertoldi, was the arrival of Alexandros Arabatzoglou, a truly renowned sculptor from Crete and heralded by many in the art world as the Cretian Henry Moore. Alexandros’ sculptures have been sold to private collectors all over the world, and demand for his work has been such that he has not exhibited in a gallery for nearly nine years, despite offers from some of the worlds most prestigious galleries. However, after striking up a relationship with Artery Gallery, Alexandros decided to end his gallery exile by exhibiting one of his hand carved sculptures in their St Andrews branch.

The Director of Artery Gallery explains “After meeting with Alexandros in Crete last year, I was amazed at his drive, passion and enthusiasm for his work and his art. For him, creating his sculpture is like breaking down to the bare bones of his inner soul, using his hands to carve into the stone and creating an extension of himself within each individual sculpture”. He adds “Here at Artery Gallery, we are always looking to expand on the superb catalogue of talent we exhibit, and inviting Alexandros to join us, knowing of the interest he has gained, is exciting for the gallery, for St Andrews, and for world art exhibited in Scotland”.

The collection of seascape paintings by Colin Carruthers have gained popularity with every one of his exhibitions, and during the last year this has seen Colin grant Artery Gallery with exclusive exhibiting rights for Scotland.

Handmade Jewellery has continued to show great popularity in the St Andrews Gallery with Artery exhibiting works from over 10 different jewellers, stretching from Brazil to Israel, as well as those from a little closer to home such as Dunfermline, Crieff, Oban and Stirling! All very different and unique in techniques, materials and style.

Artery Gallery has been a major supporter of contemporary Scottish artists over the past few years from the gallery in King Street, Crieff and their award winning website, and continues to boost artist profiles by introducing them to the busy Scottish town of St Andrews where it’s UK and overseas visitors can see some of the best contemporary artwork first hand.

Artery Gallery at 43 South Street, St Andrews (01334 478221) and 22 King Street, Crieff (01764 655722).

www.arteryuk.com

Under the Influence of the Scottish Landscape

Exhibiting at Artery Gallery in Crieff and St Andrews with his new work is internationally selling artist Colin Carruthers Due to the high success Colin has had in exhibiting his work previously through Artery Gallery, he has given the gallery exclusive selling rights, now allowing them to be the only gallery in Scotland to show his works.

Jason Michaelson of Artery Gallery says “We feel this is a bit of a coup for us, being a Scottish contemporary art gallery and securing unique selling rights to the works of a successful artist. We like to work with our artists and try to help them progress. In his time exhibiting with us, we have seen a fantastic development in Colin’s work and this has been reflected in his success”.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Colin says, “I regularly travel to Scotland, where I find the high drama of the Scottish Coast, a constant source of influence for my paintings. There's a challenge involved in my work. With every canvas I attempt, I am searching for something. Beyond simply looking at my paintings and gaining an aesthetic pleasure, I do think it's important that they offer up space for thought"

The strengths of his canvases lie in their versatile response to nature as he grapples with the relationship between memory, place and emotion. His work challenges our assumptions of landscape and returns us to a new sense of engagement, both spiritual and practical, with our surroundings.

http://www.arteryuk.com/

Nostalgia and the Now

Artery Gallery welcomes new works from painter Scott Carruthers, exhibiting in St Andrews for the second time.

His paintings are largely inspired by a mix from the nostalgia of his childhood in the 70's and early 80's, along with watching his two young kids grow up. Not necessarily making any comparisons, but being reminded of his early years and how their life today differs in these modern times, yet in a way mirror his own childhood.

Scott explains his thoughts behind one of his works, "Our children seem to be growing up quicker all the time. If you don't believe it, think back to what you were doing and what you had at different stages of your childhood. I imagine it differs greatly.

Kids seem to get to a point where there just want to be older. Yet it will happen all too quickly and before they know it they will be forever chasing their youth.

He adds, "I don’t want my kids to turn around in 30 years and say to me “I was so concerned about growing up faster; I wish there was a way I could of slowed it down.”

I’m sure there are ways of helping that. It’s important that parents understand the need for an orderly progression through childhood. In the past there were important cultural “markers” that determined the ages at which certain behaviours and belongings were appropriate. Those markers seem to have disappeared, or they’ve certainly been moved downward."

"At best, you’re only a kid for about 12 years, with another 70 taken up by adulthood. Surely someone in the beginning didn’t think that ratio through properly!"

Scott's new works, including "Slow this Bird Down" and "Street Children", are exhibiting at our St Andrews gallery now.

www.arteryuk.com

Scotlands Bold Landscape

Scottish artist Martin Devine has launched his latest exhibition of work at Artery Gallery in both St Andrews and Crieff.

Martin, of Linlithgow, Employs colour theory, varying the use of tone and differing brush strokes to present a contemporary image of the Scottish landscape, aiming to change the perception of the landscape seen by the viewer.

Martin explains, “I originally discovered an artistic ability in portraiture and wildlife, moving onto landscapes which have now become my recognized field in a distinctive style”.

Inspired by minimalism, spare with detail, encouraging a regard for simplicity, the strengths of his watercolour paintings lie in the boldness of the colours he uses, perfectly outlined with Indian ink.

His paintings have proved a huge success in his short time with Artery Gallery, selling out his previous two exhibitions.

The work of Martin Devine can be viewed online at www.arteryuk.com or by visiting Artery Gallery in St Andrews and Crieff

www.arteryuk.com

Artery Gallery in St Andrews

Artery Gallery opened in St Andrews in May of 2006 and made an immediate impact with its locals and visitors to the town. Based at 43 South Street, it is in an ideal location situated opposite the Byre Theatre and just a few yards up from the famous Jannetta’s Ice Cream shop and with the cathedral ruins in the same corner of St Andrews, people are drawn all the way through to Artery Gallery’s part of town.

St Andrews is well known for attracting many overseas visitors for its history, education and golf, and Artery Gallery has had visitors of it's own from across the world including Japan, France, Italy, New Zealand, Alaska, Canada and the USA, all purchasing original artwork or leaving positive comments in the visitor guestbook.

Artery Gallery has also been a major supporter of new artists over the past few years from the gallery in King Street, Crieff and through their award winning website, and continues to boost artist profiles by now introducing them to St Andrews where its UK and overseas visitors can see some of the best emerging contemporary artwork first hand.

Bing Wang and his superbly detailed still life oil paintings have also become well collected by Artery Gallery’s local and national buyers, Sangster’s Restaurant of Fife being the most notable.

Since opening, Artery Gallery has exhibited many Scottish artists including painters James Adams, Angela Lawrence, Jackie Gardiner, Marie Hart, Martin Devine and Graham McKean and sculptors Ronna Elliott and Mark Smith. Other artists exhibiting have been from Australia, Canada and across Europe with the latest being renowned Italian artist Alberto Bertoldi with his amazing oil paintings of clouds. Alberto has arranged over 30 solo exhibitions across his homeland and is now showing his work for the first time outside Italy through Artery Gallery.

Jewellery has also shown great popularity all year round with Artery exhibiting works from 10 different jewellers, stretching from the USA and Brazil, to Israel and Eastern Europe, as well as those from a little closer to home! All very different and unique in techniques, materials and style.

St Andrews now has a gallery that defines modern art to compliment it’s lavish historical buildings, chapels and universities.

www.arteryuk.com