MEANDERING & MUSING EXHIBITION 17th-22nd August 2023
Meandering and Musing
An exhibition of paintings by Francesca Wilkinson-Shaw.
17th-22nd August 2023
Outline Gallery
9 Lochrin Place
Edinburgh
EH3 9QX
SEVEN THINGS ABOUT ERIC
This painting was commissioned by the Eric Liddell Centre in Edinburgh. It celebrates the life of Eric Liddell who was a famous athlete as well as a missionary in China. he is famous as his life featured in the film Chariots of Fire. He refused to run in anOlympic final as the race was on a Sunday. He won a Gold medal in another race but has gone down in history as a man of principle for whom his religious faith was more important than winning medals. He later became a missionary in China and died as a prisoner of war during the 2nd World War.
The painting has 7 symbols from his life and forms a puzzle. The aim is to find all seven and then check that you have found them all.
SEASONS OF WAYLEAVE
These four paintings began as my response to my work as an Art Psychotherapist is Edinburgh Prison. When with a prisoner I often drew a path through woods and light at the end of a tunnel. This probably reflected my feeling about individuals and my hope for them. Also a way of seeming occupied, as people don’t always like to be watched making art.
Later in my studio I thought about these drawings, and how much I would need to make clear for the image still to be readable. These four paintings became my answer. They don’t represent particular seasons, just different moods and times.
When I came to think of a title for them I found a word the perfect word- Wayleave. It is an old word for Right of Way and often used in legal documents. It literally means ‘Permission to Go’ and so is just right in the context.
These four paintings were bought and donated to Edinburgh Prison where they now hang in the Visits Room where prisoners meet their family and visitors.