Ruth Brownlee
Born near Edinburgh in 1972, Ruth Brownlee graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1994 with a BA Hons in Drawing, Painting and Tapestry. In 1998, she moved to Shetland to concentrate on her painting. Brownlee has work in private collections throughout the UK and overseas. Her work is also in the public collections of the Shetland Museum and The Fleming Collection in London.
Ruth Brownlee is one of Shetland’s best-known artists. She paints Shetland’s ever changing, dramatic conditions, exploring the relationship with land, sea and sky. A range of subtle tones of bruised blues, greys and greens depict waves, cliffs, skylines, shifting stormy light, glimpses of light on waves, and altogether, an exploration of movement and change within Shetland’s unpredictable weather and landscape.
Brownlee writes, ‘…I first came to Shetland in 1998 when I was invited to teach in the isles. The islands had such an effect on me- particularly the changing light and open space- I decided to move to the isles and return to painting. It took me nearly a year to be able to digest the wealth of the landscape and begin to interpret Shetland and its seas as it was a completely different environment to my home in West Lothian. I was and still am, taken by the constant changing elements- particularly the drama of light upon the seas. The moods of weather playing upon the land and mists on the moors provide continuing inspiration. Since moving, I have also been introduced to sailing which has again created a whole new relationship with the ocean. I’ve been able to develop my understanding of the seas and to capture the completely different atmosphere of being “at sea”.’
EDUCATION
1990-94 B.A. (Hons) Drawing & Painting -Tapestry, Edinburgh College of Art
1993 Cyprus Art Summer School, Cyprus College of Art
Elected as professional member of Scottish Society of Artists (SSA)
Veer North Visual Arts Group in Shetland (Founder member)
AWARDS
2012 Shetland Arts Development, Visual Arts Grant Award
2003 Visual Artist Award, HI-Arts Highland & Island Visual Arts
2002 Finalist for The Gilchrist-Fisher Memorial Award for Landscape Painters
2000 Scotlands Year of the Artist Award
1999 Shetland Arts Trusts Visual Arts Development Award
1999 The Hope Scott Trust Award
1997 British Rail Young Business Travel Award, 2nd Prize
1996 Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust Award Livewire/Lothian
1995 Regional Start Up Business Award
1995 The Elizabeth Ballantyne Award, S.A.A.C Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1994 Valgra Trading Award, Edinburgh College of Art
1993 Andrew Grant Bequest Scholarship by Edinburgh College of Art for Summer Term exchange with L’ Ecole des Beaux Arts, Tours, France
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022
Solo Show, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Solo Show, Beaux Arts Bath
Affordable Art Fair, London with Beaux Arts Bath
2021
‘North. South. East. West’ mixed show, Beaux Arts Bath
Scottish Exhibition, Stafford Gallery
2020
‘New Works for Winter’ mixed show, Beaux Arts Bath
Affordable Art Fair, London with Beaux Arts Bath
Solo show, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2019
Summer Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath
Scottish Exhibition, Stafford Gallery, London
Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
2018
On a Small Scale, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Pittenweem Arts Festival, Scotland
Klintegården Butik, Klintehamn, Gotland, Sweden
2017
Shetland : Land and Sea, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2016
Winter: Shetland, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
‘Perceptions’ Two man show with Ruth Nicol, Line Gallery, Linlithgow
2015
Show with Alex Malcolmson & John Audun Hauge at GalleriAllmenningen, Bergen, Norway
Shetland, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Postcards 2015, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2013
New Work, Shetland Museum & Archives
2007
New Works Shetland Economic Unit/Shetland Islands Council, Lerwick
New Paintings New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey
2006
New Work The Line, Linlithgow
New Work Stenton Gallery, East Lothian
2005
New Paintings Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
New Paintings Godfrey& Watt, Harrogate
New Work Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2004
Recent Work Stenton Gallery, East Lothian
Sea Shetland, Rebecca Hossack/Charlotte Street Gallery, London
2003
Sense of Place Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen
Northern Elements Shetland Museum, Lerwick,
2002
New Work Stenton Gallery, East Lothian
2001
Northwards Stenton Gallery, East Lothian
Encounter Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
At Sea… Shetland Museum, Lerwick
2000
Solitude, The Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland