The Herald - 2 August 2008
Arts Books Cinema Magazine
Gallery Profile
The Sea Lock Gallery at The Crinan Hotel, Crinan, Argyll
Daily 9am until 5.30pm Until August 31
Painter Frances Macdonald opens the doors
of her hotel to the RGI, says Jan Patience.
Unless you are a yachtsman or a fisherman, the tiny fishing village of Crinan is easy to miss. Until I visited the Crinan Hotel last year, I thought I had a fairly good knowledge of Scotland’s hidden gems, but a lifetime spent exploring Scotland’s outlying hills and dales had not sent me in the direction of this picturesque harbour village, just a few miles out of Lochgilphead in Argyll.
Located at the north end of the Crinan Canal, connecting Loch Fyne to the Atlantic Ocean, the village stands like a sentinel, looking out over the mainland to the Western Isles.
From the 200 year old Crinan Hotel, the panoramic sweep takes in inspiring views of Loch Crinan and the infamous Corryvreckan whirlpool.
The views are enough to revive the heart of the weariest townie and luckily, the hotel has on hand an inspired interpreter of this landscape in the form of Frances Macdonald, who has enjoyed great success, with her work selling out at regular exhibitions in London’s Portland Gallery and the highly regarded Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.
Macdonald is co-proprietor of the hotel along with husband Nick Ryan, and the two have been running the hotel for the best part of 40 years. Art plays a major role in the day-to-day life of this comfortably sophisticated hotel, which also excels in producing stunning seafood dishes. Most of the available wall space in both public and private areas of the hotel is adorned by her work and that of their son Ross Ryan, a talented painter and printmaker, who takes the sea as his core inspiration and runs with the theme.
The hotel also has two gallery spaces, one in the glass-fronted Gallery Bar and the other at the Sea Lock Gallery by the canal basin. These two will be well used during the month of August, as the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts (RGI) takes up residence in its Argyll holiday home outpost for the third year in a row.
In the Gallery Bar, work will be on show by RGI artists such as George Devlin, Jack Knox, Anthony Scullion, Vincent Butler, Simon Laurie, Gordon Mitchell, Archibald Dunbar McIntosh, Philip Reeves, Ronald F Smith, Helen Wilson and Bill Wright, while in the Sea Lock Gallery, various artists who either live locally or are Crinan-lovers have been invited to show. In this space, expect to see work by Macdonald, son Ross and neice Jacqueline, as well as Caroline Hunter, Sian MacQueen, Julie Fletcher, Gillian Goodheir, Edna Whyte, Robert Kelsey, Connie Simmers and James Dunbar.
Former RGI convener Gordon Mitchell says the idea of taking RGI out of Glasgow was first mooted four years ago. “We were keen to have exhibitions outside Glasgow and Frances, who is a council member, offered the use of the hotel.
“From there it has just snowballed. I think they continue to do it out of the kindness of their heart because it’s a lot of work at a busy time of year. It’s turned into a real fun event that gives exposure to a lot of artists, and importantly, it gives local artists a chance to show too. Sales are always good considering for some people, Crinan is at the end of the earth!”
Additional Information: France Macdonald Biography
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