Colin MacLeod - Artist Member

I attended Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh and then from 1963 – 1967,Glasgow School of Art studying under William Armour, David Donaldson, George Devlin, and Jimmy Robertson.  I then worked in several commercial outlets including Marion Donaldson’s fashion agency. In 1970, I moved to Hamburg in Germany where I studied Art History at Hamburg University/ Kunstwissenschaft.  On my return from Germany in 1974, I taught in Clydebank College and various Secondary schools in Glasgow and joined the Glasgow League of Artists exhibiting in a variety of venues as well as contributing to exhibitions in the RGI. In 1980 I moved to Stranraer in the south west of Scotland where I still live. Since then I have taken part in exhibitions with Dumfries and Galloway Fine Arts Society, Spring Fling, West Galloway Arts Association, private galleries in Dumfries and Galloway, the Robert Burns Art Centre, Gracefield Art Centre (both Dumfries), Kirkcudbright, The Meffan,Angus, and in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Stranraer is also the home of Sea Pyot Arts Group (Stranraer and District Arts Society) with which I exhibit regularly. My work is also used as a teaching resource in Stranraer Academy forming part of the Wigtown Educational Trust Art Collection. My work is held in various private and public collections and includes a painting hanging on public display on permanent loan to Stranraer Museum.

Since my early career in commercial studios my work has always retained an illustrative element and perhaps as a result of this, has been adapted on occasion to illustrate poetry.

In 2009, I was awarded a small grant by D&G Council Arts Committee to study printmaking with Alfons Bytautas at Edinburgh Print Studio. Since then, I have worked intermittently in the DCA Printmakers Studio completing several sets of prints and exploring new techniques. In 2015 I completed a short course in etching techniques at the Spinnerei Printing Studios in Leipzig, Germany..

The stories we tell about our communities are a major way in which we give context to our lives  helping us give shape and form  to our experiences. I feel this is an important component of my work and certainly helps me understand art’s place in society