Memory
is still-life art in the making – the concept at the heart of Rosanne's Barr's
work. In a word, flashback. Rosanne explores and captures the mood, emotion,
colours of a place, a landscape filtered through the sands of lapsed time.
These
are imagined places - her Lands of Escape - but based on direct experience of
the Atlantic seaboard of North West Scotland and Orkney Orkney; real landscapes
of hill-top, ocean and immense, free sky.
Places she continues to visit with her young family.
Heightened
colours of sunrise, sunset, amidst calm and storm; simplified shape and
blending lines are the basis of her distinctive abstract style. Rosanne Barr
was born in 1981 in the village of Gartocharn on the southern shores of Loch
Lomond. While still in her teens, she
became Gold Medallist at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Galleries youth exhibition.
Graduating
in 2003 from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee with First Class
Honours, she exhibited in London at the British Design Centre and at The Mall
Galleries where she was awarded a Licentiate of Distinction by the Society of
Designer Craftsmen. In 2008 her first major solo show Lands of Home and Venture
was a sell-out: ……with much critical acclaim for her: “bold brushed landscapes,
deftly mixing realism, impressionism, and a dash of the Colourists. Always
inspired by Scotland’s landscapes”. [The Herald 8.03.08]
In 2009
Rosanne was shortlisted for the Barclays TSB Jolomo Award. Her work has been
selected for the Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Glasgow Institute of The Fine
Arts and Paisley Art Institute. Rosanne was selected to be the Resident
International Artist at the Great Gulf Arts Festival 2012. This opportunity
included giving lectures and demos to schools and the university campus,
exhibiting at this major arts festival in Florida, USA.
In 2017
she was invited to Sardinia for an Artist residency, painting ‘plein air’ with
leading artists from across Europe. Rosanne exhibits widely across the UK with
paintings in private collections around the world. A busy full-time artist, she
now lives in Milngavie. Her garden studio lies close to Allander Water, the
gateway to the West Highland Way and the Scottish Highlands.