Curriculum Vitae
Rowena Comrie


Education:
1978-82, University of Reading, Berkshire.
Qualification: BA (Hons) Fine Art, 2:1 degree.

Summary of Art:
During the last 17 years I have come to appreciate the need for a critical awareness of aesthetics for the development of my art. My concern now is to make visually beautiful and emotionally diverse paintings. The developments I have worked through include: the sea, figurative, abstract, and my current project, a version of Hogarth's, 'The Rake's progress.

The sea. My working method for these paintings involves maintaining a watercolour diary of postcard sized paintings executed down at Aberdeen beach as often as possible. Collectively, I see these as slow motion film stills. Larger watercolours are also painted regularly at the beach. The oil paintings are made in the studio using the watercolours as reference points.

Figurative work which resulted in the exhibition, 'Aesthetic - a Defiance', at Aberdeen City Art Gallery, during 1998. These were mainly male nudes, painted in a manner which attempted to reverse the traditional fine art treatment of the female model by male painters. The titles of these paintings were very significant in that they referred specifically to the stylistic language of female fashion - a language of women.

Abstract Art. Recent work has been a response to the sea, witnessed from a still point as it shifts infinitely, in a constant maelstrom. This work is also informed by observing the relatively still landscape from a fast moving point, usually a speeding train. In some of my paintings the two effects are combined to create a synthesis,or a distillation of the transforming power of the natural world on the human psyche. This work was exhibited at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries in my solo show, “A Million Firsts, A Trillion Seconds,” during October and November 2000.

In 1999 I completed a project for which I received funding from AVAAS.This was an attempt to combine painting with new media in an experimental way. The subject, and idea, was to create a post modern fable - a reverse take on Hogarth's The Rake ..., containing a message of optimism. These five paintings portray the progress of an individual, from dependence and frustration through to empowered self consciousness via the acceptance of an apparently impossible challenge. I combined photographs of the paintings with found images, which I digitally manipulated in order to make prints.

In 2005 Rowena received a second AVAAS award for the exhibition "No Prey-No Pay" at Duff House Gallery in Banff, part of the National Galleries of Scotland. This concerned Piracy in the North East of Scotland during the 17th & 18th centuries, placing the subject in a contemporary context. Since then her work has developed into an investigation into the balance between the sublime elements of danger and beauty in both the air and the sea.
Career details since graduating:
1982. Studio in Earls Court, London.
1983-85. Life model at Slade. Left to seek full-time employment for economic reasons.
1985-87. Employed at Hambros Merchant Bank, Left for job at Courtauld Institute.
1987-88. Finance officer at Courtauld Institute. Left to commit self to painting.
1988 & 89. Travelled in Spain studying art.(During Summers).
1988-97. Painted full-time, in Scotland.
1997. Short listed and submitted designs for commission for Iona Abbey Trust Ltd.
1997-01 Evening Class Art Tutor, Aberdeen City Council.
1997-07 Studio Representative, Aberdeen, for W.A.S.P.S. (Studios).
1997 Mural painted in the Proto Health Club, Aberdeen
1998 Aberdeen Alternative Festival Banners Project..
1998-99. Art tutor, Centre for Continuing Education, University of Aberdeen.
2000-05. Life Drawing Tutor at Peacock Printmakers Aberdeen.
2000-01 Secretary for Limousine Bull, Artists Collective
2002- Lecture at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London on “The Rake’s
Progress”
2006- Artist’s Talk on “Boys Toys”- “A Sublime Solution” at the RSA,
Edinburgh.

Solo Shows

1991. Aberdeen Arts Centre.
1993. Aberdeen Royal Infimary.
1993 & 1995. Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen.
1996. 'Journey' at 'New Scottish Art', Demarco European Foundation, Edinburgh.
1997. April. 'Bold Girl 1' Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
September. 'Bold Girl 2' Tolbooth Arts Centre, Kirkcudbright.
August. 'Aesthetic A Defiance', Aberdeen Art Gallery.
1998 September. 'Bold & Beautiful', Cree Gallery, Gatehouse of Fleet. .
1999. June. 'Antidote', Studio 25, Spa Street, Aberdeen.
2000. April. 'Zoom', Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen.
2000 July/August John Lewis Partnership, Aberdeen
2000 Oct/Nov 'A Million Firsts, A Trillion Seconds,' Gracefield Arts
Centre, Dumfries.
2000 “Life’s A Fun Beach” Aberdeen Maritime Museum.
2003 “Rewind The Rake” Angus Digital Media Centre, Brechin.
2004 “Beauty Spots” Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen.
2007 “Sublime Intentions” Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen



Selected Group Exhibitions
1985. The New Art Group, London.
1986. The Brandler Galleries, Brentwood.

1987. Brixton Artists Collective, London.
1992-01. Aberdeen Artists Society annual exhibitions.
1993-94. Royal Scottish Watercolour Society, R.S.A Edinburgh.
1993. Morrison Portrait Awards, R.S.A Edinburgh.
1995. Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. (Uisge Beatha).
1995&99 Society of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh.
1995-99. Compass Gallery, Glasgow.
1996 New Acquisitions, Aberdeen City Art Gallery and Museum.
'Picture of the Month' Aberdeen City Art Gallery and Museum (Aug)
1996-97. Art Link Touring Show, Edinburgh Hospitals.
1997. 'Brush, Wood and Taffeta: Exploring the North', Marischal Museum Abdn.
'Art' 446 Union Street Aberdeen.
1999 'Terre de Creation', Espace Municipal Pierre Laporte, Clermont Ferrand, France
'Girl Power',Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen.
2000 'My Neighbour is a Cyborg,' Stills Gallery, Edinburgh.
'Marking Time', Scottish Word & Image Group, K.C.V.C. UniversityofAberdeen
Print Open, Dundee Contemporary Arts and University of Abertay
'Today is Enough', MOMA Powys Wales.
'The Discerning Eye', Mall Galleries, London
The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London
Open Drawing Competition, Paisley Art Institute
2001 Enterprise Oil, St Magnus House, Aberdeen
‘Limousine Bull @ Estaminet’
2003 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
2004 Open Print, Royal West Of England Academy, Bristol
2005 “No Prey-No Pay” Duff House Gallery, Banff, Scotland.
2005 Royal Scottish Corporation, London
2006 Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, RSA Edinburgh
2006 Scottish Collective, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.







Public Collections
Aberdeen City Art Gallery (2 pictures).
Iona Abbey Trust Ltd (2).
Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (3).
Paintings in Hospitals, Edinburgh.
The Scottish Labour Party
.University of Aberdeen
.
Private Collections include:
The College, Albyn Place, Aberdeen.
Mural in the Proto Health & Fitness Club, Queens Terrace, Aberdeen.
Logica U.K Ltd.
Deloitte & Touche