Life @ EA

Luminance

Solo Exhibition by Madeleine Gardiner

Dates: 4–10 March 2020
Hours: 10.00am–6.00pm
Location: Saorsa Art Gallery, 8 Deanhaugh Street, Edinburgh

Artist and Academical Madeleine Gardiner (EA 2009-11) sits down with the Edinburgh Academy to discuss her upcoming Solo Exhibition, Luminance.

Tell us a little about your process.
The title of the show is Luminance. Though my work has evolved over time the main focus remains capturing light, and the paintings in this show highlight this. Over the past few years I have been pushing my work in a new direction, with the process of building thin translucent layers of paint to create depth, both of colour and scene. Thicker layers of beeswax are incorporated and left to dry, so each piece takes longer to complete. That suits my method of working on many paintings at a time, with batches of work all evolving together.

The pieces in the show are a blend of the early influence of Scottish landscapes which are very important in informing my work. However, evidence of my travels has started to seep into my painting more than before. Places such as Namibia, Arizona, the Canadian Rockies, Vietnam, Miami, Cuba, California, the Tyrolean Alps to name a few. The mix of these diverse places in my paintings has always been an important aspect of my practice and is something I have been enjoying more and more recently.

I will be donating some of the proceeds to Stonewall UK and have their support, it is a cause very close to my heart.

How did your time at EA influence your work?
I came to EA was for the Art Department. From what I’d heard I knew it would be the right place for me. They challenged me constantly, always pushing me to keep going until whatever I was doing was my best work – then we’d move to something totally out of my comfort zone. Every day I spent in there was fun (and every missed assembly). It was very relaxed and above all very supportive, especially for those of us who thought we were going to take it further. I can’t imagine a better place to prepare me for art college, which is no joke! I keep in touch with David Prosser who was my teacher and have asked his advice many times over the years since leaving.

My A Levels were Art, Design Technology and English. I really enjoy the presentation and branding side to my work, I think my time working on projects in DT is where this began. I have exactly the same aesthetic now that I developed back then and this has been so important in how I present my work as much as refining my painting style – so thanks to Head of DT, Sandra Hennessy! Poetry and mythology are important in my work too. I learnt so much from John Meadows in the English department. Being able to analyse poetry has brought so much to my work, and my life overall.

What are your fondest memories of EA?
All the times I spent in the Art department – I pretty much lived in there and never took a free period. I made my two best friends there. I loved mentoring the Geits (P7) art class who were hilarious and affectionately called me ‘Person’.

The day that changed everything was the day David Prosser gave me a box of old oil paints which I’d never used before and said, “Thought you might like these”.

What has been your biggest achievement since leaving the School?
There are specific projects I am proud of being involved in which have been great for me career-wise, but I think the ability to support charities through my work has been an unexpected achievement. What has surprised me the most is that I have had to effectively turn myself into a small business, managing my promotion, projects, budgets and worst of all, tax returns – things you don’t ever think about as an art student. My first piece of advice to anyone who wants to pursue a creative career is that you never lose self-belief and keep persevering, as nothing will simply just happen. So, my biggest achievement since leaving school is turning my love of painting into my lifestyle. It’s never been about anything else for me.

How important is travel to your work?
Travel is intrinsic to my work. I really enjoy the blend of the early influence of Scottish landscapes and the different places I have been lucky enough to visit. For me, light and colour are the two main things I bring from my travels into my paintings. For example, if you compare a Scottish highland landscape to somewhere in Southern Ireland, the greens are completely different. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Miami recently, and the vibrant colours and culture have had a big impact on what I want to see when I look at my own work.

How has your work developed over the last nine years?
It’s been a long nine years when it comes to the development of my work, as the hardest aspect of painting is settling into your own style after you find it. The most important thing you can do is to ignore everything except your own judgement, otherwise what’s the point? I still approach my work the same way I did when I was at the Academy, although I’ve learned so much about what suits the way I work now, which is many layers of translucent paint. So I think depth has been something I’ve been working on developing over the years, both literally in terms of creating depth in the landscapes I paint and also of getting better at working out what I want to communicate through them.

Madeleine Gardiner is a British contemporary landscape painter, born in Edinburgh in 1993 and grew up in Scotland, attending The Edinburgh Academy. She completed her Foundation Diploma at Leeds Arts University 2011 before her undergraduate degree at Edinburgh College of Art, Painting – BA (Hons) 2015. Since then she has been based out of studios in both Edinburgh and London working on commissions for private clients and institutions and gaining the representation of several galleries across the U.K. Her work is held by private collectors in both the UK and internationally, she has pieces hanging in The Gleneagles Hotel, Hampden & Co, The Scottish Investment Trust and is currently working on a project with AMA Homes. She has collaborated with charities including The Alan Shearer Foundation, St. Columba’s Hospice, The Prince’s Trust, Friends of Colombia for Social Aid and was the face of Macmillan Cancer Support’s Year of Young People initiative 2018.

You can find out more about Madeleine’s work by visiting the links below:

Official website: www.madeleinegardiner.com
Instagram: @madeleinegardiner_
Facebook: @madeleinegardinerart