Details
| First Name | Morag |
| Last Name | Thomson Merriman |
| Username | morag-thomson-merriman |
| Website | |
| Disciplines | Drawing, Painting |
| Themes | Abstract, Botanical, Figurative, Landscape, Narratives |
Statement
| Statement | I am a visual artist and life-long resident of Edinburgh, moving only within a three mile radius of my old childhood home. My work is a form of personal archaeology, weaving in family connections to long remembered landscapes, cherished pottery ware and precious garden plants as a meditation on loss, absence and change. I seek to understand and convey place, or the sense of home, ‘presence’ and remembrance, of something being revealed or concealed. I work mostly on paper, manipulated with layers of mixed media to create subtle, richly textured surfaces. I sometimes allow sections of the work to fade, as memory can, with little definition, using soft muted colours. This is offset by a sense of presence and solidity elsewhere, thanks to the textural layered mark-making and strength of colour. My intention is to create a sense of quiet stillness in which the viewer may linger.
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Biography
| Biography | CV 2025 SSA ‘The Land‘ exhibition, The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock 2025 RSW 144th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. Awarded the RSW Watermark Award for “Recalibrating”, Plants & Pots series 2024 2024 SSA 126th Annual Exhibition 30 x 30 2024 Ulaidhean / Treasures, SSA at Gairloch Museum, Wester Ross 2024 VAS 30 x 30, Borders Art Fair, Kelso 2024 VAS Centenary Show 30 x 30, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2024 RSW 143rd Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2023 SSA 125th Annual Exhibition 30 x 30 online 2023 AngusAlive Meffan Winter Show, Meffan Museum & Art Gallery, Forfar, Angus 2023 RSW 142nd Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2022 SSA 124th Annual Exhibition 30 x 30, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2010 Group Exhibition, Craft House Concept Gallery, Newington, Edinburgh 1995 ‘A Day in the Life of Scotland’ Photographic Competition organised by The Scotsman & the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in association with the exhibition “Light From the Dark Room”, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 1993 Christmas Watercolour Group Exhibition, ESU Scotland, Edinburgh 1993 CD2 Show, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1993 Group Exhibition, Harestanes Visitors’ Centre, Jedburgh 1992 Solo Exhibition, Helensburgh Music Society October concert, Helensburgh 1992 RSA Students’ Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh AWARDS 2025 Awarded the RSW Watermark Award for “Recalibrating”, RSW 144th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2023 Longlisted for final selection, Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition 2023 2013 AccessArt Star Award COMMISSIONS 2017-2019 Commissions for UK private clients 2011 Commissions for local authority and private clients in UK EDUCATION AND CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2022 – present: Mentoring with visual artist, writer and mentor Samantha Clark 2022 My sketchbooks were referenced at an international InSEA webinar as an exemplar of using visual journals to develop visual thinking in education. 2014 Selected participant in the Scottish Book Trust Illustration Lab (led by Jonathan Gibbs and Vivian French, with Catherine Rayner and Nick Sharratt) 2013 Member-tutor, AccessArt ‘Focus on Drawing’ project (online) 1993 – 1994 Moray House Institute of Education, AMTIS postgraduate training programme with placement in the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh 1987-1992 Edinburgh University & Edinburgh College of Art, MA (Hons) Fine Art COLLECTIONS EMPLOYMENT 2022 – present Social Media Marketeer, AccessArt Creative Direction Team (resource contributor 2012 – present) 1997 – 2007 Grants Co-ordinator, Scottish Arts Council 1994 – 2001 Grants Admin Assistant, Edinburgh City Council Arts Development Team. Arts administration for Edinburgh District Arts Council. |