Charity McArdle
- Work
- Biography
Charity McArdle trained in London in the early 90s but lost touch with making her own work in the melee of starting a career in teaching, raising a family and moving to Scotland. She rediscovered her practice in 2015 when she decided to have a year of ‘making rubbish’ and focusing on ‘quantity, not quality’. This led to NHS portraits for heroes, the coyly provocative ‘Caledonian Buddha’ and a range of land and seascapes.
Her current work presents sweeping, sumptuously painted suggested landscapes, brooding skies and waiting bodies of waters which invite the viewer to contemplation. Elements of infrastructure and industry creep in, lightly but resolutely present. Her work has a contained tension which belies the sumptuous nature of these oil paintings. There is a brooding anticipation within much of her work and this is echoed in the dissonance between elements of her visual language. Does the landscape protect or threaten? Do the clouds offer hope or impending turmoil? Does the surface texture invite or repel?
The relationship of colour and gesture to the human experience and how this can connect at a deeper, spiritual level is also prominent in Charity’s work.
Her current work presents sweeping, sumptuously painted suggested landscapes, brooding skies and waiting bodies of waters which invite the viewer to contemplation. Elements of infrastructure and industry creep in, lightly but resolutely present. Her work has a contained tension which belies the sumptuous nature of these oil paintings. There is a brooding anticipation within much of her work and this is echoed in the dissonance between elements of her visual language. Does the landscape protect or threaten? Do the clouds offer hope or impending turmoil? Does the surface texture invite or repel?
The relationship of colour and gesture to the human experience and how this can connect at a deeper, spiritual level is also prominent in Charity’s work.
DOB: 18/02/1969
Education:
1988-89: Chelsea School of Art, Foundation Course.
1989-1992: Middlesex University, BA (hons) Fine Art, 2.1
1994-95: Oxford University/Oxford College: PGCE
Ongoing continual professional development as an artist and teacher.
Publications:
Work in The Storms Journal in August 2023 and 2022
Feature in DC Thomson Living Magazine in Autumn 2022
Work featured in Biophilia online magazine 2022
Work and interview featured in The Great Outdoors Almanac, April 2021
Exhibitions/ Projects:
November 2024: MacMillan Big Art Show, Edinburgh.
June-September 2024: Work in the Summer Show of the Edinburgh Art Collective.
July 2924: Work selected for Inverness Botanic Gardens as part of the Nature Galleries Show.
Spring Editions: Made in Stirling, March – June, 2024
Winter Editions: Made in Stirling, December 2023
Summer 2023: Work in the Summer Exhibition at Made in Stirling
Live painted at ‘The Art of Being Human’ event in Leith.
2023: A sheep, commissioned by the Royal Highland Show.
June 2023: Portrait selected for the Scottish Portrait Awards Longlist.
February-March 2023: Exhibition at Firefly, Bo’ness
January – February 2023: Elements exhibition at Made in Stirling
January 2023: Work auctioned as part of Action in Mind
Ongoing: Work given to Adult Mental Health waiting room at Livilands community hospital.
December 2022: Firefly group show
December 2022: Made in Stirling group show
December 2022: Maggie’s Auction, Aberdeen
November 2022: MacMillan’s Art show, Edinburgh
October 2022. The Life Room, Edinburgh. Collaborative show with Susan Head.
August 2022: Joint show at Whitespace, Edinburgh, organised collaboratively.
April – July, 2022. Aberdeen City Art Gallery. One of my paintings was selected to be part of the Aberdeen Artists’ Society Group Show.
October 2021. 1517 Gallery, Ayr. ‘Autumn is a Second Spring’. Group Show.
September 2021. Nichols Gallery in
Education:
1988-89: Chelsea School of Art, Foundation Course.
1989-1992: Middlesex University, BA (hons) Fine Art, 2.1
1994-95: Oxford University/Oxford College: PGCE
Ongoing continual professional development as an artist and teacher.
Publications:
Work in The Storms Journal in August 2023 and 2022
Feature in DC Thomson Living Magazine in Autumn 2022
Work featured in Biophilia online magazine 2022
Work and interview featured in The Great Outdoors Almanac, April 2021
Exhibitions/ Projects:
November 2024: MacMillan Big Art Show, Edinburgh.
June-September 2024: Work in the Summer Show of the Edinburgh Art Collective.
July 2924: Work selected for Inverness Botanic Gardens as part of the Nature Galleries Show.
Spring Editions: Made in Stirling, March – June, 2024
Winter Editions: Made in Stirling, December 2023
Summer 2023: Work in the Summer Exhibition at Made in Stirling
Live painted at ‘The Art of Being Human’ event in Leith.
2023: A sheep, commissioned by the Royal Highland Show.
June 2023: Portrait selected for the Scottish Portrait Awards Longlist.
February-March 2023: Exhibition at Firefly, Bo’ness
January – February 2023: Elements exhibition at Made in Stirling
January 2023: Work auctioned as part of Action in Mind
Ongoing: Work given to Adult Mental Health waiting room at Livilands community hospital.
December 2022: Firefly group show
December 2022: Made in Stirling group show
December 2022: Maggie’s Auction, Aberdeen
November 2022: MacMillan’s Art show, Edinburgh
October 2022. The Life Room, Edinburgh. Collaborative show with Susan Head.
August 2022: Joint show at Whitespace, Edinburgh, organised collaboratively.
April – July, 2022. Aberdeen City Art Gallery. One of my paintings was selected to be part of the Aberdeen Artists’ Society Group Show.
October 2021. 1517 Gallery, Ayr. ‘Autumn is a Second Spring’. Group Show.
September 2021. Nichols Gallery in
- Charity McArdle
- Fearless
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Elie Dreaming
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Kilchoan
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Portrait of a girl
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Greta
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Soar
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Tara with Ivy
- Oil
- Charity McArdle
- Sydney
- Oil
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