Barbara Balmer

RSA RSA may refer to: Organizations Academia and education * Rabbinical Seminary of America, a yeshiva in New York City *Regional Science Association International (formerly the Regional Science Association), a US-based learned society *Renaissance S ...

(23 September 1929 – 31 December 2017) was a Scottish artist and teacher.

Biography

Balmer was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

and, between 1946 and 1951, studied art at

Coventry School of Art Coventry School of Art and Design is part of Coventry University in Coventry, West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction ...

and then at the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

. A travelling scholarship enabled Balmer to further her studies in France and Spain during 1951 and 1952. She also visited Italy with a group led by

Douglas Percy Bliss Douglas Percy Bliss (28 January 1900 – 11 March 1984; Urdu: ڈگلس پرسی بلیس) was a Scottish painter and art conservationist. Bliss's family was of Northamptonshire, England. His grandfather moved to Moray, Scotland. Bliss himse ...

. From 1970 to 1980, Balmer was a visiting lecturer at

Gray's School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ranked among the Top 20 S ...

in Aberdeen. Seven of her paintings were adapted as dust jackets for editions in the

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' (genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-āg ...

Modern Classics series. A large mural by Balmer is situated in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated ...

Town Hall. Balmer had a solo exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery during 1995 and 1996. She was a regular exhibitor at the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

, the

Society of Scottish Artists The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to ''promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art.'' It was founded in 1891 and its main space for annual exhibitions has been ...

and the

Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours (RSW) is a Scottish organisation of painters. The first preliminary meeting of the society took place in Glasgow on 21 December 1877 as a reaction to a lack of interest in watercolour art by ...

and also with the Glasgow Group and regularly at the

Richard Demarco Gallery Richard Demarco CBE (born 9 July 1930 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts. Early life He was born at 9 Grosvenor Street in Edinburgh on 9 July 1930 the son of Carmino Demarco and his wife Elizabet ...

in Edinburgh, where she had a solo show in 1970. Balmer's portrait of Demarco is in the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

and several other public galleries hold examples of her work. A retrospective exhibition of her work was held at the

Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...

and toured to venues in Dundee, Lincoln and Coventry. Balmer lived and worked at various times in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and most recently in Stamford in Lincolnshire. A working visit to

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

was an annual event. She was married, for some 65 years, to the artist and designer George Mackie and the couple had two daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balmer, Barbara 1929 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Scottish painters 20th-century Scottish women artists 21st-century Scottish painters 21st-century Scottish women artists Academics of Robert Gordon University Alumni of Coventry School of Art and Design Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands Scottish women painters Royal Scottish Academicians 20th-century women painters 21st-century women painters