Kilmorack Gallery reuses a converted church building for its exhibitions, in a rural location near

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; ) is a village in Scotland's Highland (council area), Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North Line, Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the County of Inverness. ...

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire () or the County of Inverness, is a Counties of Scotland, historic county in Scotland. It is named after Inverness, its largest settlement, which was also the county town. Covering much of the Scottish Highlands, Highlands and s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was established as a commercial

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: * Gallery (surname), a surname Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery ** Online art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ' ...

in 1997 after the building was purchased by art dealer Tony Davidson, believing that inspirational art could sit in an inspirational building just as well as in a white cube. By putting on consistently ambitious solo and mixed shows of some of the country's finest artists and sculptors, Kilmorack Gallery has established itself as one of Scotland's leading contemporary art galleries. The success of non-urban, destination galleries like Kilmorack 'has made "remote" more than ever a relative term', wrote art critic Duncan Macmillan of the Scotsman. Davidson and art critic Jan Patience featured on The Janice Forsyth Show in May 2013, speaking about the gallery and the works on exhibition. Artists showcased include established and emerging Scottish painters and sculptors. These include Ade Adesina, Eduard Bersudsky, Helen Denerley, Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery, Eoghan Bridge,

Laurence Broderick Laurence Broderick (18 June 1935 – 18 April 2024) was a British sculptor. His best known work is 'The Bull', a public sculpture erected in 2003 at the Bull Ring, Birmingham, Bull Ring, Birmingham. ''The Bull'' is about 4.5 meters long, abo ...

, Joyce W. Cairns, Kirstie Cohen, Helen Denerley, Steve Dilworth,

Lotte Glob Lotte Glob (born 1944) is a Danish ceramic artist living in the north of Scotland. Life Glob was born in 1944 on Samsø, a Danish island, the daughter of Peter Glob, a Danish archaeologist. Glob grew up in Aarhus and aged 14 became an apprent ...

Janette Kerr Janette Kerr (b. 1959) is a British painter of land and seascapes. Janette Kerr served as the president of the Royal West of England Academy from 2011 to 2016 and then became a visiting research fellow in Fine Art at the University of the West ...

, Alan Macdonald, Pinkie Maclure, Ann Oram, Peter White and

George Wyllie George Ralston Wyllie MBE (31 December 1921 – 15 May 2012) was a Scottish artist. Wyllie produced a number of notable public works, such as the Straw Locomotive and the Paper Boat. Life Wyllie was born in Shettleston, in the east end o ...

. On the fifteenth anniversary of Kilmorack Gallery, the art writer Georgina Coburn wrote: 'Kilmorack continues to be one of the most astute galleries in the country in the presentation of new work. It continues to show dynamic and powerful work which successfully challenges expectation. The Church of Scotland kirk building was built in 1786, recast in 1835 and became a B listed building in 1971. The building had lain empty for twenty-fire years before changes were made for it to be used as an art gallery. This reuse is cited as one of the more fitting church adaptation. Since 1998 an iconic scrap metal lizard sculpture by Helen Denerley has been displayed on the outside of the gallery. The memoi
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGHLAND ART DEALER
(Woodwose Books) was released in September 2022. This is Tony Davidson's debut novel and describes the history, people, places and philosophy behind Kilmorack Gallery. It was described by the Scotsman as an unexpected page-turner and was shortlisted for th
Highland Book Prize 2022
the Slightly Foxe
Best First Biography Award 2023
and th
Scottish National Book Awards, First Book Award 2023

References

External links

Kilmorack Gallery Website
{{coord, 57.4642, N, 4.5118, W, source:wikidata, display=title Art museums and galleries in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area)