Featured Artist: Noreen Bissland

Taking a Line for a Walk

A graduate of Glasgow School of Art (BA Hons Design Textiles, 2005), Noreen Bissland initially worked as an art facilitator before discovering the world of etching in 2022. Drawn to its elemental and alchemic nature, she describes the process as addictive, a fundamental form of drawing.

A pivotal moment in Bissland's printmaking career came in 2023 when she collaborated with renowned Scottish poet Liz Lochhead and letterpress artist Janine Readt on a fine art pamphlet for "Poets Need Not," a poem written during Lochhead's time as Glasgow's Poet Laureate. This experience, involving meticulous refinement of drawings and etchings, inspired the current exhibition.

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk. - Paul Klee

This exhibition, "Taking a Line for a Walk," explores the resonance of lines from poetry, songs, and literature. Bissland focuses on the enduring power of these works, how they take on a life of their own and connect with individual experiences of life cycles, love, loss, and memory. She invites viewers to consider their own personal connections to these art forms.

Featured works include:

Poets Need Not: Inspired by Liz Lochhead's poem, this print captures the challenges and joys of the creative process.

One Fine Day: Visualising Mathew Parker's historical thesis, this work reflects on a single day in 1923 at the zenith of the British Empire.

Crossing: Jericho Brown's poem, open to interpretation, prompts reflections on themes of depression, difference, anti-capitalism, and rebellion.

Bikini Atoll: This piece emerged organically from a life drawing session, juxtaposing the beauty of a swimsuit with the horror of nuclear testing.

All men Shall be Sailors, You Can Spend the Night Beside her, All the way from China, Rags and Feathers: A series of prints inspired by Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," reimagining the song's themes within a Scottish landscape.

What are you waiting for?: Lines from Liz Lochhead's poem, What the Pool said on Midsummer's Day personify the allure of a cool, deep pool on a hot day; as she entices a young man to plunge in, there is the present threat of pleasure or peril.