Alex Dunn was a sawyer
- But no longer has a sawmill.

A ghillie,
- With no gills.

A factor
- Minus facts.

A potter
- With no chambers at all.

And now an artist,
- And probably artless.

His drawings are labours of love and laborious,
- And have no meaning whatsoever.
Because that's the way he wants them to be.

(But of course he could be lying.)

Alex Dunn was born in Glasgow but moved with his family to the Highlands when he was seven years old, and apart from occasional forays into the outside world has lived here ever since.

He came from an artistic family – mother a potter, father a peripatetic art teacher on the Black Isle – so grew up in an atmosphere in which it was not considered in any way odd to draw or paint or make pots whenever he felt like it.  He continued to take this attitude even while studying economic history at university, so that while he read and wrote about the tobacco trade in seventeenth century Scotland he also painted portraits of his family and made drawings of mummified cats.

In the early nineties he turned to harp design after he and his wife set up Ardival Harps.  Experience in woodworking and a fascination with wood led to diversification into designs for wooden box sculptures, and the plans for these boxes gradually took on a life of their own and evolved into the abstract black and white pen drawings which are shown on this website.   

 

Since 2003 Alex Dunn has exhibited at or taken part in exhibitions at the following galleries:

Cromarty Group Annual Exhibition, Cromarty, 2003;

Collins Gallery, Glasgow, 2004;

The Lost Gallery, Strathdon, 2004 to 2006;

Kilmorack Gallery, Beauly, 2004;

Cromarty Group Annual Exhibition, Cromarty, 2004;

Leakey’s Bookshop, Inverness, 2005;

RSA Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh, 2005;

Cromarty Group Annual Exhibition, Cromarty, 2005;

Tore Gallery, Muir of Ord, 2005 to 2007;

Amber Roome Gallery, Edinburgh, 2006;

Cromarty Gallery, Cromarty, 2006;

Leakey’s Bookshop, Inverness, 2006;

An Tuireann Arts Centre, Portree, Open Exhibition, 2007;

Merchant Gate Gallery, Glasgow, 2007;

Amber Roome Gallery, Edinburgh, 2007;

Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen, 2007;

Cromarty Group Annual Exhibition, Cromarty, 2007;

Leakey’s Bookshop, Inverness, 2007;

An Tuireann Arts Centre, Portree, Sealladh 4, 2007;*

Highland Artists, Inverness, Mary Vaults Exhibition, 2007;

Timespan, Helmsdale, 2007;

Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, 2008.* review by Georgina Coburn for hi-arts.co.uk (images of this exhibition can be found in the gallery);

 

He has a page on the curated online gallery of contemporary art, Axisweb, and in December 2007 was the featured artist of the month on the Scottish Arts Council website.

 

* With support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Arts Council.