A brand-new, limited-edition book of poetry has been created in response to the highly acclaimed work of one of the UK’s leading artists Victoria Crowe, whose major retrospective 50 Years of Painting is currently spanning four floors of Edinburgh’s City Art Centre.
Catching The Light – Poems inspired by the paintings of Victoria Crowe contains words by six poets who have been equally moved by the poetic nature of Crowe’s work to produce a collective creative response. Both Edinburgh Makar Alan Spence and previous Edinburgh Maker Christine De Luca were invited to write a poem for the City Art Centre exhibition and were delighted to do so, Queen’s gold medallist Gillian Allnutt and Oxford University Senior Research Fellow Peter Davidson had already written poems about Crowe’s work, while writer and journalist, Susan Mansfield had expressed an interest in contributing a poem. Crowe’s granddaughter Estella Gray became the sixth writer to respond to her grandmother’s world-renowned work.
Edited by Susan Mansfield, with support from Alan Spence and with design by Crowe’s son-in-law Ken Gray, this book is a labour of love, born out of a passion for the poetic notes included in her work.
Victoria Crowe: 50 Years of Painting is displayed throughout the City Art Centre, spanning four gallery floors and is presented as part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2019. Each floor has its own distinctive colour key complementing the content of the work. A new film has been commissioned which sets the scene for visitors, giving them a personal glimpse into the artist’s practice to accompany the exhibition.
Victoria Crowe, 50 Years: Drawing & Thinking runs 28 August – 28 September 2019 at the The Scottish Gallery.