Barbara Balmer 1929-2017

Barbara Balmer 1929-2017 was an exhibition of landscapes, still lifes and portraits in oil and watercolour by Barbara Balmer RSA RSW RGI.

Balmer first visited Italy in 1973, and the experience had a dramatic effect on her art. She painted large-scale stylised landscapes of the Tuscan landscape, using soft colour and strong lines to invoke a sense of reverence and tranquility. Three of these landscapes were exhibited. Included alongside these were a number of intimate portraits and still lifes, depicting family members and quiet domestic scenes heightened with graded tones and elements of surrealism.

Balmer studied at Coventry College of Art followed by a four year degree at Edinburgh College of Art. She received the Andrew Grant Scholarship and a Travelling Scholarship at Edinburgh, which allowed her to visit France and Spain. Balmer taught at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen between 1970 and 1980. She was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, and the Royal Glasgow Institute.