Overview

Join us for a special evening as acclaimed artist Alison Watt discusses her current exhibition, “From Light” with Clare Gough, Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.  They will explore Watt’s artistic practice, her engagement with Sir John Soane’s architectural vision and how plans for the exhibition evolved.

About Alison Watt

Born in 1965 in Greenock, Scotland, Alison Watt (OBE) completed her under- and postgraduate studies at the Glasgow School of Art (1983–88) and garnered critical acclaim after receiving the 1987 John Player Portrait Award, presented by the National Portrait Gallery, London, as a student. Her monumental quadriptych Still (2004) hangs in the Memorial Chapel of Old Saint Paul’s Church, Edinburgh, in remembrance of the fallen soldiers in World War I. Beginning in 2006, she was an artist in residence at the National Gallery, London, for four years. Solo exhibitions of the artist’s work have taken place at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (2021–22); Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, England (2018–19); Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland (2014); National Gallery, London (2008); Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2002); and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2000, then the youngest artist to feature in a solo presentation at the museum), among others. Her paintings can be found in permanent collections including those of the Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; Arts Council Collection, London; British Council Collection, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; and the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

About Clare Gough

Clare Gough is Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, architect Sir John Soane’s ‘country’ house in Ealing, West London and its adjacent contemporary gallery. Clare led Pitzhanger through an award-winning conservation project to restore the house to Soane’s innovative design and upgrade the gallery so it now stages exhibitions with artists ranging from Anish Kapoor to Es Devlin, Rana Begum to Grayson Perry. Clare formerly worked at the National Gallery, and National Gallery Co. Ltd, before setting up an arts consultancy. Clare is a Trustee of Art Fund and was previously a Trustee of the Museum of the Home.