1969-1981

Students of the painting department at the Glasgow School of Art in the 60s’ learnt to think, behave and live an artist, very much like a kind of voluntary indoctrination. And besides the studies in the techniques of drawing and painting, the ever-present prospect of never achieving the ultimate aim of being a professional artist was always in the air.

Like most of my contemporaries, teaching offered employment with tantalising long holidays and short working days, allowing a part way route to serious work as an artist. I spent five uncomfortable years in the classroom juggling the dream with reality.  

For my generation, just as throughout the history of art, like-minded artists have coalesced round groups, formed out of artistic philosophies or the need for practical solutions. 

For me, The Glasgow League of Artists (GLA) was that group. It grew out of the Scottish Young Contemporaries of 1969 when graduates of the other Scottish art schools, who had been involved with the exhibition, settled in Glasgow and recognised the need for a follow up. The Clyde Group amalgamated with them, and in 1971 I joined in its second year, exhibiting in every exhibition thereafter for the next decade. 

And thus began a period of artistic activity at a scale very much reflective of the zeitgeist of the times. The Scottish Arts Council (SAC) were very supportive of the GLA as well as other groups and initiatives.

The membership numbers of the GLA varied from the high teens to the low twenties and would orgainse exhibitions at the drop of a hat – load up a Ford Luton van and head out to venues all over Scotland. Other ventures and venues were cultivated in Liverpool, Dublin and Belfast and were a new departure in reciprocal shows. In addition, overseas projects stretched to Maastricht and Venlo in the Netherlands extending further to Canada.

Two high points of that period were one man shows in the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow and the Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery at the Fruitmarket complex. Sadly the GLA ran out of steam and lost its financial support from the SAC in 1981 – in its last year I was employed to manage the exhibition programme. However, the GLA did get its place in history and its 15 minutes of fame, (19 minutes to be precise) when SAC provided funding for a professional documentary – a rather gritty and not entirely comprehensive view of those involved. Play it below and judge for yourself