Artist Directory
Out of the Blue currently houses over 200 artists, arts organisations and other creative businesses at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Abbeymount Studios, NMR Studios (Niddrie Mains), Meanwhile in Leith and Out of the Blue Music Studios. The list below is a selection illustrating the range and quality.
Artists: To update your directory entry or add content, email marketing@outoftheblue.org.uk
- Listing all artits tagged: Abbeymount
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![Logo for Moody Monday Limited]()
Moody Monday debuted to critical acclaim in 2014, led by designer and creative director Eliza Kesuma.
After graduating with a degree in Textiles & Design from Heriot-Watt University, Eliza undertook multiple freelance projects and work experience opportunities with notable design companies. In 2008, a major interiors company recruited her as part of their communication and design team.
Noticing a niche in the interiors market for distinctive designs that challenged traditional creative concepts, Eliza began developing a signature style that was innovative, stylish and luxurious. By embracing individuality, she strives to subvert people’s expectations of interior design with her highly original and provocative collections.
Moody Monday’s core philosophy that beauty can come from the unlikeliest of places underpins each design, product and project Eliza creates. Her ‘Secret Music Collection’, inspired by the hidden inner workings of an abandoned musical organ, produced exquisitely compelling designs that received widespread praise at exhibitions across the UK.
Along with a bespoke service that tailors design concepts to fit the specific needs of clients, Moody Monday welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with innovative interior companies, global brands and businesses.
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![Logo for Blessed Unrest]()
Lorna’s designs evolve as a direct response to the screen-printing process. She enjoys working intuitively with a variety of imagery; layering, covering up and revealing is the core element of her practice. After working in interiors, fashion/costume for many years her imagery often has traces of these recurrent influences as well as the natural environment. She works directly from source, drawing and re-drawing images exploring a variety of media and deliberately changing the line, tone and mark making qualities of the drawing. She often combines photographic elements. “My overarching interest is in the surface pattern and rhythm, the spaces between the imagery and the colour palette”. Working with opaque and transparent ink gives her control of which areas to reveal or cover up. By overprinting, masking areas to reveal the previous images, she builds up a layered history of each moment.
Lorna has carried out commissions of hand-printed textile lengths, panels and wallpaper for events, parties and window displays. She has collaborated with other designers who require specific fabric prints for furniture, fashion and costume. She is currently developing her range of interior products under the design label, Blessed Unrest.
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![Logo for Eye Joy Art]()
Ever since I was wee, I have always found joy in the visual order of things and organising my surroundings. For me, creating an artwork is like the excitement of moving into a new home and deciding where all your treasured objects belong.
I have a passionate fancy for all things geometric, fine liner pens, architecture, the colour swatch wall in the paint aisle, beach treasure combing, nostalgia, textiles and hygge-liness. My favourite way to get inspired is to wander around the glorious city of Edinburgh and take note of the beautiful details on my stroll.
As a perpetual worrier, I find the repetitive, orderly action of my process shooshes my mind and makes room for quiet concentration. I am naturally drawn to creating meticulous, intricate work which requires all my focus and as a result, slows down my breathing making my practice meditative and calming. Making art fulfils me not only in my desire to cram my life with beauty; it takes care of my wellbeing too!
After growing up in the Scottish Highlands and studying in Glasgow, I have settled as a freelancing visual artist in Edinburgh after studying Painting at Edinburgh College of Art where I developed my drawing style.
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Sarah Kwan
Categories: Design, Illustration, Painting Sarah KwanOut of the Blue Abbeymount Studios
Sarah Kwan Artist is a freelance Illustrator based in Edinburgh who specialises in portraits, food illustration, design, murals and signwriting. Her most recent ‘East Meets West Series’, explores the connections between Scottish / British and Chinese culture in a fun and playful way – with decorative patterns and pops of bright colour.
She graduated with BA Hons Fine Art Drawing & Painting from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in 2008. She’s exhibited in galleries such as The Royal Scottish Academy and The Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
As well as painting portraits Sarah works with brands to create signs, chalkboards, murals, live painting events and painted window displays. Brands such as: Ruffians Barbers, The Naked Grouse, Wemyss Malts and Dram & Smoke have used her skills in their events and product launches. She is open to new commissions that include portraits, design or painting, and can help create eye-catching designs for your business or events. Please feel free to get in touch anytime to discuss a project.
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Crofts & Kowalczyk Photography
Crofts & Kowalczyk PhotographyOut of the Blue Abbeymount StudiosCro + Kow is the joint creative space of photographers Sylwia Kowalczyk and Simon Crofts. We are based at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Sylwia studied photography at the Krakow Academy of Fine Art and Edinburgh College of Art, and Simon studied law at Oxford. We have a wide range of editorial, commercial and publishing clients, and we are also working constantly on our personal photo projects. More of Sylwia’s personal work is at http://www.sylwiakowalczyk.com, and Simon’s is at http://www.simoncroftsphoto.com.
We are available for photography assignments, whether in Scotland or abroad. Outside Scotland, we have a particular speciality of assignments to Ukraine, Russia, Poland and other Eastern European and former Soviet countries. Apart from English we speak fluent Polish and Russian and reasonable French!
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Helen Miles trained with mastercraftsmen in Greece who taught using traditional methods with a focus on Byzantine iconography. She later became interested in Roman mosaics and now makes contemporary pieces inspired by ancient designs.
Born in Glasgow in 1963, Helen studied English at Oxford University before moving to America and the Middle East to work as a journalist. It was in 2003 while living in Thessaloniki in Greece, a UNESCO city famous for its concentration of Byzantine churches, that she began to study mosaics in the Byzantine tradition. This led to an interest in Roman mosaics and her passion for them went on to become a full time profession.
Helen Miles is based in Edinburgh and specializes in using Greek stone and marble as well as Winkleman unglazed porcelain. Her aim is to preserve the simplicity and directness of early mosaics while producing works which suit the way we live now.
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Robin Paine
Robin PaineOut of the Blue Abbeymount StudiosRobin Paine is an artist noted for original and accomplished figurative drawings and paintings. She has developed her own lexicon of imagery drawn from her interest in mythology, anthropology, social history, Art history and Natural history.
“My paintings would probably be best described as “figurative” or “realist”. I work from life whenever possible and I have found that this is essential when I’m painting people.
I have been affected by works of art from many periods, ranging from Roman Egyptian painted portraits to paintings of Gwen John, but I would also cite film (i.e. the early films of Jean Luc Godard) and photography (the German photographer August Sander) as sources of inspiration.”
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Edinburgh ceramics workshop is and open practice pottery dedicated to providing learning opportunities and practice space for people who are passionate about working with clay.
Our open studio allows you space and time to develop and refine your pottery practice.
Our members have a wide variety of aims and objectives from simply exploring a creative passion through clay to working towards building careers in the creative Industries as studio potters.
We work in partnership with Edinburgh design school who teach our pottery courses, classes and workshops. Edinburgh design school is an approved Scottish Qualifications Authority teaching centre.
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Karina Pasiut is a contemporary Textile and Print designer.
Her artistic creations are rooted in drawing, painting, screen printing, dyestuff and tapestry taking inspiration from travels and observation of everyday life.
A handmade approach to design is crucial in her practice, stimulating her creativity and exploratory nature, although often supplemented with Photoshop and Cad designs.
Karina is highly passionate about screen print and works with reactive dyes, taking care of all stages from drawing to finished textile print to create unique and original prints.
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Workshop After Six was established by a group of colleagues including the founder of 7B Design Ltd, Sinan Senturk. After handcraft leather products Sinan and his colleagues made in their spare time attracted a great deal of attention, they decided to establish their brand Workshop After Six, which signifies that these products are made with enthusiasm and devotion, out of the regular work hours.
This is a brand new line of business and its aim is to offer design leather products and accessories to people who seek for alternative looks. Workshop After Six uses cowhide leather, which is a byproduct of the food industry and prefers vegetable tanned leather where possible which is the most natural colouring process. Sales are currently made from the UK to all over the world. You may browse and buy the products here.
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I paint watercolours and line and wash paintings mainly of still life, flowers and animals and birds. I also sell a range of products such as calendars, cards, fridge magnets, mugs and tea towels featuring my work. My work has been reproduced by International card companies. I have also exhibited throughout the UK and Spain. More recently I have had work selected for the annual RSW exhibition. Currently I have paintings exhibited at One20 in Dundas Street Edinburgh – also at Porteous and co Hidden Lane Argyll Street Glasgow and J Innes in St Andrews. I take part in the Colony of Artists exhibition every year an event that I was the founder member of. I have also exhibited at the Annual Pittenweem Arts Festival for 17 years.
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Frances Priest
Frances PriestOut of the Blue Abbeymount StudiosMy current work explores and interprets languages of ornament from different cultures, places and periods in history. From my Edinburgh studio I create intricate and colourful ceramic objects that celebrate this fascination for ornament and pattern, using clay as a canvas on which to build richly drawn and layered surfaces of inlaid line, glaze colour and enamel decals.
Beyond the studio I develop projects and commissions that respond to people and places, using my interests as a platform from which to engage with new environments. This approach has lead to work in varied and sometimes unexpected settings, from an English Tudor banqueting room in Sheffield, to a country home on the Scottish Island of Raasay.
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Award winning designer Judy R Clark is famed for her exquisite hand tailored womenswear designs comprising of Harris Tweeds, Scottish lace and antique fabric.
Tipped by British Vogue as one to watch, Clark has carved a credible name for herself in the fashion industry designing womenswear pieces with an eccentric edge in her signature tailoring. The designer has created installations, exhibitions and bespoke ranges for several companies resulting in a series of prestigious accolades for her innovative and creative approach to fashion design.
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Painting, mostly in oils, in Edinburgh and East Lothian. Inspired by the light, weather and seasonal phenomena. Occasionally also by strange beasts and plants.
Each painting is influenced by the preparation of the surface and materials, often based on very old recipes and techniques.
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![Logo for Borja Moronta]()
Borja Moronta is originally from Asturias, northern Spain. He settled in Edinburgh after graduating as an Architect in 2016 (Madrid Polytechnic University). Throughout university, he had big interest in different disciplines such as photography, ceramics or carpentry, and always felt drawn to that architecture which focuses on the materiality of the buildings.
His pottery practice began at the beginning of 2018, as part of a recovery process from a severe surgery due to nerve damage on his left hand. He joined Edinburgh Ceramics Workshop evening classes and soon became a member. Borja worked his way through the ECW structure and became part of their Incubator programme for emerging ceramicists in July 2019, setting up his own studio just a year later.
Today, based in his Edinburgh studio, based in Abbeymount, Borja makes ceramics that follow basic, calmed and natural forms on a soft tone palette. Each piece is individually crafted on the potter’s wheel and throughout all the stages, therefore showing all the nature of handmade.
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The single most important attribute a professional photographer has and a client needs, is a point of view.
It’s the product of hard graft, experience and years of passion for creating high quality, relevant, memorable and cost effective images.
I work documenting people, finished pieces and projects through photography or film, working either in my studio or on location with whatever format is appropriate.
I take attention to detail and accurate colour reproduction; clients can rest assured that their project is handled with enthusiasm and an understanding of time and budgetary constraints.
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‘Kinnaird Jewellery combines inspiration from her travels through countries such as Peru, Morocco and Vietnam. Here Carolyn was captured by the scale of tribal styles of jewellery and by the details of their traditional tribal tattooing. Through Carolyn’s innate contemporary style and vision, Kinnaird jewellery realises the influence of these tribal idiosyncrasies on her work through the creation of uniquely bold, yet simplistic forms.’
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Edinburgh based Designer and Illustrator – interests include: The old and vintage, coffee making, Wes Anderson films and all things illustrative.
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PHILIA is a multifaceted creative studio with a focus on ethical production.
An evolving project, PHILIA creative output is garment-led, with a view to cross-industry innovation and collaboration.
