GILLIAN PARK

Fearlessly Creative

Gill Sherry

I’d met Gillian Park twice prior to interviewing her at her home in Craigie. Both times, I was blown away by her paintings and enamoured with her bubbly personality.

Gillian is a colourful lady and this is reflected in her artwork and her home décor. But her journey to full-time artist has been long and varied.

“I’d always wanted to be an artist,” she begins, “but nobody in deepest darkest Ayrshire went to art school then. When it came to fifth year, I assumed I would do a portfolio, but my parents weren’t overly keen, worried about the job prospects (or lack of), so I left Auchinleck Academy and worked in Holmston House in the social work department.”

It was only when she heard that two boys from her school had been accepted for art school that she reconsidered (and regretted) her decision.

“I remember sitting at my desk, putting my head in my hands, and thinking, what have I done?”
Following discussions with her parents and her art teacher, Willie Strachan, it was decided she would return to school, complete her portfolio, and apply to Glasgow School of Art.

“Thankfully I got in!”

She studied graphic design, conscious of the fact she would need to find a job when she left, and the following few years saw her job-hopping through the publishing and design industry, until…

“I ran the studio for a contract publishing company and when I was off on maternity leave with child number two, I won an award for the best design of a national magazine.”

It should have been cause for celebration, but her boss went to London and collected the award, failing to tell Gillian until after the event.

“So I told him to stick his job! I told him I was going to start my own design business, and that’s what I did.”

That particular cloud certainly had a silver lining because the next ten years proved to be both satisfying and successful. But the desire to paint had never left her and so, in 2014, she applied for a residency at Dumfries House.

“I felt it was too soon because I had only started dabbling in 2010. I was supposed to learn to ski in Newmilns with my neighbour, but when we turned up, the ski slope was shut.”

Eh? Is it me or has she gone off piste?

“I’d cleared my diary for those two hours, and it was the day before the deadline. When I got home, I thought, somebody’s trying to tell me something. You had to write 500 words to say why you thought you should get the residency, supply ten pieces of work along with sketchbooks. So I did it, and I got in.”

Sometimes, things happen for a reason…

“It was fantastic,” she recalls. “It was the first time I’d painted landscapes. It was May and the bluebells were up. It was the best two weeks!”

Two years later, she became a full-time artist, giving up the studio she had rented in Irvine and moving to her current home in Craigie where she set up her own studio, converted the stables into a gallery, and began to sell online.

“My following seemed to multiply quite quickly. It was as if somebody had opened a hatch. I was putting paintings up for sale on Etsy and they were selling that day.”

Oils are her chosen medium which she describes as “luscious, buttery and gorgeous” and she has their use down to a fine art (no pun intended).

As well as selling her own artwork, she has also hosted classes and workshops. Which leads me to ask about The Ayrshire Collective. This consists of six Ayrshire artists (plus Gillian) whose work was displayed at the Harbour Arts Centre from 1st November till 4th January, in an exhibition organised by Gillian.

“Five of the artists came to my classes and workshops pre-Covid, and one only joined classes last spring. Some of them had never painted, they had no artistic background or training, and some had come through my year-long ‘Don’t Be A Starving Artist’ programme.”

Gillian released the programme around the same time that her book of the same name was published. Its concept is multiple income streams and how artists can make money without selling their original art.
“Original art is the hardest sale. They are luxury items, so they’re more difficult to sell on a regular basis.”

But back to The Ayrshire Collective…

“I was always quite tenacious in trying to find places to exhibit or sell, but for emerging artists… they were struggling to find places. The Harbour Arts Centre is the best gallery in Ayrshire so I thought I could create a group with my ‘weans’ and take them through the whole thing.”

Her ‘weans’, as she affectionately refers to them, are the six other artists involved. Gillian worked with them for nine months, advising them how to create a collection designed to sell, how to grow their audience and market themselves, and how to curate a successful exhibition, right down to the preview night outfits!

“I wasn’t easy on them,” she admits. “There were tears and turmoil, but they came through it.”
They certainly did, and there were no tears at the preview evening, just happy, talented artists proudly exhibiting their exceptional work.

So, bearing in mind the success of the exhibition, does she plan to organise another one?