Celebrating the Art That Made Us!

South Ayrshire Council and the Maclaurin Art Gallery are taking part in a landmark arts programme developed by the BBC. The 'Art That Made Us Festival' will explore how works of art, literature, design and music have helped shape our creative history.

In South Ayrshire, we're telling the story of women in art and revealing how female artists and female subjects have both influenced and inspired.

We will take you on an exciting virtual tour of six rarely seen compositions, which are either created by, or feature women. Each video lasts about 90 seconds and tells the story of the artist and their inspiration.

One of the videos features local artist Helen Turner. Helen was born in Prestwick in 1937 and attended Glasgow School of Art. She is recognised as one of Scotland's leading contemporary painters and is best known for the way she masters light and shade in her compositions.

Helen Turner's 'Reflections on the Stinchar' is featured along with 'Mrs R.C. Roy' by George Leslie and 'Naomi Mitchison' by Wyndham Lewis, as well as 'Armenian Basket' by Mary Nicol Neill Armour, 'Rose Return' by Bridget Riley, and 'Tuscan Field' by Barbara Rae, from the Maclaurin Trust Collection.

The videos highlighting the works from the South Ayrshire Council collection and the Maclaurin Art Gallery will be uploaded alternately from Tuesday 12 April to https://www.youtube.com/c/southayrshirecouncil. The videos will also be available on our social media channels.

If you want to see the artworks up close, they are currently on display at Rozelle House and at the Maclaurin Art Gallery.