James McDonald RSW

            James McDonald was born in Stirling in 1956.  He attended Stenhousemuir and Carron Primary Schools, then Larbert High School before studying Art and Design at Edinburgh College of Art.  He was awarded the Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship in 1978, leaving with a Certificate in Post Graduate Studies in 1979.  His skills were honed in printmaking between 1980 and 1986 producing, printing and exhibiting his own etchings, as well as "editioning" those of other artists, from Dame Elizabeth Blackadder and John Bellany, to Antique copper-plate maps for Bartholomew's of Edinburgh, in the role of freelance Master Printer.  James travelled, lived and exhibited in Sweden and Belgium prior to helping set up the Art and Design Department at Cumbernauld College in 1983.

 

            Finding the confidence to try out painting in 1986, and having enjoyed it, James had a measure of success at Glasgow’s Main Fine Art, Compass Gallery and also Glasgow Print Studio.  In 1988, he moved into his current studio in the East End of Glasgow where, apart from brief summer sojourns at the “Smith & Wellstood” buildings in Bonnybridge on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal, he has painted full time to this day.

 

            In 2014, James was elected a professional member of The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, and, in 2017, (following three field trips to the Baltic Island of Peenemunde), his book, “Girl and Asteroid", was published by Nine Muses.

 

            James McDonald's pictures can be found in many collections throughout the world, including those of: The Victoria and Albert Museum; The McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario; The Hunterian Gallery at the University of Glasgow; The University of Strathclyde; Glasgow Kelvingrove Museum; The Commonwealth Institute; Hove Museum; IBM; Motorola; Arthur Andersen & Co; Arts in Fife; Harper Macleod Solicitors; BBC; STV; John Rae Audio-Visual; Port Charlotte Hotel in Islay, and The Walter Scott Foundation, as well as all the major Scottish banks.  Some of his works are also held in the private collections of numerous individuals worldwide, including the collections of: Lord MacLennan, Raymond Blanc, Bob Geldof, Jenny Agutter, Lord MacFarlane, Auberon Waugh, G D Harper, James Herbert, Jane Nottage and Jeffrey Archer.

 

            The Royal Glasgow Institute of The Fine Arts, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and The Bohun Gallery in Henley-on-Thames are some institutions that hold regular exhibitions of James McDonald's work, along with Glasgow’s Billcliffe Fine Art.

​

​

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

 

1985            “ETCHINGS & AQUATINTS”, Rijkscentrum Frans Masareel, Belgium.

1986            “ETCHINGS”, Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop.

1986            “PAINTINGS”, Main Fine Art, Glasgow.

1989            “PAINTINGS & PRINTS”, Glasgow Print Studio.

1991            “PAINTINGS & PRINTS”, Cormund Gallery, Glasgow.

1993            The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

1994            Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.

1994            The Academy Club, Soho, London.

1996            Long & Ryle Art International, London.

1996            Beaux Arts, Bath.

1997            The Beak Gallery, Dublin.

1998            "PAINTINGS & PRINTS”, Glasgow Print Studio.

2000            Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow.

2002            “REFLECTIONS”, Paintings & Prints, Glasgow Print Studio.

2005            Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow.

2005            Glasgow Art Club.

2008            “PAINTINGS & INTAGLIO PRINTS”, Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow.

2012            “INTAGLIO SHORES”, Royal Glasgow Institute Kelly Gallery, Glasgow.

2013            “OUTSIDER”, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.

2016            “DARKNESS HAS ITS USES”, Leiper Gallery, Glasgow.

2017            “NEW PAINTINGS”, The Bohun Gallery, Henley-on Thames.

2017            “FEATURED ARTIST”, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow.

2019            “ART IN THE EVERYDAY”, The Park Gallery, Falkirk.

2019            “NEW PAINTINGS", Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow.

2025            "TWO WEEKS LAST SUMMER", Compass Gallery, Glasgow.

 

Selected Mixed Exhibitions

 

1990            “NEW SCOTTISH PRINTS”, Mary Ryan Gallery, New York.

1991            THE JOHN MOORES COMPETITION, Liverpool.

1993            THE SPECTATOR/Adam & Co Award.

1993            JAMES MCDONALD & JAMES MCNAUGHT, Ewan Mundy Fine Art, London.

1993            JAMES MCDONALD & NEIL MACPHERSON, Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames.

1995            “TRIPLE VISION”, with Douglas Thomson & Neil Macpherson, Glasgow Print Studio.

1996-2001    NOBLE GROSSART PAINTING COMPETITION, Edinburgh.

1997            FOUR PAINTERS, The Bourne Gallery, Reigate.

1998            JAMES MCDONALD & PETER GRAHAM, The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh.

1998            NEW ART FROM SCOTLAND, Leith Gallery/Forbes Magazine, New York.

2002            JAMES MCDONALD & NEIL MACPHERSON, The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh.

2007-2008    “A SCOTTISH CONNECTION”, Connecticut & New York.

2006            “2D”, James McDonald & Neil Macpherson, The Compass Gallery, Glasgow.

2009            JAMES MCDONALD & NEIL MACPHERSON, Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames.

2009            “FROM LIFE”, Glasgow University, Collins Gallery.