The latest show of artwork at Da Gadderie sees the long awaited return to exhibiting of Anderson High School Art and Design teacher, Forbes C Hogg.
This exhibition has been a long time in the making and has evolved through a wide range of circumstances. Forbes has always worked in landscape painting, inspired by a great love for the varied and rugged beauty of Shetland landscapes and weather.
Born and raised in Garrowhill, Lanarkshire, his family moved to Inverbervie during his years at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, after which he took up his first teaching post in Buckie, for a year. He then moved to Shetland in 1979, where he fell in love with the islands and his future wife. Since then he has renovated two houses, raised a family and encouraged young people to get involved with art, design and crafts for 36 years.
Recent orthopaedic problems over the last 8 years have led to a series of operations to give him back his mobility after far too many years of playing rugby for Shetland RFC. All those years playing rugby damaged his spine and hips, but he has never regretted his many years representing Lerwick and Shetland on the rugby field.
With new-found mobility came rekindled creativity and a strong desire for a return to exhibiting his artwork. The weekend walks to aid in his rehabilitation became a quest for quiet, beautiful corners of Shetland to explore and capture for this exhibition.
The rich variety of the Shetland environment has allowed Forbes to continue exploring his love of working in acrylic paints. He has always painted for the pure personal enjoyment, for the challenge, but mostly for de-stressing and relaxation.
His main loves in painting are portraying hints of stylised realism, the use of bright, jewel-like colour and working varied surface and sub-surface textures into his artworks.
The exhibition runs from 28th February – 5th April 2015.