Page 5 - Art First: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: 2014

Smaller exhibi tions arranged by Art First have pre sented particular
aspects of her achievement, notably the Elemental Energies exhibi -
tion curated and with its catalogue essay by Mel Gooding for Trinity
Hall, Cambridge in 2007. Gooding was also the author and curator
of A Discipline of the Mind: The Draw ings of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham,
with the exhibition opening at the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney in 2009
and touring nationally. A parallel exhibition of drawings took place
at Art First as part of the Centenary celebrations, introduc ing collec -
tors to a rich seam of historic drawings for the first time.

The reassessment of Barns-Graham’s position within the develop -
ment of British modern art is rapidly gaining ground with a new
generation of curators, art historians and critics. Fuelling this is the
remark able achievement of the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust
established in 1987 during the artist’s lifetime, which is in the safe
hands of Geoffrey Bertram, Chairman of the Trust. He has over seen
the restor a tion of Balmungo House, Barns-Graham’s family home
in St Andrews, providing a base for the study, the conservation and
the storage of the artist’s work. An important activity is the Trust’s
programme of financial support to students of art and art history
in selected art colleges and universities in Scotland and England.
All works sold by the Trust, and on its behalf, ensure the continu a -
tion of this funding and fulfill the wishes and intentions Barns-
Graham expressed when establishing the Trust at the outset.

Clare Cooper
DIRECTOR, ART FIRST