Our exhibition Shorelines invites you to the water's edge. Inspired by the diverse habitats where sea, river and loch meet the land, artists Gillian Murray, Janine Burrows, Sylvie Soudan, Helen Mortley and Jayne Stokes present an exhibition of prints, paintings, sculpture and carefully curated coastal treasures.
Printmaker Gillian Murray celebrates the beauty and character of Scotland's shores, from the sandy beaches of East Lothian to the rocky outcrops and wooded shorelines of the Highlands. Working with a combination of collagraph and screenprint techniques, Gillian builds layers of colour and texture that evoke the form, atmosphere and tactile qualities of these varied landscapes. Her printmaking process allows her to translate the subtle details of the natural world into richly textured compositions.
Inspired by quiet observation and time spent immersed in nature, Gillian draws on the changing light, weather and elemental energy of each place she visits. Through sketching and direct engagement with the landscape, she captures the essence of a moment, transforming these experiences into her beautiful and expressive prints.
Painter and mixed media artist Janine Burrows has drawn her inspiration from Aberlady Bay and the surrounding coastline. Her distinctive, characterful paintings celebrate the resident and migratory birds of the Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve, alongside the area's rich coastal landscape and native flora and fauna.
Working primarily on wood, Janine combines acrylic, emulsion, pencil and oil pastel with expressive brushstrokes, a carefully considered colour palette and delicate detailing to create her unique and playful style.
Using photographs and sketches made during time spent in the field, Janine returns to these observations in the studio, where she explores and reinterprets moments, memories and the atmosphere of a place. Her work seeks to capture not only the visual landscape but also its character, rhythm and sense of connection.
Sylvie Soudan studied Botanical Illustrations at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, where she specialised in the study of seaweeds. Her close observational skills and meticulous attention to detail are evident in her beautifully rendered portraits of bladderwrack, spiral wrack, kelp and many other coastal species.
Working in watercolour, Sylvie combines scientific accuracy with a delicate colour palette and luminous transparency, capturing the intricate structure and beauty of her subjects. She often includes handwritten notes alongside her painted specimens, as shown in her series of Nature Notes. These notes reveal further layers of observation and reflect her enduring fascination with the relationship between science and art—a dialogue that continues to inspire and inform her practice.
Helen Mortley spends much of her time snorkelling in the clear waters and exploring the rock pools along the coast of Calgary on the Isle of Mull. It is here that she finds inspiration, gathering the tidal treasures that form the basis of her beautifully curated shadow boxes.
Arranged into circular compositions, her collections of coastal flotsam and jetsam—including bones, feathers, sea-worn pottery, sea glass and other natural treasures—invite close observation. The longer you spend with each piece, the more you appreciate Helen's keen eye for colour, composition and curation. Thoughtfully organised into carefully balanced colour palettes, her shadow boxes reveal the extraordinary beauty hidden within everyday coastal finds.
Helen's work is a quiet, considered response to the remarkable coastal environment in which she lives and works, celebrating both its natural rhythms and the unexpected treasures left behind by the tide.
Jayne Stokes describes herself as a "landscape artist, although probably not in the traditional sense." Working in mixed media, she explores and documents the relationship between people and the environment. The starting point for much of her work is a journey, during which she collects found objects, takes photographs and makes sketches. These observations and discoveries inform the creation of her larger three-dimensional sculptures.
For the works featured in this exhibition, Jayne's journey took her along the coastline, where she foraged along the shore, gathering objects that had themselves travelled before coming to rest on the strandline. By incorporating these weathered finds into her sculptures, she gives them a renewed purpose, celebrating their transformation through making, recycling and repurposing.
Jayne's work invites viewers to look more closely at the materials before them, encouraging reflection on the stories they carry and our own relationship with the landscape and the traces we leave within it.
Shorelines is on show in the gallery at the SOC headquarters, Waterston House, Aberlady EH32 0PY. Free Entry.
If you are unable to visit in person, our exhibitions can also be viewed via our online gallery.
Image: Across the Bay © Janine Burrows
