Who's Who in the Scottish art world

Photo: Lys Hansen,(right)  artist,  with Avril Nicol, Edinburgh gallery owner and former Co-ordinator /founder of Forth Valley Open Studios.

I first met Lys Hansen when I joined one her famous Life Drawing classes in Dollar over twenty-five years ago. Ever since she has been my mentor and inspiration.
Tonight, I joined over a 100 of the cognoscenti of the Scottish art world for the opening of Lys’ major retrospective in Callendar House, Falkirk.

Now in her 80’s Lys continues to work daily and she is as vibrant, glamorous and inspirational as ever 
. Her work and teaching  has touched so many artists in Scotland for which we are all grateful.

Artists, lecturers, curators, art historians and academics along with  ex-students  paid tribute to one of the most outstanding and undervalued artists, and lecturers working in Scotland today.
 Art  historian  Geraldine Pringle said in her closing remarks that if  Lys  had been a man she would have had greater recognition  in the art world , a comment echoed by many.

Lys’ legacy though is that she was among the vanguard of women artists with a Scottish-European outlook who made it easier for   women  artists working today to enjoy greater public acceptance and acknowledgement of their work.
See extras for more photos.