Live it Paint it: Lys Hansen exhibition opens at Falkirk's Callendar House

Lys Hansen returned to her hometown last Friday for the preview event which features a selection of her work from over six decades.

Born in Falkirk in 1936, Lys studied painting and fine art at Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh, completing her postgraduate studies before going on to do teacher training at Moray House.

The exhibition Live it Paint it has been curated by Glasgow School of Art’s Dr Marianne Greated and is the artist’s second time at the Park Gallery having previously had work on display in 2005.

Since coming to prominence in the 1980s, Lys has had major solo exhibitions in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Austria and France, as well as being in public collections in the UK, Germany and Denmark.

Opening the exhibition, Dr Geraldine Prince, a former governor of Edinburgh College of Art, an academic and long-time admirer of Lys Hansen’s work, said she was a “trailblazer” for Scottish women artists.

She told the 100 guests from across the Scottish art world attending last Friday’s preview: “Lys is the standard bearer for the painted image, pursued with passionate dedication and energy throughout her creative life. Younger Scottish artists, many of them women, follow her example in believing that materials which have stood the test of time – paints, canvas – can be dazzlingly inspirational, and expressive. These artists know that they stand on the shoulders of giants – and Lys is one of these giants.

“Lys’s work also has a distinctive, cultural resonance in 21st century Scotland that connects profoundly with a wider sense of identity, by evidencing Scotland’s place within European art. Lys Hansen’s paintings are vibrant examples of contemporary art which is Scottish and European, part of a European dialogue enriched, first, by her Danish ancestry.

"Her work in Berlin was at the epicentre of the European revolution that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Her confident command of the language of paint also links her to a great European tradition. Lys’s persistence, tenacity, the seriousness of her commitment, and the outstanding body of work produced over a creative lifetime justify a claim I’ll happily nail to the mast: Lys is Scotland’s most distinguished, most European, living artist.”

Curator Dr Marianne Greated said the exhibition brings together paintings and objects, giving a glimpse into the diverse sides of Hansen’s practice and her various methods and approaches to making work.

She said: “Her work oscillates between joy and tragedy, capturing the human condition, both internal and external. It stems directly from her lived experience and intimate narratives – that of inner turmoil, birthing, sex, and family life – which the exhibition in the upper gallery focuses on. In the lower gallery, these same processes reflect on politics and global tragedy through her own experiences of the impact of war and dislocation.”

Lys Hansen‘s work inspired the poem Warpaint And Womanflesh by Scottish writer and Scots Makar, Liz Lochhead, who, as a surprise for the artist, came along on to the preview to read it to aloud.

Falkirk area musician Harry Kemp, whose mother was one of Lys’s students and who now helps her in her studio, then played a piece of music he had composed for the exhibition.

Lys said: “It is a great honour to be invited to exhibit in my hometown,

especially at Callendar House “

Lesley O’Hare, cultural manager at Falkirk Council said: “This exhibition is the latest in a series from notable artists with autobiographical connections in Falkirk. Lys Hansen’s work can be found in public collections around the globe, so this is a fantastic opportunity for local residents to feel proud of Falkirk’s culture and its connections to the international art world.”

The exhibition runs until August 11 and is free. Entry is between 10am and 5pm (every day except Tuesday). It takes place over both temporary exhibition spaces in Callendar House - the Park Gallery and Second Floor Galleries. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.