CAMPLE LINE is delighted to present Slim glimpses, an exhibition of thirteen new paintings by Amy Winstanley (b. 1983, Dumfries), opening 8 July 2023. Installed in our downstairs space, the exhibition adds to Amy’s distinctive body of work, combining vivid colour and rich painterly language in compelling compositions that envision new possibilities for being in the world. 

The exhibition’s title, Slim glimpses, derives from what Amy has referred to as ‘small moments’ that briefly interrupt our everyday activities: ‘There is a birch tree outside our flat, and I make a point of touching it and looking up. And for one moment, for one glimpse, I am thinking of the tree as a different sort of being and how different that is from me as a person, as a human…Then I go on to do my normal daily things.’ 

In a short essay commissioned to accompany the exhibition, Caitlin Merrett King suggests: ‘Painting, for Amy, is a way of putting down roots.’ The body of work included in Slim glimpses is rich in allusions to foliage, trees, clouds, fields, sunny orbs, hills and water. Amy grew up in Dalry in rural Dumfries and Galloway, and she spent her childhood immersed in the countryside. A profound sense of connectedness to the natural world, in turn, pervades her work.

Whilst developing this exhibition, Amy has drawn upon the work of writers Donna Haraway, Karen Barad and Matthew Hall. She has said: ‘There are glimpses of hope in the reframing of who we are and how we live to include all those we are entangled with, human and nonhuman, in order to cultivate a better way to live with the world.’

Amy Winstanley is represented by Margot Samel, New York City.

This exhibition is supported by Creative Scotland.