Artist Margaretann Bennett in her Glasgow studio, working on a large abstract canvas. Black and white photograph

Margaretann Bennett is drawn to the beauty of the abandoned and forgotten — mossed stone, rusted metal, verdigris, and fading photographs found in Victorian cemeteries and crumbling old buildings.

From her home in Glasgow, she seeks out these small pockets of history, which offer a quiet, contemplative atmosphere and inform both her abstract and figurative work. Close studies of tombstone imagery inform larger canvases that echo the worn surfaces of time and nature.

Her figurative paintings connect closely with the vulnerability of human experience, reflecting on identity and the tension between inner and outer selves. Twin imagery and elements of alter ego recur, exploring how women present themselves and how they are perceived.

The physical making of the work is central to her practice. She prepares bespoke surfaces by embedding aggregates into gesso and weathering the ground, so the canvas carries traces of erosion. Through this process, her paintings become reflections on time, memory, and the persistence of love in the face of loss and change.

Born in Scotland, her practice is shaped — but not confined — by place. She has worked from her Glasgow studio for over twenty-five years, with new work continually evolving.

VIEW CV HERE

AWARDS

2011 - The Mabel MacKinlay Award. RGI

2010 - The Scottish Arts Club Award. RSW

2007 - Inverarity One to One Travel Award. RGI

2007 - The Arnold Clark Award. PAI

2006 - The Armour Award. RGI

2006 - The William Bowie Award. PAI

2005 - Landside College Watercolour Award. RGI

2005 - Contemporary Fine Art Gallery Award. PAI

2000 - The Glasgow Art Club Fellowship. RGI

1997 - Scottish Arts Council Individual Development Award.