It was in 1973 that a group of like-minded artists met monthly to sketch outdoors, but it was not until 1975, when they held their first exhibition, that Stonehaven Art Club was formed.

There was a strong dedicated committee including sisters Peggy Kemp and Sheila Mearns alongside Anne Munn, Margaret Tait, Jane Early, Ann Beaumont, Margaret Smith, and Florence MacNair.

The club held monthly meetings and availed themselves of a Scottish Arts Council scheme, where they were entitled to invite 7 lecturers per year to visit, at a cost of £7.00 each. They used this scheme for many years. They held outings, such as visits to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, and the RSA in Edinburgh.

The club has held an annual exhibition in the Upper Town Hall, Stonehaven since its inception. From the records held, these exhibitions were highly successful with over 50% of the work regularly sold. At that time, the average cost of a painting was £15.00.  

The aim of the club was to further the development of art and showcase the plethora of artistic talent in the area. Today our aims are still the same. We meet monthly between April and November, with a break in July and August to prepare and stage the annual exhibition, which is usually held in the Town Hall, Stonehaven.

The Club plays an active part in the community with open meetings where visiting artists and craftsmen demonstrate and talk about their work. We also hold members workshops where the participants are guided, by an invited guest tutor, to produce their own masterpieces.

We also have rotating exhibitions of members work for sale in Stonehaven Leisure Centre, Albyn Medical Centre, and Peterculter Medical Centre. A proportion of the sales go to support locally nominated charities.

We have approximately 60 members, mostly living in and around Stonehaven, but we are permitted to have 25% of the total membership from outlying areas, such as Aberdeen. We are happy to welcome new members but must limit the membership total to 60 to comply with the regulations for our meeting place, which is normally the Invercarron Resource Centre.

Our exhibitions have free public entry and have attracted over 1000 visitors in recent years. Sales were buoyant last year with 35 artists submitting work to the exhibition. Local businesses help sponsor the event which runs for 10 days. Open from 10 am till 6pm daily it is a very popular event with visitors to the area and locals alike. We hold a preview evening to which previous patrons, sponsors and participating artists are all invited.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, holding a physical exhibition was not possible. Instead, the exhibition went on-line where items were, as usual, available for sale. Post Covid we continue to offer paintings for sale and these can be found in our Gallery.

I’m happy to say our monthly talks, workshops and new sketching evening are up and running, Check the events area for details.