This winter, the Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum welcomes Fiona Clasen’s solo exhibition, Into the Light.

Fiona Clasen has always been drawn to the light. Whether in an interior space, on a tree, in a cloud, or on the surface of water, patterns of light fascinate her and inspire her work. Clasen seeks to capture these intangible rays in her drawings, observing how they change throughout the day and transform even the most familiar spaces into something new. Her drawings convey thoughtful stillness – a space for contemplation – in the form of meditative still lifes and impressionist landscapes.

Into the Light brings together Clasen’s recent work of atmospheric drawings. Each artwork is a challenge: whether it is portraying the seasonal light of a Scottish landscape or capturing the fascinating refractions and distortions in glass. Using soft pastels on a fine type of sandpaper, Clasen builds layers of colour by blending with her fingertips. In her darker works, she begins with a surface completely covered in a deep hue, and then slowly visualises an imagined shape using marginally lighter shades, to see what emerges into the light. This process not only builds up pigment and texture but also a mood: her work captures emotions that are often difficult to articulate.

Clasen works from her garden studio in Bridge of Allan. She has been exhibiting in Stirlingshire for over a decade and has also been selected for open exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London. This is her first solo exhibition at the Stirling Smith.