About John

John Gahagan has been a professional artist for over 30 years. He is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art and, after a short spell teaching, he began his professional career in the field of architectural illustration and was a Fellow of the Society of Architectural Illustrators. 

He also worked as a freelance illustrator with the Glasgow Herald and the Sunday Times.

Today, working mainly in acrylic and watercolour, he finds inspiration in the coastal villages and rural communities of Scotland and in the architecture of many towns and cities throughout the world.

He understands how to sympathetically capture the essential character of his subject, be it a simple dwelling, a busy metropolis or a tranquil harbour.

John’s travels with his sketchbook have taken him on many an artistic sojourn and he has exhibited successfully in various venues in the UK, and further afield in Ireland, Germany, France and Russia. He has work in public and private collections in many parts of the world.

“One of the nice things about my work is that it allows me to meet and connect with people of all walks of life when I am sketching and painting out of doors. 

Someone will always come up for a chat and ask me what I am doing and if this is my real job. Some have an interest in art and are looking for a bit of advice while others are just keen to tell me all about their wonderful town or village”.

I have always enjoyed all types of art and crafts since a very young age.

After a career in accounts and starting a family, I  returned to adult education and passed Higher Art and Design after which I found an interesting craft of salt dough which I tried out in 1996.  They were popular with friends and family so I decided to display the pieces in The Winter Garden Rothesay Christmas fair that year and did well.

Speaking to other exhibitors I realised there was a need for an all year round outlet for the many local crafters and artists so the seed of the Castle Gallery was planted.

Local builder George Hanson made the premises in the High Street available and The Castle Gallery was born in 1997.

It was an amazing journey of twenty three years with so many amazing exhibitions and having just retired I am delighted to continue exhibiting my hand dyed silk scarves and seal sculptures there.

My husband David and I are delighted to hand over to Amelia and Shane in whose passionate hands the Gallery will go from strength to strength.

David Turnbull Gardner was born in Lanarkshire and studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1967 till 1972, graduating D.A. - Diploma in Fine Art, specialising in sculpture.

After two years of freelance design work, he took up a teaching post in Rothesay Academy. While teaching he continued to paint and sculpt , exhibiting in Argyll and Bute galleries,

In the 1980’s, he began to take on commercial photography work which proved to be valuable in terms of professional development for teaching. In 2004, the option of early retirement was irresistable , providing the opportunity to concentrate full time on his fine art work and also help his wife Caroline to run and develop The Castle Gallery which she had established in 1997.

His first solo exhibition was in the Castle Gallery in 2007 and was inspired by a month long visit to Japan, following in the 19th century footsteps of E.A. Hornel and George Henry. The exhibition was named «  East Meets West «  and featured paintings and sculptures comparing similarities and contrasts between the landscape, figures and architecture of his home environment of Bute, and the fascinating culture of Japan. 

More recently David has exhibited in a three man show in Marseillan, in the south of France, and in various galleries on the West Coast of Scotland. The Castle Gallery hosted the 2012 exhhibition of David’s work, « Island Triptych » Which featured paintings of Bute, Iona and Mull.

My name is David Gilliver and I graduated from the Glasgow School of Art back in 2001. 

Since then I have been working hard to establish myself as a respected professional photographer and artist.

I specialise in Landscape photography, as well as several other creative techniques.

If you or your business is interested in hearing more about my photography services, I am more than happy to pay you a visit to talk about my work and how it is created.

Many thanks in advance for taking the time to look at my photography.

All the very best,
David 

I hand build earthenware pottery to make a selection of bright and bold ceramics.

Each piece is unique, decorated with a mixture of slip, glaze and underglaze. 

I was lucky to grow up in beautiful Argyll, just across the water from Bute, so it is hard not to be inspired by the wonderful scenery and greenery. As well as functional ceramics, I love to make quirky earrings. 

Each ceramic earring is hung on a handmade copper finding.