The Edinburgh Reporter October 2023

6 NEWS

Round two at

Eyre Place

Heart of a lioness

Kirsten’s courage shines through on large-scale canvas

Filmhouse the sequel: Independent cinema to be revived

By STEPHEN RAFFERTY

A WILDLIFE PAINTER who gave up a

potential art career after having her confidence

knocked at school is celebrating her first solo

exhibition at a major Edinburgh gallery.

On leaving school in St Andrews,

demoralised Kirsten Mirrey took a job at a horse

stud farm and only picked up her brushes to

paint portraits of cats and dogs as a hobby.

But now her stunning large-scale paintings of

lions, tigers and other big beasts - which sell

internationally - are to go on show at The

Watson Gallery in the capital’s Queen Street

from 20-27 October.

Fife-born Kirsten, 28, said: “When I was

preparing for school exams my art work was

getting some harsh critiques and it really

knocked my confidence. I started to think that

art was not a viable career option for me and so

I took on an apprenticeship in equine care.”

Alongside her work at a Leven stud farm,

Kirsten started producing portraits of family

pets and they became so popular that after five

years she plucked up the courage to strike out

full time working as an artist.

A huge fan of David Attenborough’s wildlife

programmes, she developed a talent for works

featuring big cats, orangutans and other animals

and now her oil paintings have a large following

with buyers in America, Canada, Europe,

Australia and New Zealand snapping up

her work.

She added: “I was doing pet portraits and it

was all word of mouth but after putting my work

on Instagram and Facebook I quickly found that

a lot of people were interested in what I did.

“I started to experiment with wildlife,

especially big cats, and realised that was the

direction I wanted to go in my work. A lot of

people that have collected my pieces are from

overseas and have never actually been to see

them in person.”

Another major influence was fellow Fife

painter Jack Vettriano and like the former miner

turned best-selling artist, Kirsten got her first

break selling her paintings in a Kirkcaldy

furniture store.

She said: “I have always loved Jack’s work and

seeing someone from Fife making it into the big

league of art, and the fact that like me he didn’t

have any formal training, was a huge motivation

that it can be done.

“Rejects Department Store in Kirkcaldy is a

bit of an institution and has always promoted

local artists, including Jack in his early days,

so I was thrilled when they took a chance on me

and started selling some of my paintings.”

Kirsten said other influences on her work

included Scottish wildlife and fine art

photographer David Yarrow, known worldwide

for his breath-taking large format images and

also represented by the Watson Gallery, and

French-American painter Mark Maggiori who

specialises in the American West and images of

cowboys and native Americans.

Kirsten Mirrey will be painting live on the launch

evening of her Wild at Heart exhibition at the

Watson Gallery, 39 Queen Street, Edinburgh,

which runs from 20 October. To reserve a place

http://www.watsongallery.co.uk/events

By PHYLLIS STEPHEN

A FUNDRAISER has begun to

bring Edinburgh Filmhouse back

to life under the control of a new

charity set up to run it alongside

a café, all in the original building.

Most of those involved used

to work with Filmhouse

previously, but are convinced

that the independent cinema

can be revived.

Owners Caledonian Heritable

have been open to the idea and

if the fundraiser is successful

then the landlord will enter

into a 21 year lease of the

building. An initial £250,000 is

the target by the end of October

with an estimate of around

£1.25 million required for repairs

and renovation.

Ginnie Atkinson one of the

directors of the new charity said:

“The Crowdfunder has got off

to a terrific start having raised

£55K (not including Gift Aid)

after six days of action. We have

also had other donations

amounting to around £20,000.

This is all very encouraging

to say the least.”

As The Edinburgh Reporter

went to press the amount raised

on Crowdfunder had risen

to almost £75,000.

By PHYLLIS STEPHEN

WITH A SENSE OF dèja vu the residents

of Eyre Place, Rodney Street and Eyre Place

Lane are gathering to oppose two

planning applications for 139 purpose

built student flats and townhouses - again.

The three separate groups - Rodney

Street Residents Group, Eyre Place

Resident Special Interest Group and Eyre

Place Lane Owners Association - already

have a long but ultimately successful

campaign behind them, but the new

applications are open for objections and

comment until 6 October 2023.

Last time the plans attracted 400

objections and 500 signatories to a

petition. The new application is similar to

the first but Vince Meiklejohn a leading

campaigner said there is a key difference.

This time the six storey block is one floor

lower, but the number of flats has only

reduced by three as the length of the

building has increased, while roof terraces

are included in the plans as before.

OUTRAGE

Mr Meiklejohn said:”I think the general

feeling having spoken to other

neighbours and community groups is

confused and outraged, actually. The

Reporter’s judgement pleased everyone,

and the door was left slightly open, but

we’re astounded that this has come back

in this format.

“CA have again attempted a land grab

as the townhouse plans show the plans go

outwith the legal boundary and therefore

cause access issues for the garages at the

bottom of the Lane and the Yard.

“This was again documented by the

Reporter when permission for the

previous version of the townhouses was

refused. It was noted that if permission

had been granted, which it wasn’t, it

would be a condition that there would be

no access issues for the Yard or neighbours

and that the proposal was unacceptable.”

Planning references are

23/04046/FUL and 23/04048/FUL

Kirsten Mirrey