Self-portrait, Joan Eardley, 1943, from Wikipedia

Born in 1931 in Sussex Joan Eardley studied at the Glasgow School of Art and made Scotland her home. She painted the wild forces of nature on the North Sea coast in Aberdeenshire and was also drawn to the equally wild elements of the Glasgow slums. She painted instantly recognisable moving and sympathetic street children from the slums for which she is famous. She died tragically young at the age of 42.

Lecturer Amanda Herries specialises in the decorative and fine arts. Trained as an archaeologist, she worked in social history at the Museum of London for ten years, then spent eight years in Japan with her family. She lectures all over the world and has lived in Galloway for the past two decades, where she has been closely involved with arts, heritage and culture. She is passionate about encouraging the appreciation of arts and museums.