Scottish artist Colin Hay‘s exhibition The Magic before Dawn is the first showing at the BirdsNest Gallery, set up during lockdown in a historic building on the Southside of Edinburgh.

Born in Musselburgh, Colin studied Graphic Design at Edinburgh College of Art and pursued a career in advertising and book-jacket illustration, which led him on to painting full-time – his unique, experimental approach with bold technique is inspired by Paul Klee’s famous description of his
own work as ‘taking a line for a walk’. The gallery will host a series of events related to the exhibition, including performing art, concerts, films, lecturers, open days with tours, conversations with the artist, life drawing, and a Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

Housed in its A-listed Victorian building, the Gallery retains most of its original interior and is home to the main gallery, an exhibition space, a mini-cinema, studio and art library. The founder of the BirdsNest art enterprise is Taiwan-born Natalia Sho Brand, who came to the UK to study and has been an independent art historian since 2006, writing several art books and articles for magazines, journals and newspapers.

Photographs of the Gallery’s opening and exhibition launch, 8th October 2021, by Colin Sutherland: