Frances Walker

Born in Kirkcaldy in 1930, she studied at Edinburgh College of Art and then took up a post as visiting teacher of art in the Western Isles in 1956. This experience reinforced her life long love of wild and desolate places and her desire to depict isolated panoramas and landscapes. Walker’s work describes a powerful connection with nature and the feeling of isolation of existing in remote landscapes. This longing for wild terrain led the artist to seek inspiration from her native Scotland – particularly the Western Isles – and from the Antarctic. The large-scale Antarctica paintings reveal still, glacial landscapes completely untouched by human beings and are perhaps Walker’s ultimate depiction of solitude.

In 1958 Frances was appointed Lecturer in Drawing and Painting at Gray’s School of Art where she taught for many years before taking early retirement in 1985 to devote more time to her studio practice. She has travelled extensively, taking inspiration from the wildest, most remote terrains. In 2003 Frances was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh.

Frances Walker is represented in many private and corporate collections including the Robert Fleming Collection, and the Royal Scottish Academy.

Artist biography by Grampian Hospitals Art Trust, 2023.