Kilsyth's Gregor in TV art contest

An artist from Kilsyth is currently featuring in televised competition for landscape artists.
Gregor Henderson - semifinalist, Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 on Sky ArtsGregor Henderson - semifinalist, Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 on Sky Arts
Gregor Henderson - semifinalist, Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 on Sky Arts

Former Kilsyth Academy pupil Gregor Henderson (24) is featured in the semi-finals of Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2016, a series currently airing on the channel.

Gregor won a place in the semi-finals by defeating seven other artists challenged with reproducing a piece of art featuring Wray Castle in the Lake District.

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Gregor initially hoped to become a Royal Marine but was thwarted by poor eyesight. “My mum was happy about that, she wasn’t keen on the idea of me joining the military” he said. Instead, he pursued the other great interest - painting - and completed a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art in 2015.

Gregor is now employed by social enterprise Yipworld, teaching life skills and running art projects for children. He was selected from around 800 contenders to feature on the show.

“It was great fun being on the show,” he said. “I am normally quite a slow painter, taking 60 or 70 hours to complete a painting, but for the show you only get four hours so it was a big challenge coming up with something decent and not embarrassing myself. It was also great meeting the crew and other artists.”

Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year is available on the channel’s catch-up service and online. The final episode will be aired on Tuesday, November 29 at 8pm.

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