Stephen Gill was born in Whitby England in 1932, and spent most of his life on Arran, working at St Columba’s workshop in Whiting Bay, which was started by his parents in 1955. He created and printed letterheads, business cards and other branded materials for a variety of local businesses using the printing press established at St Columba’s.

As an award-winning printmaker and member of the British Printing Society, Stephen specialised in creating lino cuts, woodcuts and litho prints at his studio in Kildonan, where he lived and worked for 20 years up until his death at age 83 in March 2016. He studied lithography and wood engraving at Glasgow School of Art in the 1960s.

Stephen worked in intaglio techniques (etching, copper engraving, and drypoint) to create detailed, sharply defined images and experiment with combinations of colour. He also produced paintings, sketches, pastel drawings and watercolours amongst other medium, and exhibited at local galleries and art shows.

Arran’s rocky mountains and coastlines were to be Stephen’s main inspiration throughout his career. The seashore, cliffs and soaring birds became a regular feature of his artwork, the scenes that he had seen and sketched as he enjoyed regular walks through the Arran landscape. He was a founder member of the Arran Mountain Rescue Team.

References:

• The Voice for Arran