1989-1993 BA (Hons) - Edinburgh College of Art
1996-1997 MDes - Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee
1998-1999 PGCE in Primary Education at Moray House College of Education, Edinburgh
Esther Donaldson is a Scottish artist who, since graduating from Edinburgh College of art in 1993, has exhibited and sold work regularly in galleries across Britain, including the RSA, SSA the RSW, the RBA, Mall Galleries and the Royal Academy summer exhibition, London 2019, where her work was selected to be in the Academician’s favourites list. Her work was selected for the ING Discerning Eye exhibition in 2020 and RWS at the Bankside gallery, London 2022.
In 2019 she was elected as a professional member of SSA. She was awarded the ‘House for an Art Lover Award’ in the RSW at the RSA in 2018 and has received a VACM Award from East Lothian Council in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Her work is based on gardens, woodlands and Country Estates.
' The garden for me is a place of quiet, a place to stop, an almost religious 'building'.’ It has witnessed the brevity of life, the joy and transience of beauty, the daily toil, death and re-birth, the seasons of life. It is a place of solace, refuge and sanctuary.
My work makes reference to these seasons, it is becoming increasingly more referential and not entirely realistic, inviting the viewer's participation and hopefully giving a glimpse into the life, toil, death and re-birth of the creative journey.
Working quickly building up layers, the work takes on its own life and often ends up in a way I could never have predicted or planned. I enjoy these surprises!'