Iona Roberts

Iona Roberts graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a First Class Honours in Fine Art Painting (2015) and the Royal Drawing School Postgraduate Programme (2016).

Working in the true plein-air tradition of painting and drawing, she has travelled extensively to the North and West Coast of Scotland and across Europe, to Italy, Germany and Spain, filling her numerous sketchbooks and recording her travels in a visual diary. Time and space underpin Iona’s practice. She documents the passing of time, capturing and conveying atmosphere and moods, the changing light and the effects it has on the people who inhabit and move through the space.

There is nothing tentative about her mark-making; there is a raw visceral energy in her work, and her working methods are inspired by favourite artists such as Joan Eardley. The drawings have a powerful integrity, energy and completeness, which Roberts has transformed and developed to become the foundation and focus of her work.

Compass Gallery first showed Iona's work in their renowned New Generation Show in 2015, where she then had her debut solo show with us in 2018. Compass continues to proudly exhibit her work in the gallery and feature her in numerous mixed exhibitions.

Iona’s work was selected for the Federation of British Artists (FBA) Futures exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London in 2016. She was awarded the Royal Drawing School Pignano residency (2017) and the Richard Ford Award residency to Madrid at the Prado (2017); Trustees' Prize at the Royal Drawing School 2015-16 end of year exhibition; the Stevenson Painting Award at the Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries Exhibition (2016), and the Catriona White Prize for Distinction in Drawing from Observed Reality (2015).

Awards and Exhibitions:
2020 – Shortlisted Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Painting Commission for a five-star hotel at Hyde Park Corner
Residency at Skalloway, Shetland Islands
‘21st Century Women’ at Clydebank Museum’s Backdoor Gallery, with
Compass Gallery


2019 – British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London with Compass Gallery
Contemporary Scottish Landscape Paintings Exhibition, ASPECT, Royal
Institute, Glasgow
Residency at Dumfries House, Royal Drawing School
Solo exhibition Compass Gallery – postponed due to Covid 19

2018 - Compass Gallery Winter Exhibition
Edinburgh Art Fair, Arusha Gallery
Index Exhibition, Stoke Newington Library Gallery, London
Royal Drawing School Buckingham Palace Fundraising event
2018 – Debut Solo Exhibition, ‘Travels & Translations’ at Compass Gallery
London Art Fair, Compass Gallery

2017 – Royal Drawing School residency, Pignano, Italy
Richard Ford Award travel to study in Madrid at the collection at the Prado
Museum
Royal Drawing School Buckingham Palace Fundraising Event
Isle of Iona residency
London Art Fair with Compass Gallery

2016 - Winner of the Trustees' Prize, Royal Drawing School 2015-16 End of Year
Exhibition, London
Best of the Drawing Year 2015- 16 at Christie's, London
Winner of the Stevenston Painting Award, Royal Scottish Academy New
Contemporaries Exhibition:
FBA Futures, Mall Galleries FBA (Federation of British Artists) Members'
favourite graduates of 2015
Awarded RSA New Contemporary, Royal Scottish Academy

2015 - Awarded Catriona White Prize for Distinction in Drawing from Observed
Reality
Compass Gallery Summer Exhibition - Paintings and Drawings chosen to be
exhibited alongside artists such as Barbara Rae and Joan Eardley
Compass Gallery's New Generation Show
Graduate Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art